So-called flow batteries may be more expensive up front but last for decades, don’t catch fire and can store and dispatch sunshine for 10 to 18 hours.
In contrast, rows of lithium-ion batteries springing up around the country are handy backup to meet peak energy demand for a few hours at a time.
Australia has vast reserves of vanadium but most of the world’s supply is sourced from China, Russia and South Africa and goes into making steel alloy.
That is rapidly changing as allies eye the potential of an end-to-end chain – from mine to electricity grid – in Australia.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd (LON:FAR) is developing the giant Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Kyzylordinskaya oblast of southern Kazakhstan. The ore at this deposit is unlike that of nearly all other primary vanadium deposits and is capable of being treated by a much lower cost process.
