Bushveld energy6 Jan 2019 19:04
From November be update:
Preparatory work for the completion of battery commissioning for the deployment of the maiden VRFB from UET with the national utility, Eskom, in South Africa recommenced at site and is due to be completed before the start of the South African holidays in December 2018. The system is co-owned by Bushveld Energy and the Industrial Development Corporation ("IDC").
The delay from the original timeline for the project, which saw delivery of hardware at the end of Q2 2018, resulted from the unexpected contamination of the electrolyte that occurred during the filling stage, which was discovered during system commissioning that made the VRFB inoperable. Without a mixed-acid electrolyte facility in South Africa, filtration of the electrolyte in-country was not possible. A remediation strategy was implemented in August 2018 to replace the electrolyte and certain contaminated components of the system. Site work for remediation began in October 2018 and commissioning restarted at the end of November 2018.
The USTDA awarded a grant to UET and Bushveld Energy in support of the Eskom project and the development of future applications for energy storage and VRFBs in South Africa. USTDA's approval process included external technical verification of the technology and the proposed project, indicating confidence in the long-term viability of both UET's technology and expected opportunities for energy storage in South Africa.
I'm looking forward to more about this, love the last paragraph regarding the USTDA external verification. Hopefully the company will provide an update soon for us to all discuss as the board is becoming tiresome at times. GL those that hold.