Vanadium Flow Battery - the answer to PV batteries?

[Westbranch]

a Canadian co. called American Vanadium is developing a new battery concept called VFB, the Vanadium Flow Battery.  they were on the local news this evening, calling it the next best thing to sliced bread...  they may be right with a 30 year design life..
http://www.americanvanadium.com/vanadium-flow-batteries.php

[Westbranch]

more info :  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/dnnl-utv031711.php

[boB]

I heard about these vanadium batteries for many years now but haven't seen anything on the market that I know of.

I couldn't find much real information on this site or their links other than press releases.
I also can't find anywhere to actually buy one so I am very skeptical of these.

Beware of companies with an "Investors" pulldown menu on their home page.

boB

[laszlo]

Yeah, going with boB here, in the 10 years since I have been living with PV systems, I have seen so many vaporware  products and technologies that one can't buy, or snake-oil type of stuff that one can buy, but they are cheaply put together and don't work. I'd wait until I can buy these vanadium batteries before I'd get excited. If this was commercially feasible, the hybrid car makers would be all over it.

[Westbranch]

Here is a link to a commercial size seller, they are out there but a 20Kwh unit weighs 6600 pounds, a bit large for a car.
http://www.pdenergy.com/index.html

Add:  found a thread from Australia that gives some good insights about the ' new technology development process '  starts with posting # 32 outlining the posters view on VRB history.
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/31633-Near-magic-engine-runs-on-the-heat-of-your-hand./page3

[boB]

Here is a link to a commercial size seller, they are out there but a 20Kwh unit weighs 6600 pounds, a bit large for a car.
http://www.pdenergy.com/index.html

Add:  found a thread from Australia that gives some good insights about the ' new technology development process '  starts with posting # 32 outlining the posters view on VRB history.
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/31633-Near-magic-engine-runs-on-the-heat-of-your-hand./page3

Ahhhh...   Yes, it actually DOES look real !   And real specifications as well !   I saw the specification brochure on the Prudent's site.

I probably won't be getting any of these anytime soon, but it looks real.

Thanks for the links !  We'll be watching the future of these.   I thought I had heard of Vanadium batteries for many years,
and these guys say they have been around since 1996.

Those aquious batteries also look promising (maybe) but have a very wide voltage charge/discharge range
so a slightly different inverter will have to be made.

boB

[Westbranch]

Hi boB, there is also the Zinc-Bromine  guys at RedFlow,  Oz also, that have production units in play.  base module is 5Kw rate and 10Kwh (220Ah) http://www.redflow.com.au/apps_telcos_T510

Also a unit sent to Sandia labs Dec 2011
http://newwebchart.weblink.com.au/clients/redflow/article.asp?asx=RFX&view=4238286

[Westbranch]

Sent an email to Prudent VRB. asked about the potential for  weight reduction, now ~6600 #   and "looking for a ~2Kw 5 Kwh size unit.  Do you foresee your company building a unit of this size?"

their reply:

The volume hence weight issue is a primary driver of our development efforts. Both on space, weight and of course cost... if we make this breakthrough, well then the VRB technology would be a complete game changer for storage on all levels.


At this stage we do not wish to compete in the less than 5kW x 20kWh market.