LDES procurements for non-lithium tech still in infancy LDES = Long-duration energy storage
https://www.energy-storage.news/arizona-utility-srp-launches-rfp-for-non-lithium-long-duration-energy-storage/
Excerpt
LDES procurements for non-lithium tech still in infancy
While solicitations for LDES resources are so far quite rare, in both the US and the international energy industries, solicitations for prescribed non-lithium sources are rarer still.
Technology-agnostic LDES RFPs have been hosted by a number of Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) energy suppliers in California and while two prominent solicitations were won out by 8-hour duration lithium-ion BESS projects, others have seen vanadium flow battery (VRFB) bids awarded contracts. Australia’s first LDES tender similarly picked out an 8-hour Li-ion project by RWE.
However, while Li-ion remains broadly competitive for applications requiring up to 8-hour discharge duration, technology options are being sought around the world for technologies that might cost-effectively compete at longer durations, while also offering the chance to decouple from Li-ion supply chains.
During June, New York’s state government launched a competitive solicitation for LDES technologies with US$5 million budgeted towards it, again to develop and demonstrate scalable solutions, and the first-ever vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) tender in India was launched through state-owned power producer NTPC a couple of weeks ago.