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Development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery for energy storage: a review of technological, financial and policy aspects

Development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery for energy storage: a review of technological, financial and policy aspects
Development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery for energy storage: a review of technological, financial and policy aspects
The commercial development and current economic incentives associated with energy storage using redox flow batteries (RFBs) are summarised. The analysis is focused on the all-vanadium system, which is the most studied and widely commercialised RFB. The recent expiry of key patents relating to the electrochemistry of this battery has contributed to significant levels of commercialisation in, for example, Austria, China and Thailand, as well as pilot-scale developments in many countries. The potential benefits of increasing battery-based energy storage for electricity grid load levelling and MW-scale wind/solar photovoltaic-based power generation are now being realised at an increasing level. Commercial systems are being applied to distributed systems utilising kW-scale renewable energy flows. Factors limiting the uptake of all-vanadium (and other) redox flow batteries include a comparatively high overall internal costs of $217?kW?1?h?1 and the high cost of stored electricity of ? $0.10?kW?1?h?1. There is also a low-level utility scale acceptance of energy storage solutions and a general lack of battery-specific policy-led incentives, even though the environmental impact of RFBs coupled to renewable energy sources is favourable, especially in comparison to natural gas- and diesel-fuelled spinning reserves. Together with the technological and policy aspects associated with flow batteries, recent attempts to model redox flow batteries are considered. The issues that have been addressed using modelling together with the current and future requirements of modelling are outlined.
cost analysis, energy storage, redox flow battery, vanadium, energy policy, modelling
0363-907X
Kear, Gareth
d256bfd3-02ba-46ab-a4f1-03719dd9485c
Shah, Akeel
0ecbdd7a-88dc-486e-bf2b-7daea81477a5
Walsh, Frank C.
309528e7-062e-439b-af40-9309bc91efb2
Kear, Gareth
d256bfd3-02ba-46ab-a4f1-03719dd9485c
Shah, Akeel
0ecbdd7a-88dc-486e-bf2b-7daea81477a5
Walsh, Frank C.
309528e7-062e-439b-af40-9309bc91efb2

Kear, Gareth, Shah, Akeel and Walsh, Frank C. (2011) Development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery for energy storage: a review of technological, financial and policy aspects. International Journal of Energy Research. (doi:10.1002/er.1863).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The commercial development and current economic incentives associated with energy storage using redox flow batteries (RFBs) are summarised. The analysis is focused on the all-vanadium system, which is the most studied and widely commercialised RFB. The recent expiry of key patents relating to the electrochemistry of this battery has contributed to significant levels of commercialisation in, for example, Austria, China and Thailand, as well as pilot-scale developments in many countries. The potential benefits of increasing battery-based energy storage for electricity grid load levelling and MW-scale wind/solar photovoltaic-based power generation are now being realised at an increasing level. Commercial systems are being applied to distributed systems utilising kW-scale renewable energy flows. Factors limiting the uptake of all-vanadium (and other) redox flow batteries include a comparatively high overall internal costs of $217?kW?1?h?1 and the high cost of stored electricity of ? $0.10?kW?1?h?1. There is also a low-level utility scale acceptance of energy storage solutions and a general lack of battery-specific policy-led incentives, even though the environmental impact of RFBs coupled to renewable energy sources is favourable, especially in comparison to natural gas- and diesel-fuelled spinning reserves. Together with the technological and policy aspects associated with flow batteries, recent attempts to model redox flow batteries are considered. The issues that have been addressed using modelling together with the current and future requirements of modelling are outlined.

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Published date: 24 May 2011
Keywords: cost analysis, energy storage, redox flow battery, vanadium, energy policy, modelling
Organisations: Engineering Science Unit

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 196457
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/196457
ISSN: 0363-907X
PURE UUID: 86e0c335-f9f6-4a56-9da7-dbe1c82d1b92

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Date deposited: 07 Sep 2011 11:23
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:07

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Contributors

Author: Gareth Kear
Author: Akeel Shah
Author: Frank C. Walsh

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