Vanadium "redox flow " batteries, the secret to cheaper electricity?

[bob10]

Amazing stuff, Bob.


BBC News - Vanadium: The metal that may soon be powering your neighbourhood (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27829874)

[bee utey]

King Island got one way back in 2003 but it stopped working.

Vanadium Redox Battery restoration | King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project (http://www.kingislandrenewableenergy.com.au/project-information/vrbr)

[JDNSW]

There have been breakthroughs in battery technology every couple of years for at least the last fifty years - and the net resulting improvements in batteries for this sort of use - almost zero!

This might be the long anticipated breakthrough - but I am not holding my breath.

And if the key facts in the article are as accurate as some of the other "facts", forget it. Henry Ford certainly used Vanadium in the Ford T, and this was one of the key reasons for its success - but the one part of the vehicle it was not used in was the body, as is claimed in this article. It was used in the chassis and all the forgings - axle, stub axles, steering arms, prop shaft, half axles etc., allowing it to be stronger and lighter than if carbon steel had been used.

John

[Rurover]

In fact the first viable working Vanadium Redox Flow battery was invented by a woman at the University of NSW some 30 years ago. Vanadium redox battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As I understand it, its big potential is in large scale power generation systems, where it's a pretty robust system compared with conventional battery systems.

UNSW is still working on improving the technology, but I'm not sure when it may go fully commercial.

Let's hope the environmental troglodytes in the current Federal Government don't kill off this program as they continue to dismantle our renewable energy sector!

Alan

[bob10]

Henry used vanadium in the model N, before the model T. The problem at the time was the furnace for the steel had to reach a temp. of 3,000 degrees, . [ BTW, the article says it made the body lighter, not the body was made of it] Bob


"Charles E. Sorensen always dated the inspiration for the Model T Ford from Henry's experiments with vanadium and heat-treated steels. These had demonstrated how it was possible to build a car that was stronger, lighter, and faster than any that had been built before, and while these new steel alloys were first tried out in parts of the Model N, they were now to be deployed much more ambitiously in the "completely new job" that was taking shape behind the locked door at the top northern end of Piquette Avenue."

[bob10]

The Americans, as usual, seem to be ahead of the pack on this technology, Bob


Corporate Videos | American Vanadium (http://www.americanvanadium.com/videos.php)




American Vanadium to Install Battery System in New York - Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-23/american-vanadium-to-install-battery-system-in-new-york.html)

[bob10]

This is interesting, guess you would have to say these batteries are the real deal. Bob



Vanadium Batteries

The batteries are capable of storing 130 kilowatt-hours each. They are produced by DMG Mori Seiki AG (GIL) (http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GIL:GR)’s Gildemeister unit, which has installed 50 of the systems under the brand name CellCube, Radvak said.
The CellCube batteries use vanadium dissolved in sulfuric acid. Unlike standard lead-acid batteries or the lithium-ion units used by Tesla, they can be recharged and discharged indefinitely and may last as long as 20 years, Radvak said.

“The system excels at multiple hours of energy for long-duration requirements,” he said. “It’s also very safe. It can’t light on fire. The difficulty has been commercializing it.”
American Vanadium intends to mine ore in Nevada (http://topics.bloomberg.com/nevada/) and expects to receive an environmental permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management this year, Radvak said. It has a supply deal with Gildemeister and an agreement to market the batteries in North America (http://topics.bloomberg.com/north-america/).



To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net (jpolson@bloomberg.net)

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net (susanwarren@bloomberg.net) Will Wade, Tina Davis