Australian Vanadium and VSun Energy partner with Future Batteries Industry to advance Australia’s battery sector
Australian Vanadium, VSun Energy and Future Batteries Industry Cooperative Centre will work together to grow Australia’s vanadium redox flow battery industry.
Integrated vanadium company Australian Vanadium (ASX: AVL) and its subsidiary VSun Energy have partnered with the Future Batteries Industry Cooperative Centre (FBI CRC) to advance Australia’s battery metals sector.
Australian Vanadium and VSun Energy have signed an agreement to offer “in-kind services” to the FBI CRC.
The WA state government, along with Curtin University, the University of WA, Murdoch University, Tianqi Lithium, BHP Billiton and Pilbara Minerals are assisting the FBI CRC in creating and building Australia’s battery industry.
Via the collaboration, the trio plan to leverage each other’s expertise to extract and process vanadium and produce vanadium electrolyte for the country’s growing vanadium battery sector.
“It’s great to see the change in focus in WA to not repeat the dig and ship mentality of the iron ore boom,” Australian Vanadium managing director Vincent Algar said.
“We have the opportunity to add real value and develop strong expertise in Australia and, in particular, Western Australia,” Mr Algar added.
Lithium valley
Regional Development Australia (RDA) published a report in May this year that revealed Australia could lose a “once in a life-time” opportunity to secure a substantial slice of the emerging battery revolution which is predicted to be worth around $2 trillion by 2025.
The battery chain is currently estimated at $213 billion and due to a lack of downstream processing, WA only captures about $1 billion of that pie.
Vanadium redox flow battery
The burgeoning new energy era is not just about lithium, with the vanadium redox flow battery industry also on the rise due to the device’s advantages over lithium batteries.
Vanadium batteries can be easily scaled up for use where much more energy storage is required. The batteries also have a longer life span of up to 20 years and improved safety.
Australian Vanadium pinpointed the opportunity for vanadium batteries in Australia’s market and developed VSun Energy to build Australia’s fledgling vanadium battery sector.
VSun also gives Australian Vanadium a direct consumer for its intended vanadium production for both the steel and battery sectors from its flagship Gabanintha project in WA.
Today’s reported partnership with FBI CRC is expected to combine the three entities’ knowledge and expertise to move Australia’s vanadium battery industry into the future.
“The FBI CRC could help enable industry participants to work together to build a battery industry that will benefit all Australians,” Mr Algar noted.