Tivan bought the world’s largest hard rock vanadium deposit from King River Resources in February and plans to develop a vanadium processing business and ultimately VRFB battery-making business in the Northern Territory’s Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct.
But how can they overcome their current cost disadvantage? The CSIRO’s road map puts the levelised cost – or all-up capital and operating cost – of VRFB battery storage at just under 45¢ per kilowatt-hour in 2025, compared to just over 25¢/KWh for lithium-ion; by 2050 it sees these numbers at 25¢/KWh and just under 15¢/KWh.
But, it says, zinc bromine flow batteries are still “sitting at the pilot-scale demonstration stage” – based on Redflow’s 2 MWh existing system in California – and “it is unclear whether” they will be able to meet medium-duration grid storage demand by 2030. It isn’t clear whether Redflow’s latest contract win would change CSIRO’s assessment.