Energy storage in China The rapid growth of the vanadium redox flow batteries

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Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

The Chinese energy hunger is causing the demand for vanadium redox flow batteries to skyrocket. As an energy storage, they have some advantages over lithium-ion. However, vanadium is classified as critical in the USA and the EU.

Energy storage is on the rise. While Germany and large parts of Europe are unfortunately still sleeping and the expansion is only progressing slowly due to inadequate regulation, China is setting a high pace. The country has been setting new records for the expansion of wind and solar parks for years. Last year alone, China installed more solar capacity than the USA in the last two decades. Due to poor air quality in industrial cities and under international pressure, the government in Beijing is serious about fighting CO₂ emissions. The country also wants to become increasingly independent from foreign suppliers.

This is evident in the expansion of energy storage. These are particularly necessary where energy is generated by wind and sun. This way, the generated electricity can be temporarily stored and made available again when needed. In 2023, a capacity of 31.39 gigawatts (GWh) of new energy storage systems was installed. An increase of 260 percent, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

This rapid expansion of energy storage is necessary to store the fluctuating electricity from wind and solar energy and to be able to retrieve it when needed. This can help China stabilize its power supply and further increase the share of renewable energy in order to achieve its climate goals.

Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries and their advantages.

Vanadium redox flow batteries are playing an increasingly important role. The reasons for their growing popularity are numerous. They are durable and can be charged and discharged 15,000 to 20,000 times without loss of performance. This means that they can fulfil their storage function over the entire lifetime of a solar park or a wind farm.

In addition, they can be deeply discharged without the batteries being damaged, and their capacity can be easily scaled by adding electrolyte containers and stacks. Finally, they use non-flammable electrolytes, which reduces the risk of fire and explosion compared to lithium-ion batteries. All these features make them ideal candidates for the requirements of the energy storage market.

Analysts expect that the market volume for vanadium will double to around 80 billion US dollars by 2030, partly due to the demand from the battery and accumulator industry. Recent figures show that batteries already account for more than five percent of global demand for vanadium. This share is expected to gradually increase to 15 to 25 percent.

The problem with vanadium

The market for vanadium redox flow batteries will grow significantly in the coming years. Driven by rising demand from the energy sector. However, there is a problem: Russia and China control nearly 80 percent of the global vanadium market. This is another reason why the USA and the European Union have classified the metal as critical. The main alternatives in the vanadium market are Brazil and South Africa. South Africa has a world market share of 15.8 percent in vanadium reserves and is the third largest producer after Russia and China. (heh)