ASX-listed Australian Vanadium on Friday announced that its subsidiary VSUN Energy had struck a deal with Western Australia’s regional energy provider, Horizon Power, for a vanadium flow battery (VFB) for a long-duration storage pilot.

The 220 kWh battery, which can deliver up to 78 kW of power, will be sourced from global VFB manufacturer Invinity Energy Systems.

“This is the first contracted VFB project for an Australian energy utility. VSUN Energy has been actively pursuing opportunities for VFB deployments and is seeing an increased interest from all energy sectors for this effective energy storage technology which uses vanadium at its core. Horizon Power has chosen to be one of the early movers in Australia in support of a technology game changer for the many microgrids in the country,” said Australian Vanadium CEO Graham Arvidson.

“Horizon Power’s support of the VFB technology will also assist Australian Vanadium and VSUN Energy’s planned vertical integration “pit to battery” strategy. Future VFB projects in Australia will not only be deployed locally, but have significant local content, including Australian Vanadium’s vanadium electrolyte from its plant which is currently under construction in Wangara, Western Australia.”

The use of long-duration energy storage, in the form of VFBs, could assist Horizon Power to accelerate the decarbonisation of its energy network, which covers 2.3-million square kilometres. The VFB will be used for Horizon Power’s long-duration energy storage pilot which aims to increase understanding of how this technology can provide long periods of 100% renewable energy supply in regional and remote energy systems across Western Australia.