Ivanhoe Electric’s cleantech subsidiary VRB Energy has entered into a joint venture with a Chinese investment firm to help scale up the production of its VRB-ESS vanadium redox flow battery systems, as well as set up a new US-based manufacturing site.
VRB estimates that these production lines combined will provide approximately 10 times the production capacity of its existing facility. The batteries will be sold mainly to the Asia, Middle East and Africa markets. “Red Sun’s support and investment allows us to scale production, drive innovation, and deliver impactful solutions to meet market demand while shaping the future of energy storage,” said Charles Ge, chief executive officer of VRB Energy, which is 90% owned by Ivanhoe Electric.
In addition to the formation of the JV, Ivanhoe Electric and VRB will also establish a separate US-based vanadium redox battery business, to be located in Arizona, after restructuring VRB’s intellectual property and transferring its US patents from the JV back to VRB. According to Ivanhoe, the Arizona facility will be capable of producing 50 megawatts per year of VRB-ESS batteries.