Member Info for SloppyGuiseppe

With high-capacity batteries, utilities can store energy generated by wind turbines and solar panels and then provide it to customers when weather conditions are less than ideal or during periods of high demand.

Some batteries are the size of a refrigerator, while others are far larger, and utilities generally deploy several at a time. There are several competing battery technologies. Lithium batteries are less expensive and the most widely produced, but vanadium-based batteries have a longer lifespan and can hold more power.

Utilities around the globe deployed a record 6.1 gigawatt hours of energy-storage capacity in 2018, enough to power about 50,000 households for a day, according to Wood Mackenzie.
That is relatively small, but spending on high-capacity batteries is set to grow sixfold to $71 billion by 2024, according to Wood Mackenzie.

In California, Tesla and other firms are delivering batteries that will replace three aging gas plants. The storage solutions will provide power to the grid during periods of high demand.
China is already a major user of high-capacity batteries. China and South Korea deployed more than 40% of the new gigawatt hours put into service world-wide for stationary energy storage solutions last year, according to the market intelligence firm IDTechEx.

Meanwhile, the World Bank’s battery program is aimed at providing power to the more than 800 million people world-wide particularly in parts of Asia and Africa that don’t have access to electricity. The bank expects to raise an additional $4 billion in private funding to drive ventures such as the partnership with South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom to develop a 1.44 gigawatt-hour battery.

ScottishPower’s investment in batteries is intended to help prevent some of the wind power it generates from going to waste and to help balance the electricity supply on the grid. Scotland produces more wind energy than it can use, and it currently sends excess production to other parts of the U.K., but some of that energy is lost because of the lack of storage capacity, according to the utility ScottishPower.

“Our vision for the future of energy has storage at its core,” ScottishPower Chief Executive Keith Anderson said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/giant-batteries-supercharge-wind-and-solar-plans-11565535601

A global wave of investment in high-capacity batteries is poised to transform the market for renewable energy in coming years, making it more practical and affordable to store wind and solar power and deploy it when needed.
Government-owned utilities and companies are buying batteries that can be larger than shipping containers. Some like Tesla Inc. TSLA -1.38% ’s new utility-scale battery can hold enough energy to power every home in San Francisco for six hours. Battery makers also are working on more advanced models that will hold more power and last longer.
In the U.S., the Silicon Valley-based firm introduced its new battery technology called Megapack last month that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. PCG -2.11% plans to use in California. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems is developing high-capacity batteries for a 1,000-megawatt venture in Utah that it touts as the world’s largest renewable-energy storage project.
In the U.K., ScottishPower is spending $7.2 billion on renewable energy, grid upgrades and battery storage between 2018 and 2022. The utility owns Scotland’s largest electricity network and operates in Europe’s windiest region, and generates all its power from renewable sources after selling its last fossil fuel assets in January.
China’s goal is to increase the use of renewable energy and batteries by 2030 as part of a massive national energy overhaul aimed at helping to reduce the use of polluting coal-fired power plants.
And the World Bank Group has set aside $1 billion to invest in battery projects, including one of the world’s largest mixed solar, wind and storage power plants in India and a battery project in South Africa anticipated to be the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We certainly feel a momentum in the market for batteries,” said Riccardo Puliti, global director for energy at the World Bank.
High-capacity batteries have previously been too expensive for most energy providers to invest in, which has slowed the growth of renewable power, according to analysts.
The lack of cheap and readily available energy storage has been one of the impediments for wider adoption of renewables,” said Ravi Manghani, director for energy storage at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
But storage-battery prices have dropped nearly 40% since 2015, according to Wood Mackenzie data. The prices of lithium and vanadium—two of several key raw materials that are used in such batteries—also have declined over the past year or so.
The batteries have the potential to solve problems that have hampered the adoption of wind and solar power. The reliability of those sources can vary when the wind is calm or the sky is cloudy, and some of the power can go to waste if there is no effective means to store it.
Such problems have left renewable energy vulnerable to criticism. “When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric,” President Trump s

https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2019/08/09/australias-biggest-behind-the-meter-energy-storage-officially-launched/

The Monash Smart Energy City project, developed as part of the University’s goal to achieve zero net emissions by 2030, has reached a new milestone with the official launch of Australia’s biggest behind-the-meter battery. Started in October 2018, the microgrid development aims to cover 100% of the Clayton campus’ electricity needs with renewable energy with the help of both long- and short-duration energy storage.

