Battery - Vanadium Redox Flow

 http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2609&context=utk_chanhonoproj

May 2013

Economic Report on Vanadium Redox Flow Battery with Optimization of Flow Rate

Kevin Spellman University of Tennessee - Knoxville, kspellma@utk.edu

"Conclusions
Appendix D represents the conclusions of the economic analysis. After the inclusion of all capital costs, the 12 MW vanadium redox flow battery cannot be recommended for economic benefit currently. The massive capital costs associated with the project (table 16) are the major contributions to the annualized expense. Specifically the cost of Vanadium oxide causes the project to rapidly become unfeasible. The annualized expense of Vanadium is over $2 million. Also, the PCS equipment for power conversion contributes to the massive capital costs with over $6 million in capital. Thus, if the cost of these two capital expenses were lessoned then the project would likely be feasible economically.

Perhaps a used PCS system from a decommissioned power source could provide a cheaper alternative to the massive capital of a new system. However, the cost of vanadium shows no great alternatives. The only hope is that the cost of vanadium will continue to decrease with time. Vanadium still currently represents essentially the cheapest metal for use in a redox battery. However, $14.33/ kg is far from feasible because of the over $7 million in capital this price represents. As demand for vanadium increases across the world, additional mines could be constructed, increasing the availability and lowering the cost. Thus, only time could help make this project feasible due to the massive amounts of vanadium required for a 12 MW plant.

In the current scenario, though, VRFBs may become a necessary component of the grid due to the implementation of green power sources. Thus, under the most ideal scenario with 100% cycle availability the battery will lose $664,153.07 annually. In fact, even under the most ideal scenario, the price of the sold electricity would need to be raised approximately $.03/kWh (from the value of $.1576/kWh) simply to break even over the year."