Australian Vanadium opened its vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Wangara, Australia. The company said the facility could produce up to 33MWh of high purity electrolyte per annum for the vanadium flow battery (VFB) market.
In 2021, the company gained a A$3.69 million (US$2.4 million) federal government grant, partly to build and operate a commercial vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Western Australia. That is to support the commercialisation of VFBs and the design of a prototype residential battery.
AVL has used US Vanadium’s electrolyte manufacturing technology for the plant’s design, which it said de-risked construction and start-up. USV manufactures vanadium electrolyte for the North American market and AVL holds the exclusive licence for Australia and New Zealand. Vanadium is not mined in Australia, according to AVL.
It plans to mine vanadium south of Meekatharra, then process it close to Geraldton at a site which can become a processing hub for the region. The high-purity vanadium pentoxide will then be converted into vanadium electrolyte at AVL’s facility in Wangara.
Photo: Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King MP (centre), officially opened AVL’s vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Wangara on Wednesday. AVL
