Member Info for LionelGreen

Thank you @Serenus, indeed a very positive/interesting article, also outlining some of the possible reasons why VRFB take-up has been slower than the technology perhaps merits. Link repeated here:
https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2019/09/28/long-read-flow-batteries-scale-up-to-gw-production/

In terms of the measured longevity of VRFB batteries, it was good to read the following, from Alex Au, CTO of Nextracker: “We have run a vanadium flow battery through 24,000 hours of very aggressive cycles and still cannot measure any degradation on the battery’s performance.”

The final section is hugely upbeat, quote:
This is good news for the 70,000-square meter factory taking shape in Saudi Arabia. Its opening in 2020 will deliver over 1 GWh of redox flow storage capacity to the market each year, bringing unprecedented economies of scale to an industry that has so far had to make do with tailor-made solutions as it contends with mass-produced competition.
The Saudi plant will churn out vanadium flow batteries developed by Schmid, a German PV equipment supplier with 150 years of experience in industrial engineering. The family business branched out into redox flow batteries in 2011, commercialized its first vanadium flow battery in 2014, and set out in search of partners to scale up production.
Schmid struck a deal this year with RIWAQ, a Saudi construction firm, and Nusaned Investment, a subsidiary of Saudi petrochemicals giant Sabic, which finances technologies supporting policies set out by Saudi authorities. In 2016, the Kingdom announced its Vision 2030 plan to reduce national dependence on oil revenues, notably through massive investment in renewables. The venture brings together some of the most venerable veterans in the flow battery industry with exceptionally deep pocketed investors. “The new Schmid deal in Saudi Arabia is very exciting,” said Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, who invented redox flow technology in the 1980s. She adds that the plant “will definitely help to provide the production scale needed to further reduce costs.”

YTSS flagged an interesting article on VRFBs earlier this morning (dated 4 September), which provides a useful summary of the present status:
https://energypost.eu/can-vanadium-flow-batteries-beat-li-ion-for-utility-scale-storage
It includes the following:
"But battery and storage technologies have had a hard time keeping up. And they are critical for any success in a carbon-constrained world that uses intermittent sources like solar and wind, or that worries about resilience in the face of natural disasters and malicious attempts at sabotage. Unlike solid batteries, like lithium-ion or lead-acid, that begin degrading after a couple of years, are fully reusable over semi-infinite cycles and do not degrade, giving them a very, very long life. V-flow batteries also become more cost effective the longer the storage duration and the larger the power and energy needs....

"This was pressed home this week by the U.S. Department of Energy’s decision to build a multimillion dollar electric grid research complex at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. And better, larger batteries are a main component of this research. Jud Virden, PNNL Associate Lab Director for energy and environment, noted that it took 40 years to get the current lithium-ion batteries to the current state of technology. We don’t have 40 years to get to the next level. We need do it in 10."

Yes, now confirmed.

The two trades at 15:19 @ 21.00-21.04, both marked as sells, and both close to the indicated bid, are almost certainly my Bed&ISA... even though my trade confirmation email (stating "processed") was sent at 13:52.

@RichKen: you said: "But the key is bringing in investors who share the vision of the BOD and investors like you and me!"

I agree.

I assumed that this would have been part of the goals of Michael Kirkwood when he was appointed NED in March 2018 (although I imagine his brief would have been more focused on the BE side of the business). I assumed that someone with his depth of knowledge of the business and its potential, and his weighty connections, would have been active in promoting the investment opportunities to institutional investors, who would then have been lining up to come onboard. From the SP performance over the past few months, II have (I conclude) not been getting onboard in sufficient numbers to keep the demand strong.

Do you, or others with a better understanding of the world of high finance, have thoughts on this?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/06/uk-risks-losing-out-europe-home-battery-boom-report-warns

The UK risks being left behind in Europe’s home battery boom because of a controversial tax hike on solar-battery systems, according to a report. The energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie has predicted that Europe’s home battery capacity could climb fivefold in the next five years as more households plug their rooftop solar panels into battery packs. The analysts expect that by 2024, annual home battery installations across Europe could total more than 500MW, the equivalent of building a new gas-fired power plant every year.

The report said the battery boom had already taken hold in Germany and would accelerate across Italy and Spain as battery power became more economic. However, the UK is likely to lag behind its European neighbours due to its “unfavourable” policy frameworks and a VAT increase for solar-battery packs this October. Rory McCarthy, a senior researcher at Wood Mackenzie, said Germany’s lead had made Europe the largest residential storage market globally. “Off the back of Germany’s success, residential storage is beginning to proliferate into other European countries, particularly where market structures, prevailing power prices and disappearing feed-in tariffs create a favourable early stage deployment landscape,” he said. “The economics of storage have been challenging in the past, however we are in the midst of an economic tipping point.” The UK’s laggard status comes after the government vowed to put energy storage at the heart of its plans for a cheap and clean energy system, which included a £246m pledge to develop battery technology. Greg Clark, the former business secretary, said the falling cost of energy storage meant it had a role to play in making renewable energy “abundant”.