The 1 MWh hybrid system combines a 180kW/900kWh vanadium redox flow battery system and a 120kW/120kWh C1-rated lithium-ion battery. As U.K. vanadium flow battery manufacturer RedT explained after it installed the system in 2018, the vanadium-flow “workhorse” provides around 80% of the energy and has the ability to store energy for more than four hours, while the lithium-ion batteries provide bursts of power for demand surges. The lithium-ion battery, supplied by Germany’s Tesvolt, uses Samsung cells. It can store energy for one to two hours and will be used for occasional bursts of short demand spikes.

The project will test the microgrid across the Monash University Clayton campus in Melbourne’s south east, utilizing Indra’s InGrid Advanced Grid Management IoT platform. The solution provides dynamic, proactive, distributed and smart medium- and low-voltage grid operation. Indra experts predict that by 2020, the University will be generating 7 GWh, enough to power 1,000 homes for a year.

When completed, the $7.1 million microgrid will be operated as a grid connected smart embedded network containing a variety of distributed energy resources, including up to 1 MW of rooftop solar, 20 buildings with automated energy management systems, 1 MWh of battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations.

As part of the project, the RedT hybrid battery system will also be used to provide balancing services to the Victorian grid, earning additional revenue for the site. On top of that, the microgrid will provide an example for further research and industry engagement with renewable-based energy systems.

Hybrids in Australia

While the combination of two complementary technologies offers an attractive prospect for firming up intermittent renewable generation, there are only a few hybrid energy storage systems currently in operation across the globe. In Australia, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the birthplace of pioneering PV technologies, is currently developing Australia’s first large-scale hybrid energy storage that will combine lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. The system will be installed at Risen Energy’s 121 MW Yarranlea Solar Farm in Queensland.

Ecoult, meanwhile, is an active hybrid energy storage system provider. The company was established in 2007 by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a vehicle to develop and commercialize UltraBa

https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3887833/Chinas-GTA-raises-price-forecasts-for-tungsten-concentrate-APT-for-August.html

China’s GTA raises price forecasts for tungsten concentrate, APT for August
China’s Ganzhou Tungsten Association (GTA) has raised both its tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) price forecasts for August.

The increase in the association’s forecast prices - the first so far this year - failed to live up to market expectations, however, with many participants noting that the forecast prices remain below levels currently seen in the spot market. The GTA expects the average price of APT to rise by 2,500 yuan ($354) per tonne to 108,500 yuan per tonne in August. This compares with the association’s forecast APT price of 106,000 yuan per tonne for July. The increase, rather than reflecting an improvement in market fundamentals, is seen by market participants as the association attempting to bring its estimates more in line with current market levels after forecasting a significant fall in the average price for APT in July. "If you offer APT below 109,000 yuan per tonne, then...

Apologies if that was posted earlier, I think it maybe the same article but via a different link.

https://www.esi-africa.com/industry-sectors/generation/the-vanadium-redox-flow-battery-a-leading-technology-in-energy-storage/

Currently, there are over 100 VRFB installations globally with an estimated capacity of over 209,800 kWh of energy and the use of vanadium in energy storage applications has doubled to 2.1% of the global vanadium consumption in 2018.

Chairman of Vanitec’s ESC, Mikhail Nikomarov commented: “As markets and industries develop, the role of safety starts to play a larger role. This trend is now happening in energy storage where larger quantities of deployments have resulted in increasing incidence of large-scale battery fires, spanning from South Korea to Europe to the United States.

“Safety is becoming more important for companies deploying large batteries. The intrinsic non-flammability of the water-based chemistry of vanadium redox flow batteries makes them ideal for this growing trend, especially in densely populated areas where the safety risk from fire and smoke is greatest. VRFBs thus provide energy storage solutions in any environment without risking injury to employees and fire fighters or damaging surrounding property and equipment.”

https://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/900257/coffee-with-samso---vincent-algar-and-insights-about-vanadium-900257.html

The latest episode of Coffee with Samso is all about the business of vanadium. Vincent Algar, who is the managing director of Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL), speaks to Samso about the vanadium market and how to look at the different types of vanadium resources.

