Energy storage field will be the next track of lithium battery, vanadium battery, is expected to overtake at corners

The future development prospect of the new energy + energy storage model is clear.Electrochemical energy storage, as the fastest growing segment of energy storage technology, continues to be favored by investors.

Previously, we have systematically introduced the situation of overseas energy storage, which can attack jade.Today, I will extend upstream to open the black box of electrochemical energy storage and take you a look at whether there are other technologies worth paying attention to besides the lithium-ion battery energy storage, which is already known to the public.

One, vanadium battery, is expected to overtake at the corners

In April last year, a fire broke out at the 25MWh DC optical storage and charging integrated power station in Jimei, Beijing, killing two people. After the accident investigation, the lithium-ion battery had a heat out of control.

After the fire accident, the author also made statistics that in the past three years, the number of fires in energy storage projects worldwide is not less than 30.Behind this accident, people can not help but ask, in addition to lithium-ion battery energy storage, is there no Plan B?

Energy storage power station fire accident

Although lithium-ion batteries currently occupy the vast majority of the market share of electrochemical energy storage, but energy storage has not been commercialized on a large scale, and it is difficult to say who hands will die.In this context, vanadium batteries have gradually come into the public eye as a safer and longer-life battery.

The current application proportion of vanadium batteries is not high

Vanadium cell, which is a redox renewable fuel cell based on metal vanadium elements.The cost of vanadium batteries mainly comes from the reactor (battery stack, connecting a series of batteries) and the electrolyte, which cost close to 80% of the total cost.

Operating principle of charging and discharge of vanadium battery

In the electrolyte, the main cost is vanadium pentoxide, so the fluctuation of the vanadium price still has a great impact on the vanadium battery.The author checked that this year's imported vanadium pentoxide prices rose steadily (as of the end of November last year, the price was about US $19,000 / ton).The main cost of the reactor mainly comes from the diaphragm such as materials.

Looking back on the development history of vanadium battery, you will find that this vanadium battery is not a day or two days old.

In 1995, the Institute of Engineering Physics first started the development of vanadium batteries.Six years later, overseas VRB Power companies began commercializing its vanadium batteries.We say that advanced technology and experience can often be obtained through epitaxial mergers and acquisitions.In 2009, China Canon successfully acquired VRB Power, another classic case of exchanging capital for technology.Last year, the Temple issued the guidance on energy storage development, but also to promote the commercialization of all vanadium flow batteries.

After talking so much, where are the advantages of vanadium batteries over lithium-ion batteries?There are four following main points:

1. Vanadium batteries have a smaller temper.The battery system has no potential explosion or fire risk and high safety (without any flammable solvent);

2. Vanadium battery has long-lived characteristics. The active substance of vanadium battery exists in the electrolyte, and the electrolyte ion is only one kind vanadium ion, so there is no common material phase change of other batteries when charging and discharging.The vanadium battery module in the longest running time of the commercial demonstration of the Canadian VRB Power company has been operating normally for more than 9 years, and the charging and discharge cycle life is more than 18,000 times;

3. Vanadium batteries do not need to worry people too much.The operation and maintenance is simple and convenient, and the recovery value is high. Although vanadium is expensive, but to a set of data, if the recovery rate of vanadium battery electrolyte can reach 90%, the cost of vanadium battery electrolyte is only 10% of the initial input cost;

4. Vanadium battery design is very flexible.When the output power of a battery is certain, to increase the energy storage capacity (such as exceeding GWH), simply increase the capacity of the electrolyte storage tank or increase the electrolyte concentration, which is difficult to achieve for lithium-ion batteries (different battery states for different stages).

5.

Two, the cost of vanadium battery, how much room to decline?

Marx has long told us that everything should be viewed dialectically, especially at the cost.

Vanadium battery if excellent in all aspects, there is no lithium ion battery anything.Business society, capital is ultimately profit-seeking.The biggest problem at now is that the cost is too high.Vanadium liquid flow batteries cost 2-3 times more expensive than lithium batteries and 4-6 times more than lead-acid batteries.

Therefore, the cost of vanadium battery still has a lot of room to decline.

As noted above, the cost of vanadium batteries mainly comes from electrolytes and reactors.In terms of electrolyte, V pentoxide can reduce the cost of the whole life cycle through future recovery technology. In the reactor, according to the author found that various institutions have started to reduce cost research, for example, the development of welded porous ion conduction membrane reduces the use area by 30% and the total cost of the reactor by 40%.

Some institutions have given a cost reduction forecast, and it is expected that vanadium battery costs will fall to 2000 yuan / KWh within five years, and drop to 1300 yuan / KWh within ten years.If this cost reduction speed can really be achieved, the biggest obstacle to the commercial application of vanadium batteries will be removed.Even vanadium battery inventors have come to serve the vanadium battery energy storage platform.

Does Lao Wang boast melons, or is it true?Time will tell us the answer.

In addition, the author would like to emphasize that compared with lithium resources, China's reserves are still relatively rich in vanadium resources, accounting for 46.9% of the global reserves.Therefore, compared with lithium batteries to collect overseas acquisitions and resources, the future development of vanadium batteries in China does not have to look at the face of other countries.

In the gradual maturity of technology + rich upstream resources + the road of cost reduction is smooth, the scale of China's vanadium battery energy storage projects has gradually increased in the past three years.The author sorted out the energy storage projects of vanadium batteries. It can be said that how the operation of these demonstration projects will largely determine the development of vanadium batteries in the next ten or even twenty years.

Three, many years ago lithium battery, the speed of cost reduction?

For manufacturing, in addition to technological advances, the important reason is the scale.

As can be seen from the following figure of lithium battery cost reduction, with the large-scale promotion and application of lithium battery in the field of power battery, the cost of lithium battery continues to decline, and the cost of 30 years ago was more than 40 times now.As a safe energy storage method in electrochemical energy storage, vanadium battery is also expected to copy the cost reduction path of lithium batteries and usher in curve overtaking.The author is optimistic about the vanadium battery energy storage of this subdivision track.

Finally, it should be suggested that vanadium batteries are still in the initial stage of commercialization in the energy storage industry, and there is still some uncertainty about how the final market will eventually evolve in.In addition, if the child next door lithium battery, to solve their own safety problems, in fact, the vanadium battery is very heavy.

So, the choice of the technical route is itself a big gamble.Gambling is right, sit on the tuyere, bet wrong, perhaps written into the history textbook.