An historical overview of the vanadium redox flow battery development at the University of New South Wales, Australia

摘要

The Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRB) was pioneered in the School of Chemical Engineering & Industrial Chemistry at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where it has been under development since 1984. The use of two vanadium solutions to store energy provides the VRB with many advantages compared to conventional batteries and other redox flow batteries. Unlike the Regenesys S/Br system, there are no problems of cross-contamination of the electrolytes and electrolyte maintenance is a simple as periodically remixing the solutions. The high-energy efficiencies make it ideally suited to a wide range of stationary applications including load leveling, renewable energy storage and emergency back-up systems for reliable power needs. In 1998, the VRB technology was sold to the Australian company Pinnacle VRB. In the last few years, commercial interest in the technology has grown significantly, with several large installations. Already commissioned in Japan, Italy and South Africa by Pinnacle licensees Mitsubishi Chemicals, Sumitomo Electric Corporation and Vanteck VRB. This paper will describe the important features and advantages of the VRB and will provide a historical overview of its development since 1984. An update will also be given on the commercial installations that have been recently commissioned and being planned around the world.