Samso and Vincent discuss several topics on what completes the vanadium market such as what the vanadium business is all about from the supplier side and what constitutes a good deposit.

Vincent also discusses the potential of the Redox Flow Battery in regards to the future uses of vanadium.

https://solarbuildermag.com/energy-storage/stacks-on-value-stacks-the-large-scale-solar-plus-storage-is-coming-together/

https://www.pm-review.com/ameteks-michael-marucci-delivers-talk-on-master-alloys-at-titanium-europe-2019/

AMETEK Specialty Metal Products (SMP), Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA, has reported that its Vice President of Sales & Marketing – Powders, Michael Marucci delivered a presentation titled ‘Master Alloys Today for Tomorrow’s Applications’ at Titanium Europe 2019, which took place in Vienna, Austria, earlier this year. 

During his presentation, Marucci defined a master alloy as a combination of two or more metals in a metallurgically alloyed form, added with base metals into a melt furnace charge to achieve desired final ingot chemistry.

He also reviewed aerospace-quality master alloys as well as vanadium, molybdenum, niobium, and multi-component master alloys. Marucci stated, “Process control to regulate precise chemistry consistency and non-metallic inclusions is essential. Quality is nonnegotiable.”

According to Marucci, key issues for master alloy producers include certification of raw material suppliers, documentation and traceability, supplier understanding and acknowledgement of the risk of high-density inclusions, risk prevention strategies, comprehensive inspection strategies, and robust audit and record retention.

He concluded his remarks by focusing on the status of the global vanadium market, commenting that ongoing vanadium demand from China “will continue to drive the price in Europe and North America New vanadium capacity is entering the market during 2019, but it will need qualification.

The high purity vanadium pentoxide market will remain concentrated with multinational producers leveraging pricing.”

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/vanadium-prices-are-surging-again-whos-set-to-benefit/

Special Report: Vanadium prices are now rallying strongly, driven by low inventory levels and increasing demand from battery manufacturers.
In late July, the Chinese V205 98% spot price surged to finish at highs of $US10.74/LB; a nice bump from lows of about $US7/lb earlier in the month.
And V2O5 stocks remain very low, according to consultancy Mastermines, which expects “more upward price pressure” during August in what is traditionally a very good month for vanadium.
It is likely that new battery projects may be behind some of the recent swings, Mastermines’ director David Gillam says.
“Dalian City has just signed a syndicated loan agreement to fund the first stage of the world’s biggest vanadium battery installation at 200/800MWh,” Gillam told Stockhead.

“It is likely that other signed contracts that were on hold due to high V205 pricing will have been brought back into consideration.”
That Dalian battery would use an estimated 8000 tonnes of V2O5 for a 800MWh installation.
That’s a big chunk of current global production — 140,000t a year — of which about 90 per cent of goes into the steel industry. And Dalian isn’t the only big VRFB in the works.
Mastermines are hopeful that high spot pricing will hold below $US12/LB – a scenario the most favourable for new vanadium mining projects as battery suppliers look to lock in long term supply.
“There is no doubt that some of the wild swings in V205 should create more awareness as to the need to take a longer-term view,” Gillam says.
One stock poised to benefit from the price appreciation is Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8), which is developing one of the largest and highest grade vanadium deposits in the world.
The Steelpoortdrift project, located within the Bushveld complex of South Africa, includes a high-grade resource of 169Mt at an in-situ grade of 1.07 per cent V2O5. That’s world class.
This resource also generates a high grade, high quality ~2.2% V2O5 concentrate with low impurities
This project (that striped column) is big, it’s high grade, and it produces a high-quality concentrate.
This makes VR8 well placed to take advantage of this upsurge in vanadium prices, and to join major players Bushveld and Glencore as part of a genuine global vanadium production hub.

