American Vanadium commits to supply CellCube with 3 million liters of vanadium electrolyte per year over the next five years

According to reports, CellCube, a supplier of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), said a few days ago that it has reached a five-year agreement with American Vanadium to supply 3 million liters of electrolyte per year; in addition, the global safety certification body American Insurance Commercial Laboratories (UL) will conduct tests on Australian zinc-bromine flow battery manufacturer Redflow's zinc-bromine flow battery.

CellCube's deal with U.S. vanadium industry expands fivefold

After announcing its first partnership late last year, Cellcube has entered into a long-term supply guarantee agreement with American Vanadium, which has committed to supply CellCube with up to 3 million liters of vanadium electrolyte per year over the next five years.

The deal includes setting a price cap and expanding the size of the previous agreement, which would have supplied up to 580,000 litres of vanadium electrolyte per year. This will account for the majority of output at its production facility, which American Vanadium claims has an annual output of more than 4 million liters.

CellCube said the transaction was aimed at securing future business development in a challenging supply market. At the Energy Storage Summit 2022, the company's representatives said that compared with lithium batteries, which face supply constraints, all-vanadium flow battery supply is not so constrained, but still faces some challenges.

Mark A. Smith, CEO of American Vanadium, added, "This agreement reflects the rapid growth of the vanadium redox flow battery industry today and the supply of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) manufacturers by American Vanadium. 'Made in the USA' high-purity electrolyte capability."

Both companies said that market demand for all-vanadium flow batteries has been growing strongly, especially thanks to the growing microgrid market. The long-duration energy storage technology is being used in microgrids around the world, including recent microgrid pilot projects at utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG) in California and mines in South Africa.

California will be a hotbed for the vanadium flow battery energy storage market, with a single energy supplier owning 226MWh of vanadium flow battery energy storage systems.

American Vanadium claims that in addition to producing new electrolyte, the company is able to recycle spent electrolyte at a 97 percent recovery rate.

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) tests Redflow's zinc-bromine flow battery

Meanwhile, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will implement a test program with Australian zinc-bromine flow battery producer Redflow. Redflow said, "Testing a redox flow battery allows to understand its key technical attributes, study its cycle life and aging characteristics, and understand its overcharge, overdischarge and external short circuit conditions."

Testing of the six-block zinc-bromine liquid flow supplied by Redflow is scheduled to begin in January and will run for several months. Redflow said the research will enhance the fundamental knowledge surrounding zinc-bromine battery technology and enable interested parties to better compare the performance of zinc-bromine zinc-bromine flow batteries with other batteries.

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is the developer and publisher of the UL9540 product safety standard for battery energy storage systems and the UL9540A standard for large-scale fire testing of battery energy storage systems (BESS), both certifications for the energy storage industry today. Standard certification, in addition to the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 855 standard designed to mitigate fire hazards.

Redflow, which has been listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) since May 2018, found that the microgrid and off-grid markets were fertile ground for its products.

The company signed its largest order to date in December for a planned deployment of a 2MWh zinc-bromine flow battery energy storage system at a waste-to-energy facility in California.