Perth-based Avess Energy has signed a non-binding agreement with a consortium of South Korean bodies, including chemicals manufacturing giant Unicoh Specialty Chemicals, to build a multi-million-dollar vanadium sulphate electrolyte manufacturing production facility at Pohang in the nation’s east.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) comes just days after Avess teamed with Unicoh to establish the Unicoh ESS joint venture.
Avess said the new joint venture seeks to capitalise on the synergies between the Australian company’s flow battery energy storage solutions and Unicoh’s vanadium sulfate electrolyte technology.
Avess Managing Director Young Yu said this will strengthen Avess’ manufacturing capabilities and positioning in the global vanadium electrolyte market, a key step in the company’s plan to manufacture vanadium batteries on Australian soil.
“Unicoh ESS comes at an exciting time as we synergise decades of complementary capabilities and expertise across the electrolyte space, while this MoU is another demonstration of our readiness to locally manufacture commercial-scale VFBs,” he said.
The new joint venture will invest $10.2 million (USD 6.65 million) to build the manufacturing plant that will be capable of producing 500 tonnes of vanadium electrolyte sulphate per annum ready for use in vanadium flow batteries. Avess, which owns a 40% stake in Unicoh ESS, is expected to invest $4 million to provide the joint venture with general working capital.
Avess said it will pursue vanadium offtake opportunities with local vanadium developers to enhance Australia’s vanadium value chain.
The agreement with Unicoh comes after Avess earlier this year successfully commissioned its first vanadium redox flow battery, a storage system capable of charging and discharging at 50 kW of power for up to five hours.
The 50 kW / 250 kWh system, featuring 25 kW stacks from South Korean vanadium redox flow battery (VFRB) maker Korid Energy which is majority owned by Avess, is to deployed at an edge-of-grid mine in Western Australia, serving as a commercial demonstration for the sector.
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