Lithium - Limitations
Lithium batteries have emerged as a dependable storage medium for EVs, small to medium scale power storages like homes & offices
However, when it comes to Industries, Lithium does not fit in
- Lithium (or Lead Acid) is not suitable for long duration discharge. Lithium is good to store few hours (1 or 2 hrs) of energy. Industry or utility applications require days/weeks of energy storage.
- Capacity: Lithium cannot increase storage (kWt-hr) without increasing power (kwt). Which means one cannot have a lithium battery that can generate, say, 40 kWT for 10 hrs.
- Fire Hazards
- Cost
- Life 10 -15 years
- Limited cycles : Up to 3000 cycles
Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries
- Developed by NASA (Lawrence Thalle) in 1976 supported by U.S. Department of Energy
- Designed with intent to store huge amount of energy for a very long time
- When used with solar/wind, this can replace generators / utility power. Solar/Wind power is stored for times when Sun/Wind is not available.
- Infinite cycles
- 25+ years of life
- Suitable for high storage applications – eg 200 kVA with days/weeks/months of backup
Is this Technology Mature?
Major Installations across the world
Name | Commissioning date | Energy (MWh) | Power (MW) | Duration (hours) | Country |
Minami Hayakita Substation | December 2015 | 60 | 15 | 4 | Japan |
Pfinztal, Baden-Württemberg | September 2019 | 20 | 2 | 10 | Germany |
Woniushi, Liaoning | 10 | 5 | 2 | China | |
Tomamae Wind Farm | 2005 | 6 | 4 | 1:30 | Japan |
Zhangbei Project | 2016 | 8 | 2 | 4 | China |
SnoPUD MESA 2 Project | March 2017 | 8 | 2 | 4 | USA |
San Miguel Substation | 2017 | 8 | 2 | 4 | USA |
Pullman Washington | April 2015 | 4 | 1 | 4 | USA |
Dalian Battery | Sep 2022 | 400 | 100 | 4 | China |
Dalian Flow Battery / 400 MWh / China
- World’s largest Flow Battery connected to grid
- Powers the entire city
- Connected to Solar and Wind generators
- Phase 1 – Completed on 29-Sep-2022
Is this Technology Available in India?
VRFB in India
- One of the few countries in the world that manufactures Redox Flow Batteries (although majority is exported out of the country)
- Being exported to Gulf Countries, Australia, Canada And United States
- First installation in India has completed 3 years of seamless experience
- Multiple installations across the country since then
- Works in harsh environment at low temperature of even -35 degrees
- Repeat order from Indian Army & government-owned Power Corporations
Indian Army
Indian Army in its quest for harnessing renewable energy for its troops inaugurated the First Green Solar Energy harnessing plant of 56 KVA using Vanadium based battery technology in North Sikkim, at an altitude of 16000 ft
Agra EV Charging Station / 15kWT 40kWH
EV Charging Station powered 24×7 by clean energy (PV + Flow Battery ESS). Charging everything under the roof from the latest Tata Nexon to a retrofitted Mahindra Scorpio to a quintessential tuk-tuk with Zero Carbon.
The agri-dairy farm in Dayalbagh is a true example of how age-old sustainable living in India can work together with the latest technologies
Large Mining Site / 200MW+ Captive
Flow Battery installation at a large mining site in India for one of world’s largest natural resources co.
It’s a pilot project housed inside a 200 MW+ captive power plant to demonstrate the use-case of our Energy Storage product in reducing the losses associated with day-ahead forecasting and scheduling of power
Commercial
- Rs 36000/- per kWt-hr (excluding GST & transportation).
- At par with price of Lithium battery (~30,000/- per kWt-hr)
- Double the price of lead acid battery (Lead Acid ~ 15,000/- per kWt-hr
- But life is 10 times that of lead acid and 3 times that of Lithium
- Number of cycles of Lead Acid is 500 while cycles of lithium battery is 5000. RFB has unlimited cycles.
- Depth of discharge is 100% (Lead Acid = 70%, Lithium = 90%)
