The manufacturing unit can have an annual manufacturing capability for 33MWh of electrolyte.
The plant has been supported with a grant from the Australian federal authorities below its Trendy Manufacturing Initiative. AVL was chosen in 2021 for an AU$3.69 million (US$2.48 million) award alongside seven different corporations or tasks centered on creating Australian assets and demanding minerals sector worth chains. The corporate at this time stated nearly all of that cash went in direction of the brand new plant’s improvement.
It was constructed by Western Australia-headquartered engineering group Primero. Primero has been handed a certificates of sensible completion by AVL. Which means the Primero development crew can now hand the plant over for commissioning, which is anticipated to be accomplished early subsequent yr.
AVL can be creating main vanadium manufacturing and processing capabilities, constructing a processing hub geared toward producing 13,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide flake a yr, and is then trying to construct a vanadium mine, each additionally in Western Australia. The latter has been designated a undertaking of nationwide significance and is being fast-tracked by the federal government.
Entry to electrolyte holds key to market
Whereas vanadium redox circulation batteries are thought-about a confirmed know-how for delivering massive capability vitality storage assets with fewer limits on storage length and cycle life than lithium-ion, VRFBs are dearer to purchase upfront, and circulation battery producers should not have as effectively established provide chains to leverage because the extra frequent lithium applied sciences.
With the ability to entry enough vanadium electrolyte if demand for VRFBs takes off as some have anticipated could also be a problem, and the electrolyte is often considered the most costly element of a circulation battery. In a Visitor Weblog for Vitality-Storage.information earlier this yr, Samantha McGahan, advertising supervisor for AVL, famous that the availability of electrolyte “is now enjoying an important position within the batteries’ market progress”.
The foremost producer is presently China, though the very best purity vanadium electrolyte is produced in Arkansas, US, by US Vanadium. McGahan identified that the Arkansas facility’s annual manufacturing capability is 4 million litres per yr, equal to about 60MWh of circulation battery capability, barely lower than twice that of AVL’s new manufacturing unit.
AVL has licensed its electrolyte manufacturing know-how from US Vanadium, with AVL holding unique rights to the method in Australia and New Zealand. AVL claimed that utilizing US Vanadium’s confirmed course of helped to de-risk the undertaking, whereas uncooked supplies will initially be sourced from the US maker’s Arkansas plant till AVL’s personal extraction services are up and operating.
AVL just isn’t alone in establishing electrolyte manufacturing in Australia: in June, Vecco Group, one other firm creating each circulation battery electrolyte manufacturing and first vanadium extraction services, opened a plant in Queensland.
Attended by state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the opening occasion came about at Vecco’s AU$26 million Townsville Vanadium Battery Manufacturing Facility, simply three months after the beginning of development was formally introduced in March.
The Townsville plant is anticipated to be significantly bigger than the AVL plant in Perth, with an preliminary 175MWh annual manufacturing capability of liquid electrolyte made with vanadium pentoxide, ramping as much as as a lot as 350MWh.
Elsewhere on the earth, different vanadium electrolyte processing vegetation are in improvement or development from main vanadium producers Bushveld Minerals and Largo Assets in South Africa and Brazil respectively.
Vitality-Storage.information’ writer Photo voltaic Media will host the first Vitality Storage Summit Australia, on 21-22 Could 2024 in Sydney, NSW. That includes a packed programme of panels, displays and hearth chats from trade leaders specializing in accelerating the marketplace for vitality storage throughout the nation. For extra info, go to the web site.