First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the first of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe learns what the flow battery industry faces in the fight for commercialisation.

Solar is easy to explain. Sunlight hits panels, electricity hits grid. Then come the inevitable questions about using power when the sun doesn’t hit the panels, about batteries and the well-rehearsed explanation comes that yes, while it would be great to use solar power 24/7, we’re just not there yet with the cost of technologies as they are, for the most part.

So the more complex explanation follows that lithium batteries are being deployed at large-scale to store energy for short periods of time, to deliver frequency regulation, or to remove specific hours of a peak demand period. A market need for long-duration storage remains elusive outside of specific circumstances such as remote grids where batteries and PV are replacing expensive diesel. Providers of flow batteries would beg to differ.

While acknowledging that lithium’s head start from a mass production perspective and other factors contribute to a higher capex overall for flow, flow energy storage providers are quick to point out the long lifetimes of their machines, the low cost of their raw materials, the comparative lack of fire hazard and associated balance-of-system costs and sheer ability to store huge amounts of energy, rather than power, mean flow could be the cost-effective long-duration choice of the renewables industry.

“People used to ask us what we needed the fifth hour for and now they ask if we can go to 10 hours,” Jorg Heinemann, chief commercial officer at Primus Power says.

Heinemann joined zinc bromine stationary energy storage maker Primus Power after eight years developing utility-scale PV with SunPower, believing long-duration storage to be the natural next step for renewable energy. Customers that have large amounts of solar PV are now approaching Primus with the intent to use solar-plus-storage as peaker replacements and to use behind-the-meter battery assets to offset transmission and distribution (T&D) investment costs.

“That’s beyond four hours [of storage], that means putting in a request for five, six or even eight hours, to take renewable power and add it to the storage and you’ve eliminated the need for a peaker. That last wave of use cases, T&D deferral, gas peaker replacement, heavy duty renewable extension,those are new, at least new to us. People have talked about them in theory, we’re now getting those active requests.

In California, where Primus is headquartered, lithium batteries have now been deployed to provide capacity in the wake of natural gas plant retirements and questions over security of supply following the Aliso Canyon gas leak, marking a milestone for batteries to be used on the grid for more than short-term balancing services. The state’s main investor-owned utilities now also have to include consideration of four-hour duration energy storage in their Resource Adequacy Plans. Other parts of the world are moving there faster, with various dispatchable solar projects announced in recent months.

MGX Minerals Inc. (“MGX” or the “Company”) (CSE:XMG) (FKT:1MG) (OTCQB:MGXMF) is pleased to report that its 100% wholly-owned subsidiary ZincNyx Energy Solutions, Inc. (“ZincNyx”) has quadrupled the capacity of its fuel cell modules (stacks).

The ZincNyx zinc-air flow battery is comprised of three main modules- a regenerator module that uses electricity to charge particles of zinc, a fuel tank where the zinc particles are stored until needed, and a fuel cell module that uses zinc particles to generate electricity (see Figure 1).

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/32fea394-9e31-4e54-9f68-f1dcbadad3fa

Fuel Cell Module

The fuel cell module is comprised of a stack of identical cells. In the original implementation of the stack, each cell was capable of generating 100 Amps at approximately 1 Volt. A stack of 12 cells connected in series was thus able to generate 100 Amps at 12 volts, or approximately 1.25 kW.

The latest development of this technology doubles the area of each cell and enables up to 24 cells to be connected in series, thereby quadrupling the output capacity of a stack to 5 kW (200 Amps at 24 Volts nominal). An additional improvement incorporated in this iteration of the design is a streamlined electrolyte path that reduces load on the fuel pump. The new stack is designed for injection molding and die-casting from the outset, thereby reducing the cost to manufacture the unit.

“This development is a further illustration of the flexibility of the ZincNyx system,” said ZincNyx President and CEO Suresh Singh. “Advances can be made to each component of the system without requiring simultaneous changes to the other components. In this case, the power generation capacity is increased without requiring simultaneous changes to the power regeneration capacity or the energy storage capacity.”

