The rapid development of solar and wind power generation in China has driven investment in energy storage systems, and vanadium flow batteries are becoming one of the key technologies.

Vanadium batteries are one of the most widely used types of flow batteries. Unlike traditional lithium or lead-acid batteries, they store chemical energy in a liquid electrolyte, providing stronger safety and heat resistance. Their ability to be recycled and reused also solves the processing problems faced by lithium batteries to some extent.

Compared to batteries that experience performance degradation after thousands of cycles, vanadium batteries can achieve an extremely long cycle life after component replacement, typically considered to have a lifespan of about twice that of lithium batteries.

In addition, vanadium batteries also have outstanding advantages in scalability. By adding more electrolyte solutions, the capacity of the battery can be correspondingly increased, thereby extending the battery life.

Forty years ago, Australian chemical engineer Maria Skyllas Kazacos, who was in her early thirties at the time, became one of the original inventors of vanadium batteries. Since then, this honorary professor at the University of New South Wales has always been full of hope that this breakthrough can flourish on the land of our motherland. "At the beginning, my family and I, the entire family, hoped to establish the vanadium battery industry in Australia

However, reality has turned out to be contrary to expectations. Skylas Kazakos said that during the years when vanadium batteries left the laboratory, her experience was like riding a roller coaster, with hopes of commercialization sometimes ignited, sometimes shattered, and ultimately completely shattered.

Skylas Kazakos said that after she and her team developed prototypes including a vanadium powered golf cart, they quickly signed licensing agreements with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Kashima Electric Power Company in Japan.

When the latter first launched an 800 kilowatt hour vanadium battery system on a large scale in 1997, the entire team thought the time was ripe.

We were full of hope at the time, thinking that things would develop rapidly from then on, "she recalled," but that was not the case. In the end, (the commercialization plan) fell through

A vanadium battery installed on a golf cart was showcased at the University of New South Wales. Skylas Kazakos towards Energy Storage Photos provided by News

Skylas Kazakos attributed the cooling of vanadium batteries to the popularity of lithium batteries, which have higher energy density and are more suitable for electric vehicles. She also believes that power plants and industry overlooked the advantages of vanadium batteries in energy storage technology at that time.

This is really frustrating, the entire industry and market know nothing about it, "she continued." I understand in my heart that this moment will eventually come, because one day we will run out of oil and other resources, and then we must turn to renewable energy

With the increasing use of solar and wind energy by power grids and large energy users around the world, this situation is indeed beginning to change, and the demand for different energy storage systems is also growing.

However, the scene that Skylas Kazakos had hoped for did not happen in Australia, but in China. When it comes to the popularity of vanadium batteries in China, she exclaimed, "It's amazing.

According to data released by the United States Geological Survey last year, the global vanadium production in 2023 is about 100000 tons, with China accounting for about 70% of the production, and the vast majority of it being used domestically. After Australia closed a vanadium mine in 2014, there are currently no vanadium mines in operation.

In addition to having abundant vanadium reserves, the scale of projects being put into operation in China has also overshadowed similar projects in other places. Vanatec, a vanadium industry organization, stated that investment in China's flow battery industry was expected to exceed 33.7 billion yuan (4.6 billion US dollars) last year. According to statistics, there are nearly 30 projects registered or in the planning stage nationwide. In addition, at least four large-scale systems are currently being tendered.

Another major obstacle to the popularization of flow batteries is their high cost. But as China builds automated factories to produce vanadium batteries that have long relied on manual manufacturing, the cost of installing such systems is expected to decrease.

According to a report released by the New Energy Research Institute of China State Grid Energy Research Institute in November last year, based on comprehensive analysis, the installed capacity of new energy storage in State Grid's operating areas will reach around 60-64 million kW by the end of 2024, and it is roughly estimated that the national scale will reach around 72-75 million kW. Lithium ion battery energy storage still dominates, while all vanadium flow battery energy storage is still in the pilot demonstration stage at the 100MW level.

