Billions of dollars are being invested worldwide in the developing battery boom, involving research into storage techniques to use the growing surpluses of cheap renewable energy now becoming available.
New possibilities
One of the latest advances is to use another rare metal, vanadium. Vanadium flow batteries are large static batteries that last for decades and can be charged and discharged completely thousands of times. They are not portable, but last for years without deterioration and are increasingly being deployed by national grids to boost supply during peak demand. A Canadian company, CellCube, has just sold a large battery plant to France.
This has been hailed as one of the most promising technologies in energy storage.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and development of mineral projects in South Africa. It operates through three segments: Vanadium and Iron Ore, Coal Exploration, and Vanadium Mining and Production.