Good things come in threes

As the US and countries across the globe look to move away from fossil fuels and toward more sustainable sources of power, investments in clean energy generation are in the spotlight. The International Energy Agency estimates low-emissions electricity technologies will account for more than 90% of power generation investment in 2023,¹ and energy companies are quickly improving their wind and solar capture ca-pabilities. However, capture is only the first step in building a more sustainable, energy-secure future for the US. Governments must also invest in solutions to store clean energy, ensuring it is accessible 24/7, even when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.

Recent initiatives, such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Invest and Jobs Act (IIJA), play a key role in expanding US energy storage capabilities. The IRA, for instance, provides US$60 billion in funding for clean energy research and infrastructure, including a tax credit for standalone and solar-powered storage technology – rather than requiring it be paired with energy generation technology to qualify.

For their part, energy storage system manufacturers are developing a wide variety of battery technologies capable of short, medium, and long-term duration storage. They are finding new ways to expand the capacity of long-standing battery chemistries, taking advantage of today’s cutting-edge solutions, and investigating use cases for promising new technologies. A variety of battery chemistries will be needed to meet storage demand in the coming years – so vanadium, advanced lead, and lithium will each play a key role in the clean energy revolution.

This article will take a deeper look at each chemistry and its clean energy applications.

The future: Vanadium redox flow batteries

A newer technology on the energy storage scene is the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), which is a good fit for the longer durations needed by renewables. Often, solar panels generate more energy during the day than is needed, and the same is true of wind turbines at night. Rather than risk either wasted energy or curtailment, renewable energy generators instead are using battery energy storage systems (BESS) that can hold energy when demand is low and then discharge it when demand surges past renewable generation, a process called energy shifting. These BESS must be able to discharge energy continuously for four to 12 hours at a time.

VRFB technology can meet that need, making them ideal for applications where energy security is critical, such as military, telecommunications, and healthcare institutions, as well as for utility grid support.

VRFB offers uses cases beyond energy shifting – for example, energy resiliency and increased renewables integration, as well as offering voltage support and frequency regulation for the grid – and additional use case research is underway. Snapping Shoals EMC, a Georgia utility provider for some of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, is testing VRFB and its ability to help the company store clean energy for its 100 000+ residential and business customers.² This demo project – a 20 kW, 120 kWh system – is proving the capabilities for VRFB technology in utility use cases such as energy cost control, peak shaving, and avoiding curtailment.

VRFBs have several key advantages over other types of BESS. For instance, VRFB systems support a near-limitless cycle life with proper maintenance and high-capacity stability, lasting more than 20 years without the electrolyte losing energy storage capacity. With such a long lifespan, these battery systems can match the lifetime of the renewables they are paired with, thus providing a sustainable energy storage solution for on-demand power needs.

Additionally, the electrolyte in VRFB systems is infinitely recyclable, which adds to its long-term advantage as a domestically available source of vanadium for generations to come.

Another major differentiator of VRFB is safety. Thermal runaway is not a risk, and so there is no need to space out battery modules. Given its mostly aqueous nature, VRFB systems are flame resistant, and the electrolyte can be stored in large vertical silos for compact siting.

The next step toward making VRFB a leading storage solution will be continuing to build the technology’s US domestic supply chain. Manufacturers have made this effort a priority, striving to set up the same type of circular economy that the industry uses for lead. For the VRFB at Snapping Shoals, the electrolyte was manufactured in Maryland, and the system was assembled in Georgia. The domestic vanadium energy storage industry is fast becoming scalable, domestically available, sustainable, safe, and resilient.

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For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global's Winter 2023 issue

The Winter 2023 issue of Energy Global hosts an array of technical articles weather analysis, geothermal solutions, energy storage technology, and more. This issue also features a regional report looking at the future of renewables in North America, and a report from Théodore Reed-Martin, Editorial Assistant, Energy Global, on how Iceland utilises its unique geology for renewable energy.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/special-reports/28122023/good-things-come-in-threes/