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LONDON (Alliance News) - Bushveld Minerals Ltd on Wednesday said its subsidiary focusing on vanadium and its use within the growing energy storage market is expecting results from studies about the potential market and viability of manufacturing batteries before the end of 2016.
Bushveld Energy was created in January of this year to focus on developing and promoting the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through application in vanadium redox flow batteries.
The subsidiary immediately teamed up with Industrial Development Corp to evaluate potential opportunities in the space, and one of the first agreed elements of the partnership was to launch two studies and accept offers from third parties that were interested in carrying them out.
The tenders for those studies have now closed and the successful bidders have started to undertake the contracted work. The first study will look into the market potential for vanadium redox flow batteries.
Bushveld said that, although the amount of research into the global energy storage market is increasing, research coverage in Africa remains limited, prompting it to conduct its own as it hopes to manufacture the batteries in South Africa before selling them into the domestic and much wider global market.
Africa is a prime continent for the energy storage market due to a lack of electricity infrastructure and the absence of national grids as widespread as those found in the more developed world. Perfecting energy storage would allow smaller, off-grid energy generators to be installed in remote locations and for that energy to be saved and used for a later time.
One example is renewable energy, especially solar or wind power. Without the ability to store any energy that is currently generated, power from wind or solar must either be used straight away or be wasted.
Currently, many off-grid applications in the world are based around systems such as diesel generators, which pushes up the cost of electricity produced. Africa has prime weather to take advantage of solar power and the ability to attach a battery to save that power would be transformational.
The first study is expected to identify the best markets to target the sale of vanadium redox flow batteries.
The second study will use a third-party facility that was purposefully built to research vanadium redox flow batteries, to look into the materials, battery design, prototyping, performance and safety tests needed for development to continue.
The study will identify the vanadium electrolyte production processes that best suit vanadium feedstocks available in South Africa. It will identify the costs of electrolyte production specifically in South Africa, considering the various electrolyte chemistries and other production elements including, location, employment and environmental and other risks.
The primary aim is to find a way of reducing the cost of converting vanadium oxides into vanadium electrolytes so the commodity can be used in a battery application, which currently incurs "significant costs".
Bushveld, through its mining interests, already has a "low cost" source of vanadium oxides and is hoping the study can find a cheaper way of manufacturing electrolytes.
"Given that vanadium electrolyte makes up as much as 30% to 40% of the cost of a vanadium redox flow batteries, the opportunity to better manage the volatility and price of this key input is important," said Bushveld.
The cooperation agreement signed with Industrial Development Corp is allowing Bushveld to progress the business case for its new subsidiary and, notably, the partner is a leading financier of renewable energy projects in Africa, giving it a material interest in Bushveld's ambitions.
The pair are currently looking for the ideal site in South Africa to install a multi megawatt hour vanadium redox flow battery to use as a demonstration unit. Bushveld said the plan is to install "the largest" vanadium redox flow battery in Africa and "one of the largest" batteries on the continent.
That needs financing, however, and if that is secured then the demonstration vanadium redox flow battery should be installed in 2017. At the same time, Bushveld is looking to find partners to help lower the electrolyte manufacturing costs.
Notably, Bushveld also has an agreement with UniEnergy Technologies, a leading manufacturer of vanadium redox flow battery systems, which is likely to be the key partner to help with the manufacturing process.
The US is currently the most advanced market for energy storage in the world, according to Bushveld, whilst substantial growth has also been seen in large economies including Japan and China.
Bushveld shares were up 2.8% to 1.49 pence per share on Wednesday in London.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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