Background

ZincNyx has developed a patented regenerative zinc-air flow battery that efficiently stores energy in the form of zinc particles and contains none of the traditional high cost battery commodities such as lithium, vanadium, or cobalt. The technology allows for low-cost mass storage of energy and can be deployed into a wide range of applications.

Unlike conventional batteries, which have a fixed energy/power ratio, ZincNyx’s technology uses a fuel tank system that offers flexible energy/power ratios and scalability. The storage capacity is directly tied to the size of the fuel tank and the quantity of recharged zinc fuel, making scalability a major advantage of the flow battery system. In addition, a further major advantage of the zinc-air flow battery is the ability to charge and discharge simultaneously and at different maximum charge or discharge rates since each of the charge and discharge circuits is separate and independent. Other types of standard and flow batteries are limited to a maximum charge and discharge by the total number of cells as there is no separation of the charge, discharge and storage components.

Vanadium needs Elon Musk or another big player in the global battery market to get behind the metal in order to share center stage with other energy-storage components such as lithium and cobalt.

“When we get that moment, we’re off to the races,” Vincent Algar, managing director of Australian Vanadium Ltd., said in an interview at a mining conference in Hong Kong. The industry needs a Tesla Inc. or Panasonic Corp. to say “we like vanadium-flow batteries and we want to make them in addition to lithium-ion batteries,” he said.

The world’s biggest lithium-ion battery was installed in record time in Australia last year after billionaire Musk successfully bet he could help solve an energy crisis in the Pacific nation by deploying his Tesla technology to plug a supply gap.

Vanadium, mainly used in steelmaking, can also be used in industrial-scale batteries, which help to even out daily peaks and troughs from renewables such as wind energy. The move to green energy could create a new market and start a scramble for supply, according to BMO Capital Markets.

Read more about vanadium here

Vanadium-flow batteries are robust, long-lasting, can operate in all temperatures and don’t degrade internally, said Algar, who wants to have at least 20 percent of output from his company’s Gabanintha project in Western Australia going into the battery market.

Inventories are decreasing and prices have been rising since mid-2016 because of surging demand from China, the world’s biggest steel producer.

A pre-feasibility study is expected to be completed by mid-2018 and the company will start to look toward financing and construction of its plant in mid-2019 with a capex of A$350 million ($270 million), according to Algar. Production may begin early 2021, he said.

Australian Vanadium is looking to produce about 5,000 to 6,000 metric tons, which would account for about 5 percent to 6 percent of global market share, and just over 10,000 tons of vanadium pentoxide, a powder form of the metal, said Algar.

A cautionary tale

Flow batteries haven’t been around as long as lithium or lead acid batteries, but everyone, it seems, has heard of them, ever since the technology came down to earth from a NASA programme a few decades back and into ‘civilian’ and corporate hands. It’s been predicted for some time that the redox flow energy storage space will, after some turmoil and rapid consolidation, find success in providing energy storage at durations of more than four hours. This past couple of weeks have been a tale of both turmoil and success.

A cautionary tale

PORTLAND, Ore., March 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ESS Inc., a leading manufacturer of safe, low-cost and long-duration energy storage systems, announced today that it will deliver two Energy Warehouse (EW) flow battery systems to Germany. The two 50 kW / 400 kWh batteries mark the company’s first deployments in Europe, setting the stage for active market development on the continent.

The EW energy storage systems will be shipped to BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, which also recently made a significant investment in ESS. “We are pleased to receive orders from companies like BASF, and to establish our footprint in the European market,” said Craig Evans, founder and CEO of ESS Inc. “The purchase of these systems shows the industry’s confidence in our technology and our business. We look forward to continued collaboration with BASF, and to serving other major clients in the exciting European market.”

“Taking delivery of two ESS Energy Warehouse systems will create a working relationship that will enable us to gain first-hand experience with the technology,” said Olaf Rogge, Head of Sales and Marketing Energy Storage, BASF New Business. “We look forward to collaborating on energy storage applications and learnings in the future.”

ESS Inc. is exhibiting this week at Energy Storage Europe in Dusseldorf from March 13-15; Hall 08B, stand E02.