RE: bbc news comments21 Aug 2019 11:09
Part1
JMC 69 Thanks.
Under the heading ....... Recent Power Cut and the Interim report
I have sent the following:-
Dear Mr Shukman,
It occurs to me that, given the requirement for a response by National Grid by 6th September, they could do worse than tell Ofgen that not only was this a freak occurrence but also that they have now a plan to prevent any recurrence.
New technology is coming on stream which will prevent repetition.
It is the storage of energy and the ability immediately to access same in the event of a major outage which is the answer.
Battery storage is the answer. Hitherto any sensible person would eschew Lithium Ion as an answer for grid scale storage, due to its instability (just ask Arizona’s fire department, or South Korea what they think of the numerous and extremely hazardous fires they have experienced).
Fortunately there is a better -much better answer. I expect that like many journalists you will not yet have heard of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.
To learn about them , may I suggest you Google “The Bushveld Perspective” where their merits are explained better than I, a simple lawyer can do.
In essence a VRFB will last 20 years plus some, can be charged and give discharge simultaneously, can hold many megawatts of electricity for immediate availability and are based on an electrolyte solution passing through a membrane converting positive and negative ions ( my simple mind does not fully comprehend the exact detail).
VRFBs were a spin off of the Apollo programme and the industry is in its infancy. China , ever the leader nowadays is installing a huge battery. Eskom in South Africa have had one on test and are about to place orders, I believe , for many more.
The beauty is that the expense is low , except the cost of the electrolyte can be high. That cost however can be avoided by entering into a leasing arrangement with a company called Bushveld Energy, which is a subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals Limited, a company listed on AIM with its r/o in Guernsey. BMN is the ticker and its shares are ridiculously cheap considering its recent history, brilliant management and superb future prospects.
BE is building an electrolyte manufacturing plant in South Africa which will have its own ready supply of Vanadium from the mines of BMN, which has the best grades of ore sufficient for the next 100years , just up the road at Brits, northeast of Johannesburg , and also, subject to the long awaited grant of the mining licence which we are now told is imminent at Mokopane.
This is a sunrise industry where South Africa is leading the way, through Bushveld . Mikail Nikomarov is head of a Southern Africa renewable energy association which will light up great Continent.
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