Port Louis Vanadium Power Storage Project

Vanadium is vying to become another favourite among the likes of minerals like lithium. Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs), originally invented in Australia in the 1980s, have popped into the picture as another viable storage solution as these batteries are potentially safer, cheaper and longer lasting than their lithium counterparts.

Here, we explore the role of vanadium in decarbonizing construction by serving as a microalloying element and enabling the energy transition as the primary component of flow batteries used for grid-level storage. We estimate that vanadium has enabled an avoided environmental burden totaling 185 million metric tons of CO2 on an annual basis.

“What's growing demand is the adoption of the vanadium flow battery,” he said. “In Asia — China in particular — Northern Europe and North America, the adoption of that battery is growing very quickly. “For every gigawatt hour of battery storage, you need 10,000t of vanadium pentoxide.

Australia needs new vanadium projects to make renewables a reality. “Australia has one of the largest resources of vanadium in the world, and we produce none, so not only are we securing Australia and potentially the western world's supply chain, but we are actually creating a new industry from scratch,” Mr Price said.

According to the IEA, if VFBs achieve widespread commercialisation earlier than expected, then utility-scale storage technology could likely shift towards vanadium flow batteries, resulting in 2.5 times more demand for vanadium compared to the base case in 2030 and 50% more demand in 2040. Where will all this vanadium come from?

Vanadium is a key transition metal used in greener steel and energy storage applications. Global decarbonization efforts are expected to drive new demand in the vanadium sector. Growth in VRFBs and additional new economy use cases may put upward pressure on prices without new primary or secondary supply.