Chinese vanadium redox battery manufacturer VRB Energy has begun commissioning a 3MW/12MWH vanadium redox battery, phase one of its Hubei Zaoyang 10MW/40MWh project, which will be the “largest vanadium flow battery installed in China”.
The system is being installed to integrate a large solar photovoltaic system into the grid at Zaoyang.
VRB’s chief technical officer Dr Mianyan Huang said: “We are delighted to have successfully integrated the first module of a 1MW/4MWh VRB-ESS into the grid, allowing our customer, Hubei Pingfan, to immediately benefit from cost-savings on peak-hour electricity tariffs through energy arbitrage at its industrial park.”
As reported by BEST Battery Briefing, VRB was awarded the contract for the 10MW/40MWh system in November 2017. The first— 250kW/1MWh— battery module of the system was successfully commissioned in November 2018.
Following successful completion of this 10MW/40MWh project, a larger 100MW/500MWh energy storage project is planned for Hubei Province, which will “fulfil a key initiative under China’s 2017 energy storage policy to deploy multiple 100MW scale vanadium flow batteries”.
The project will be the cornerstone of Hubei’s smart-energy grid, serving as a critical peak power plant to increase reliability and reduce emissions in the province.