Cosimo Ries, an analyst at Trivium based in Shanghai, believes that this situation may change as costs decrease. He said, "We cannot predict the position of each technology in future energy storage systems, but the dominance of lithium-ion batteries is likely to begin to weaken in the coming years

While competition among local enterprises is becoming increasingly fierce, China's vanadium battery market has also attracted the interest of overseas companies. Japanese vanadium battery electrolyte manufacturer RS Technologies announced in January this year that it plans to establish a subsidiary in Shanghai. The expansion speed of China's vanadium battery market is a thousand times faster than that of Japan, "said a director of the company.

On the other hand, in Australia, although Canberra continues to talk about the country becoming an "indispensable" part of the global clean energy supply chain, Western Australia has also promised to invest in building vanadium battery plants, and two Australian mining companies have started producing vanadium electrolytes and planning to mine their own mineral deposits. But not all industry insiders are optimistic about this.

Grant Wilson, CEO of Australian mining company Tivan, is not very confident in Australia's ability to compete with China. In his early years, he had full confidence in key minerals and acquired a company that owned vanadium deposits. However, due to the unfavorable economic situation, his company later turned to cooperating with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan on the fluorite project.

He said that China controls its domestic vanadium resources and can maintain the low price of this metal, which makes it extremely uneconomical for Australia to invest another $1 billion in vanadium mining and processing.

China will continue to control the price of vanadium because they have a large amount of vanadium resources, "Wilson added. Although Australia has considerable vanadium reserves and potential demand for grid energy storage applications, realizing the domestic commercialization dream of Skalas Cazakos is" incredible, "and" there are still many, many challenges (to be overcome)

Skylas Kazakos, who is now in his 70s, serves as a consultant for Tivan company. She is still committed to this research and hopes that Australia can have a second opportunity to commercialize vanadium batteries. "We have the skills in this area and should work hard for it." China's rapid development in the fields of solar and wind power has driven investment in energy storage systems, and vanadium flow batteries are becoming one of the key technologies.

Vanadium batteries are one of the most widely used types of flow batteries. Unlike traditional lithium or lead-acid batteries, they store chemical energy in a liquid electrolyte, providing stronger safety and heat resistance. Their ability to be recycled and reused also solves the processing problems faced by lithium batteries to some extent.

Compared to batteries that experience performance degradation after thousands of cycles, vanadium batteries can achieve an extremely long cycle life after component replacement, typically considered to have a lifespan of about twice that of lithium batteries.

In addition, vanadium batteries also have outstanding advantages in scalability. By adding more electrolyte solutions, the capacity of the battery can be correspondingly increased, thereby extending the battery life.

Forty years ago, Australian chemical engineer Maria Skyllas Kazacos, who was in her early thirties at the time, became one of the original inventors of vanadium batteries. Since then, this honorary professor at the University of New South Wales has always been full of hope that this breakthrough can flourish on the land of our motherland. "At the beginning, my family and I, the entire family, hoped to establish the vanadium battery industry in Australia

However, reality has turned out to be contrary to expectations. Skylas Kazakos said that during the years when vanadium batteries left the laboratory, her experience was like riding a roller coaster, with hopes of commercialization sometimes ignited, sometimes shattered, and ultimately completely shattered.

Skylas Kazakos said that after she and her team developed prototypes including a vanadium powered golf cart, they quickly signed licensing agreements with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Kashima Electric Power Company in Japan.

When the latter first launched an 800 kilowatt hour vanadium battery system on a large scale in 1997, the entire team thought the time was ripe.

We were full of hope at the time, thinking that things would develop rapidly from then on, "she recalled," but that was not the case. In the end, (the commercialization plan) fell through

A vanadium battery installed on a golf cart was showcased at the University of New South Wales. Skylas Kazakos towards Energy Storage Photos provided by News

Skylas Kazakos attributed the cooling of vanadium batteries to the popularity of lithium batteries, which have higher energy density and are more suitable for electric vehicles. She also believes that power plants and industry overlooked the advantages of vanadium batteries in energy storage technology at that time.

