LPV: Vanadium Monthly News Excerpt
After five months of steady gains from the lows reached in November 2022, vanadium prices decreased approximately 4% this month, mainly due to lower spot demand from the steel sector exiting Q1 2023.
Australia and Europe Focus on VRFBs and Critical Raw Material Supply
In March, two separate vanadium redox flow battery (“VRFB”) electrolyte plants were announced in Australia. This highlights and supports the recent assessment by Australian government agency Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) that highlighted that a 10-14x increase in energy storage capacity will be needed in the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the years 2025 and 2030. Australia is targeting net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia does not produce vanadium currently but counts several listed companies with projects at various stages of development. The country has a host of large potential vanadium resources and a geographic and industrial landscape that is ideally suited for long duration energy storage. It is also interesting to note that Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, at the University of New South Wales, Australia, was the first to present a successful demonstration of dissolved vanadium in a solution of sulfuric acid for VRFB applications in the 1980’s.
In Europe, the much-anticipated Critical Raw Material Act (the “Act”) was announced on March 16 by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and vanadium is included in the list of raw materials now formally designated as strategic and critical. The Act states that the European Union’s capacities should be strengthened “along the strategic raw materials value chain”.
| China Continues to Lead the Way with VRFBs |
| During Vanitec’s 12 Energy Storage Committee meeting in Chengdu, China last month, several exciting announcements were made regarding market share and vanadium demand forecast for VRFBs in China to 2030. By 2030, the cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage is expected to reach 100 GW and the market share of VRFBs is expected to be about 30% or 30 GW. This equates to approximately 180 GWh using an average duration of 6 hours. 180 GWh of vanadium electrolyte would require approximately 1.5 million tonnes of VO or 100% of current world supply to 2030. |