Rainbow Rare Earths Phalaborwa project shaping up to be one of the lowest cost producers globally. Watch the video here.
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The entire flow battery industry is struggling due to vanadium costs. Until it drops to circa $13/lb then lithium and lead would be the obvious economic option. There is a massive chinese battery by Rongke which is on hold and delayed due to these factors. As soon as the complete system costs drop by about 20% from $1000/kWh then we wont see any profitability in this sector.
From the RNS yesterday:
"redT have pioneered the rental of vanadium electrolyte in their systems to combat recent volatility in vanadium prices to reduce product capex and plans to apply this to the majority of 2019 and 2020 projects"
@Mkx007
Where's your evidence Rongke Power's VRFB project is on hold? In November it was reported everything was proceeding as planned.
pioneered ? ... have they actually leased anything ?
It's not under construction, electrolyte is currently too expensive. Why would a government project go ahead whilst prices are high. Even with the backing of the Chinese government without a decrease in price, this wont be built until at least 2023 as opposed to late 2019...later revised to 2020. I am very doubtful.
@Mkx007
I asked for evidence, not your opinion.
Cindercone
Please provide proof it’s on target and under construction?
Research graphene lithium ion battery, world advances fast whilst VRB is struggling with inflated prices.
It looks like my warning was well founded. Cindercone. I spent last week at a trade show speaking to every European flow battery company all saying they aren't sell due to price constraints. The only country that isn't really impacted is Denmark, where buyers really want electricity over distributed heat.
Would be great to see a link that the project is still on track? The lack of updates from the RedT Germany project would suggest this is a global trend.
Would that be the trade show in Germany last week?
I find it strange that Redt with there German project weren't even at the show.
@Mkx007 did you get to talk with Voltstorage and Vanadis?
Yeah. Surprised me as well. Clearly don't want anything to do with the market. Will be interesting to see if they actually deliver on their Anglian Water project. I spoke with voltstorage but not vanadis. I may have done but will have to check business cards/notes.
Mkx007, I don't think it's a 'global trend'. There are VRFB projects completed or in progress worldwide, see
http://vanitec.org/vanadium/Energy-Storage-News
VRFB technology is cost effective in the long term, as VRFBs have a 20 year lifespan and the electrolyte can be reused / recycled after. They can be used for grid support (e.g. peak shaving, system balancing), large and small scale off-grid installations. They are stable, safe and ideal for storing wind and solar power. The world is moving towards renewable energy and VRFBs are ideal for energy storage.
I'm not a Redt investor, but like them I believe in VRFBs, and hoped that Redt would do well.
GLA
@MKx007..... I think you may have spent too much of your time at the trade centre in hospitality.
As Voltstorage and Vanadis didn't present.
You're not the only one who wants the technology to do well. I am personally interested in flow batteries and was the entire reason I spoke to so many people at the event. Lithium is the future for EV's. Stationary storage still has a number of options available. Distribution and transmission network support, I think is ideally suited for the technology. Lithium will play a greater role in residential and commercial applications where space is a factor.
@loudspeaker I spoke with Volterion not voltstorage - close :)
@serenus I didn't say it wasn't a cost effective solutions, I was eluding to the large capex required to install the systems. Businesses in Germany, Denmark and Australia are all looking at VRB positively.