It will be more difficult for households to access the potential of low-cost renewable energy after the VAT hike on solar batteries installed from October. The UK has blamed EU rules for the VAT change, a claim disputed by Molly Scott Cato, a Green MEP for South West England. “There is appetite from [UK] utilities and technology providers but the market has no incentives so is lagging behind thus far,” said the report. “The recent VAT increase from 5% to 20% confirmed to begin in October 2019 is not an effective way to kickstart a market with challenging economics.”

Can anyone please advise: is there a company that will actually provide and install a domestic VRFB system in the UK?

Outside UK, there are several companies that advertise domestic VRFBs, notably in Australia (Redflow, vsunenergy), Canada (Cellcube), and Germany (Voltstorage). And there are the commercial scale systems such as Redt.

According to: https://voltstorage.com/en/voltstorage-smart-home-battery/
the VoltStorage Series 100 battery, with 3.6 kilowatts and 6.8 kilowatt-hours of capacity (at a preorder price of €5,999), would sound suitable.

Pdub: certainly no need to give up for the day. Just assume that it is the same computer/algorithm that predicted the bottom at around 35p on the way down in April (suitable emoticon).

Very strong buy.

I have been assuming that the JSE listing is a priority for the company, and that any delay in listing is somehow related to the various formalities involved. Further assuming that the listing would be on their AltX (rather than the Main Board), the JSE www site states that (https://www.jse.co.za/capital/altx) "Depending on several factors, including how complex a method is chosen for your listing, the listing process will take between eight and 12 weeks to complete.???????????????????" This stated time scale seems short compared to the period of time that the company has been discussing such a listing.

Are there any informed views here as to when the listing process has started, when it is expected to be finalised, what (if anything) might be holding up the announcement, or whether the company might be targeting some next move before the JSE listing is announced?

From the SP Angel report: "We value Bushveld Energy at US$64m representing 3.74 pence per share to our valuation on Bushveld Minerals."

What remarkable precision for their SP valuation...

It may be that their final decimal figure is correct, although I've little doubt that the integer part is wildly wrong!

The "BMN Short Positions" tab on the LSE beta site now shows "Public Equity Partners Management at 0.54%".

I believe that when this new "Short Positions" tab was last last discussed here, there had been no entries shown.

spbhoy - previous REMX holdings were given here as:
23 May: 18,932,241 (posted by Alfacomp, 24 May)
30 May: 22,345,311 (posted by kcfb, 31 May)
so your figure of 24,435,796 represents a further increase of 2,090,485

"As investment in energy storage continues to grow around the world, Australia's chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel says a lesser-known technology has the potential to play a significant role in the energy storage market, with Australian companies well-positioned to lead the charge. While lithium-ion technology has gained a high-profile in the investor community for use in mobile energy storage applications such as electric cars and smartphones, Dr Finkel said flow batteries, which use an alternative process and materials, were gaining traction and presented an opportunity for Australian providers."

https://www.afr.com/technology/technology-companies/finkel-backs-unheralded-aussie-battery-tech-companies-to-go-global-20190531-p51tc5

The incorrect www address problem has been there for at least a week - I contacted the company directly about it...

According to:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/05/16/four-things-you-should-know-about-battery-storage
we have been told to "Watch this space on May 28 for an announcement from the World Bank and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) on a major initiative tied to the $1 billion battery storage program."

Does anyone know more about how and when this announcement is likely to be made? And whether we are expecting any direct reference to be made to BMN and/or ESKOM?

Ah, sorry, I had (probably mistakenly) understood that Olly4 had concluded that we had reached the bottom/turnaround point from the numbers he gave. Of course, I agree that from a structural and economic point of view, and as underlined by Terry Perles (and by our own RichKen) FeV prices are very likely to start to increase again soon.

Today's RNS was really magnificent. It is not easy to understand today's drop in SP, but I'm sure the picture will become much clearer, and the SP will start rising again strongly, very soon.

Olly4 - Thanks for preparing that summary of FeV prices.

I did not immediately see why you concluded that "All indications are pointing to an end to the downward trend", since the numbers show no rising values?

You fainted?

It's worth recalling that there is an "Opinion" button which can be activated when posting. Using this can make clearer the sentiment of those who have been following the company, and to detract from the nonsense that is posted by the uninformed.

Amazing results.

Well done Fortune.

And well done all those on this board that have seen these results coming through their meticulous and generous research.

Quote:

"The Company recognises that while the value proposition to shareholders is primarily of a capital growth nature, it will have sufficient cash generating capacity to pay dividends in the future. On this basis the Company's Board of Directors takes this opportunity to announce the establishment of a dividend policy. The dividend policy reflects Bushveld Minerals' commitment to return cash to shareholders while prioritising its stated growth strategy. The dividend policy is based on a free cash-flow pay-out ratio. The Board believes this distribution approach is the most suitable for the Company as it takes into account both growth and acquisition capital expenditure. The Board will review the free cash flow generated by the business, the outlook for business conditions and priorities for capital allocation on an annual basis. The Board is not recommending a dividend for the year ended 31 December 2018."