This is really frustrating, the entire industry and market know nothing about it, "she continued." I understand in my heart that this moment will eventually come, because one day we will run out of oil and other resources, and then we must turn to renewable energy

With the increasing use of solar and wind energy by power grids and large energy users around the world, this situation is indeed beginning to change, and the demand for different energy storage systems is also growing.

However, the scene that Skylas Kazakos had hoped for did not happen in Australia, but in China. When it comes to the popularity of vanadium batteries in China, she exclaimed, "It's amazing.

According to data released by the United States Geological Survey last year, the global vanadium production in 2023 is about 100000 tons, with China accounting for about 70% of the production, and the vast majority of it being used domestically. After Australia closed a vanadium mine in 2014, there are currently no vanadium mines in operation.

In addition to having abundant vanadium reserves, the scale of projects being put into operation in China has also overshadowed similar projects in other places. Vanatec, a vanadium industry organization, stated that investment in China's flow battery industry was expected to exceed 33.7 billion yuan (4.6 billion US dollars) last year. According to statistics, there are nearly 30 projects registered or in the planning stage nationwide. In addition, at least four large-scale systems are currently being tendered.

Another major obstacle to the popularization of flow batteries is their high cost. But as China builds automated factories to produce vanadium batteries that have long relied on manual manufacturing, the cost of installing such systems is expected to decrease.

According to a report released by the New Energy Research Institute of China State Grid Energy Research Institute in November last year, based on comprehensive analysis, the installed capacity of new energy storage in State Grid's operating areas will reach around 60-64 million kW by the end of 2024, and it is roughly estimated that the national scale will reach around 72-75 million kW. Lithium ion battery energy storage still dominates, while all vanadium flow battery energy storage is still in the pilot demonstration stage at the 100MW level.

Cosimo Ries, an analyst at Trivium based in Shanghai, believes that this situation may change as costs decrease. He said, "We cannot predict the position of each technology in future energy storage systems, but the dominance of lithium-ion batteries is likely to begin to weaken in the coming years

While competition among local enterprises is becoming increasingly fierce, China's vanadium battery market has also attracted the interest of overseas companies. Japanese vanadium battery electrolyte manufacturer RS Technologies announced in January this year that it plans to establish a subsidiary in Shanghai. The expansion speed of China's vanadium battery market is a thousand times faster than that of Japan, "said a director of the company.

On the other hand, in Australia, although Canberra continues to talk about the country becoming an "indispensable" part of the global clean energy supply chain, Western Australia has also promised to invest in building vanadium battery plants, and two Australian mining companies have started producing vanadium electrolytes and planning to mine their own mineral deposits. But not all industry insiders are optimistic about this.

Grant Wilson, CEO of Australian mining company Tivan, is not very confident in Australia's ability to compete with China. In his early years, he had full confidence in key minerals and acquired a company that owned vanadium deposits. However, due to the unfavorable economic situation, his company later turned to cooperating with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan on the fluorite project.

He said that China controls its domestic vanadium resources and can maintain the low price of this metal, which makes it extremely uneconomical for Australia to invest another $1 billion in vanadium mining and processing.

China will continue to control the price of vanadium because they have a large amount of vanadium resources, "Wilson added. Although Australia has considerable vanadium reserves and potential demand for grid energy storage applications, realizing the domestic commercialization dream of Skalas Cazakos is" incredible, "and" there are still many, many challenges (to be overcome)

Skylas Kazakos, who is now in his 70s, serves as a consultant for Tivan company. She is still committed to this research and hopes that Australia can have a second opportunity to commercialize vanadium batteries. "We have the skills in this area and should work hard for it," she said