A vanadium redox flow battery will be trailed in south east Queensland as material support to Vecco Group’s efforts to establish an electrolyte manufacturing plant.
Vecco Group’s $26 million facility has been officially opened in Townsville as Energy Queensland commits to trial the energy storage capacity the technology offers.
She wants to see vanadium mined, processed and made into vanadium batteries in Queensland, says Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“This is just the beginning of the manufacturing and mining jobs boom that our investment in CopperString 2032 delivers for North Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk says.
“Queensland has unique deposits of many of the minerals needed for the global energy transformation, along with the best mining and manufacturing workforce.”
Vecco Group managing director Tom Northcott says vanadium flow batteries would play a significant role in the Queensland SuperGrid.
Vecco Group expects to see deployments of this proven technology accelerate as the local supply chain expanded, Mr Northcott says.
Energy Queensland has inked a deal to trial a vanadium battery with Vecco produced electrolyte and Sumitomo Electric battery hardware.
Energy Queensland and Vecco Group will also work together to assess the benefits and technical considerations for connecting more vanadium batteries to the electricity network.
Major mine-to-grid supply chain opportunity
The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) congratulated Vecco on the deal describing vanadium flow batteries as Australia’s opportunity to establish the full battery supply chain.
“Development of a mine-to-grid supply chain for Queensland is the industry equivalent of running the full field to score,” says AMEC chief executive officer Warren Pearce.
“AMEC also commends Energy Queensland and the Queensland Government for deploying the vanadium flow battery and taking the next step in firming up a pit to grid battery supply chain.”
The remote areas of Julia Creek and Richmond hosted some of the richest vanadium deposits globally, he says.
Geoscience Australia data shows that Australia has 31 per cent of global vanadium and the potential to be the No.2 global supplier.
Townsville MP and Resources Minister Scott Stewart said there was enormous potential for vanadium mining and production in North Queensland.
Vanadium redox battery (VRB) systems offer advantages over lithium-ion batteries including a longer life with very high charging and discharging
cycles possible.
VRB systems can also fully discharge, and charge, without damaging the battery and have negligible capacity degradation over time.
In addition to its Townsville electrolyte plant, Vecco Group is advancing the Debella critical minerals project near Julia Creek, with substantial backing from Idemitsu Australia.
The project is targeting production in 2024 of vanadium, rare earth elements and high purity alumina.