Australia has completed its first commercial vanadium-flow battery.

The development marks a milestone in the field of energy storage. The battery, developed by Yadlamalka Energy, is set to start running and exporting power by August this year. 

The project, known as the Spencer Energy Project, is located at the Bungama sub-station near Port Pirie and involves connecting a 2-megawatt/8-megawatt-hour battery to a grid of solar panels.

The vanadium-flow battery is designed to take advantage of the price variation of electricity in South Australia. 

It will store approximately 10 gigawatts of dispatchable solar power annually and will be charged using excess electricity generated by the solar panels during peak sunlight hours. 

The stored power will then be supplied to households during the night when demand on the grid is high and solar generation is unavailable.

Yadlamalka Energy Chairman Andrew Doman says there are clear advantages of vanadium-flow batteries over lithium-ion batteries, particularly their longer duration. 

“The duration of this battery is four hours, unlike lithium batteries which typically last half an hour or two hours,” he said. 

Doman also highlighted the potential of vanadium batteries to stabilise the grid and reduce energy prices by buying electricity when prices are negative and selling power back into the grid when prices are high.

This achievement marks the first commercial use of a vanadium-flow battery in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Vanadium batteries can be ethically sourced, as Australia has abundant reserves of vanadium, making it more widely available than other critical minerals like copper, nickel, and cobalt. 

Additionally, vanadium-flow batteries have the advantage of replaceable electrolytes, extending their lifespan up to 20 years compared to the 5 to 10 years typically seen with lithium batteries.

Some see the development as the start of a potential “vanadium revolution” in Australia’s energy sector.