http://www.cnfeol.com/gangtie/n_135155274496.aspx

Zhang Bangxu pointed out that at present, the implementation of the new national standard is not satisfactory, mainly in the following six aspects: First, the local small factory adopts the electric furnace short-flow production process, and does not add micro-alloyed vanadium, niobium and titanium. Second, large steel mills use long-flow production processes, and most steel mills use microalloying technology. Third, some areas are “de-alloyed”. Some steel mills have no added alloys of F12 mm and F14 mm rebar, and F18 mm~F24 mm rebar alloys have less added amount. Fourth, some manufacturers are considering the replacement of bismuth iron. Some manufacturers have tried it successfully, but most manufacturers have not considered the replacement of strontium iron due to performance stability problems. Fifth, different companies have adopted different technical processes to deal with the implementation of the new national standard, and the types of added alloys are also increasing, such as ferro-vanadium , ferroniobium, ferrotitanium , ferromanganese and the like. Sixth, some downstream customers have to improve their understanding of the new national standard of steel.
In summary, many steel enterprises are currently producing according to the low-alloy or de-alloying method of steel bars, mainly by adjusting the production process to reach the index of 1.5% vanadium in the finished steel products. The main problem of implementing the new national standard of steel bars is in production cost. The root cause lies in the lack of economy. Since the new national standard of steel bars is the recommended standard and there is no corresponding mandatory management system, the relevant departments at the provincial level cannot make evidence for the implementation of the new national standard, which brings great inconvenience to the implementation of the new national standard of steel.
“It is recommended that the provincial government formulate local standards and unswervingly push forward the implementation of the new national standard for steel bars to prevent 'de-alloying.'” Zhang Bangxu pointed out, “For Sichuan provinces in earthquake-prone areas, the new national standard for steel bars is converted into local standards. It is imperative that we provide a reliable basis for the government departments to supervise and manage the market. The relevant government departments should strengthen market supervision and inspection, and conduct spot checks through multiple channels, especially for important engineering buildings, which need to start from the design source."

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/224851/critical-metals-gets-set-to-list-in-london-with-a-focus-on-strategic-and-specialty-commodities-224851.html

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/224851/critical-metals-gets-set-to-list-in-london-with-a-focus-on-strategic-and-specialty-commodities-224851.html

It is understood that the Panzhihua Vanadium and Titanium Trading Center and the China Vanadium Industry Forum hosted by the Panzhihua Economic Cooperation Bureau are the first this year. Why? "Since 2018, the price of vanadium has deduced the 'roller coaster' type of market, and it has fallen all the way after a record high." The relevant person in charge of the Panzhihua Vanadium and Titanium Trading Center said that with vanadium pentoxide as an example, the maximum rose to about 500,000 / ton. The minimum fell to about 90,000 / ton. Behind the sharp rise and fall of vanadium prices, many factors have been hidden, such as the impact of new rebar targets, changes in supply and demand, and the increase in the use of niobium. "The change of supply and demand pattern and price of vanadium market, as well as the status quo and trend of vanadium industry development, has become a hot topic in the industry, so we took the initiative to hold this forum."
According to the staff of Panzhihua City Vanadium and Titanium Industry Association, Panzhihua is one of the 141 mature resources identified by the state. The reserves of vanadium and titanium are ranked third and first in the world respectively, and are included in the national strategic resource innovation development pilot zone. In 2018, the total output value of vanadium and titanium industry was 3.75.2955 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76.42%. Among them, the vanadium industry was 23.932.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 184.6%.
The staff said that Panzhihua is the world's largest production base of vanadium products. The forum to be held here will have a strong ability to absorb the sun. In addition to experts and scholars, it will attract nearly 100 domestic and international vanadium industries. Mining, new materials, metal materials, accessories, equipment, logistics, information, finance and other enterprises and institutions rushed to the industry "feast". As of now, the registration is still in full swing.

