Renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy will enter a new period of development. However, the output power of photovoltaic power generation has great randomness. In order to ensure the normal operation of the whole photovoltaic power generation system, it is particularly important to introduce smooth power dynamics of energy storage system (ESS) to ensure electrical stability. As an energy storage device, flow batteries will develop in the direction of large-scale and modularization in the future. The flow battery system can easily realize computer automatic control and is an ideal smart battery. In addition, the combination of flow batteries with photovoltaic cells, wind power stations, tidal power stations, biogas power stations and other renewable energy systems is an important category and content in developing the application fields of flow batteries. As a new type of green battery, Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) has the advantages of flexible scale, good charge and discharge performance and long life. It is suitable for large-scale electric energy storage and has attracted wide attention in recent years. In this paper, the characteristics and applications of liquid flow battery and VRFB are summarized. This paper starts from introducing ESS, analyzing several types of flow batteries, and finally focusing on VRFB to analyze its technical characteristics and application market.