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

Abstract

SUMMARYThe 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.

An Inexpensive Aqueous Flow Battery for Large-Scale Electrical Energy Storage Based on Water-Soluble Organic Redox Couples

“…The vanadium redox flow battery is one such battery technology that has reached an advanced level of development for grid-scale applications. 5 However, the limited resources of vanadium, the high expense associated with the cell materials, and the toxicity hazard of using large quantities of soluble vanadium, have been the major challenges to the widespread adoption of the vanadium redox flow battery. 2,6,7 Aiming to overcome these disadvantages, we have demonstrated for the first time an aqueous redox flow battery that uses water-soluble organic redox couples at both electrodes that are metal-free.…”

Electrode Kinetics of Vanadium Flow Batteries: Contrasting Responses of VII-VIIIand VIV-VVto Electrochemical Pretreatment of Carbon

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Active areas of research include cell design and modelling, [7][8][9] performance and state-of-charge monitoring, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] coulombic and energy efficiencies, 5,17,18 electrolytes, [11][12][13][14][15][16]19,20 membranes, 4,21 and electrodes. Cells typically have porous carbon electrodes and electrode performance can depend strongly on electrode treatment.…”

Energy in buildings—Policy, materials and solutions

“…The concept is based on liquid metal electrodes and a molten salt electrolyte and was developed for medium-scale stationary storage applications. 169 Despite the somewhat lower energy density, the technology uses low-cost components and a design that can yield lifetimes >10,000 cycles, assuming that cell sealing and material durability issues can be solved.…”