It always feels like it is just around the corner, but then it isn't ☹️
Was looking at redflow zinc bromine batteries, but then they went bust.
My question is, will it ever be suitable and economic for residential or community use, and if so, when?
@kirk Are commercial systems being deployed? At what scale and for whom? What future applications will be enabled by the progress in flow batteries?
I am really interested from the power electronics side of the field, i.e. if I ask for a grant that includes a flow battery with some power electronics component who will be my consumer?
@kirk Sad there is no residential units but I guess maintenance is not easy so bigger units are preferable.
Is anyone interested in e.g. ferries? Would simplify charging a lot. Marine people understand fluids and can easily crane a container with charged electrolyte on board. If you see anyone who'd be interested in making a pilot please forwards my contact to them 🙏. We have experience in grid side infrastructure and we have marine partners.
@owiecc KemiWatt in France I heard may have a marine project? They aren't here though. I will send projects your way if I hear of any though! Though at that scale it's mostly companies doing things in-house as I can see.
And from a CEO, I was told "why sell 10,000 small units in a highly regulated environment when I can sell 1 large battery to a utility and be done for the year"
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@kirk A photograph shows a presentation slide titled "Conclusions" displayed on a large screen. The slide contains bulleted text stating, "VFBs are uniquely positioned for critical infrastructure and data centres" and "Strengths: safety, long duration, lifetime throughput, flexibility, resilience, LCOS." Under the heading "GWh-scale is achieved by:", it lists "Value chain," "Modular design," "Standard power electronics," "Robust and Secure Control System," "Industrial delivery capability," and "Bankable project structures." The slide also states, "Reference projects such as FlexBase are critical to accelerating scaling-up and adoption," and features a photograph of a group of people standing in a line outdoors against a background of hills. Large text at the bottom reads "[GWh-scale VFBs are happening NOW]," and the "INVINITY ENERGY SYSTEMS" logo is visible in the top right corner.
🌱 Energy used: 0.361 Wh
@kirk I'm slightly mystified that since I first heard about these 15 years ago there are somehow no major installations that I've heard of at least. Not sure if they're just not making the news...
They're just obviously such a good way to handle capacity vs power rating in theory, are Li-ion and other batteries just that cheap?
I would love any details you come across about actual installed capacity of significant size anywhere on Earth.

Flow Batteries Europe - Reports on Regions: Asia Pacific The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Asia Pacific energy storage and flow battery policy landscape, examining key countries like China, Japan, Australia, and South Korea. Published in November 2024. Click here to download it! Major Flow Battery Projects 2020 Please click on the map