https://cbgc.scol.com.cn/news/162363?from=androidapp&app_id=cbgc

How will the supply and demand pattern and price of the national vanadium market change in the second half of 2019? What is the current status and trend of the Panzhihua Vanadium Industry? Just as the price of vanadium has risen sharply? The answers to these questions are about to be revealed. On August 8th, the China Vanadium Industry Forum will be held in Panzhihua in 2019. Nearly 200 experts and scholars in the vanadium industry will gather in Panzhihua to discuss the development hotspots of the vanadium industry and develop support for the Panzhihua vanadium industry. This is what the reporter learned from the Panzhihua City Vanadium and Titanium Industry Association on July 31.
The forum is divided into three parts: the main forum, the “Vanadium City Road” sub-forum and the technical sub-forum. It aims to serve the industry, focus on the market, innovate and apply, and win-win cooperation. The experts, scholars and industry elites attending the conference will analyze the supply and demand of the vanadium market, the analysis of the vanadium market since 2018 and the market prospects in the second half of 2019, the status quo of the new rebar standard implementation, the current status and prospects of vanadium oxide clean production, and the current status of the Panzhihua vanadium industry. In other respects, make a wonderful keynote speech and make suggestions for industrial development. In addition, some participating companies will also speak on the preparation of vanadium-iron alloy based on gradient aluminum and its influencing factors, the new production technology of vanadium-nitrogen alloy and ferro-vanadium-iron alloy, and the application of ferroniobium in high-strength steel. Modern management level to improve production and operation efficiency.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4278893-vanadium-miners-news-month-july-2019

Summary

Vanadium spot prices were only slightly lower in July.
Vanadium market news: Weakened demand, failure to enforce new rebar standards in China, and economic uncertainty have all weighed on the price of the specialty battery metal.
Vanadium company news: AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. raises $325 million to fund a new greenfield resid spent catalyst recycling facility.

I managed to get this part done.

"The main content of this program: Electrical energy is an indispensable source of energy for human society. It is impossible for modern society to imagine what the world without electricity will look like. Using batteries to build power stations, new technologies for power storage, and all-vanadium liquid-flow energy storage batteries refresh our understanding of batteries.

"Approaching Science" is the main content of promoting scientific spirit, propagating scientific ideas, advocating scientific methods, and disseminating scientific knowledge. Each program is indexed by a news line, telling the scientific issues behind the news hotspots and important issues in scientific development: The focus, hotspots, doubts, difficulties and new phenomena in social life give a scientific explanation: the real record of scientific events, and the audience's interest in science."

If anyone can decipher mandarin.........

https://youtu.be/HF67jusa1J0

https://www.zoutnet.co.za/articles/news/50592/2019-07-28/towards-the-land-of-smog

On the Emsez website, an interview that Hoi had with a reporter from the China Reform Daily, Lei Mao Sheng, is published. The article, published in May this year, gives more clarity on exactly what is being planned at the Musina-Makhado SEZ.

Hoi explained that an operator permit had been issued to them by the SA government to develop, operate and manage the Energy Metallurgical Special Economic Zone (Emsez). “It covers an area of 60 square kilometres and is adjacent to Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana,” he said.
According to Hoi, a 20 Mtpa (million tons per annum) coal-washing plant, a 3 300 Mw coal-fired power plant, a 3 Mtpa coke plant and a 390 Mw waste-heat power plant will be built. The other factories planned are a 3 Mtpa high-carbon ferrochrome plant, a 1 Mtpa ferromanganese plant, a 500 000 tons per annum (tpa) silicon manganese plant, a 3 Mtpa stainless steel plant, a 1 Mtpa high-vanadium steel plant, a 1 Mtpa high-manganese steel plant, a 5 Mtpa metallurgical lime plant, a 1,2 Mtpa titanium dioxide plant and a 150 000 tpa vanadium pentoxide plant. “Our goal is to build the world’s most competitive energy metallurgical SEZ,” said Hoi.

Hoi mentions in the interview that the SA government had signed several memoranda of agreement (MOA) with international companies. The companies include the Power Construction Corporation of China, Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co, Ltd, China Metallurgical Group Corporation and Tengy Group Co Ltd.
Hoi is very optimistic about the prospects of increased trade between South Africa and China. “South Africa mainly exports minerals and metals to China. I have taken a fancy to its rich mineral resources. South Africa has more than 83% of the world’s chrome resources, manganese resources account for more than 81% of the world, and high-grade reserves of vanadium resources rank first in the world,” he said.

https://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2019/07/flow-machines-qualify-for-uk-frequency-response-market-for-first-time.html