Date: Aug 22, 2018
Special report: Renewable energy took another step forward in Australia this morning as Protean Energy successfully hooked up its vanadium battery with WA electricity operator Western Power.
The vanadium explorer and battery maker has been developing its V-KOR “vanadium redox flow battery” (or VRFB) for about ten years with Korean partner KORID Energy.
Protean owns half of KORID, which has patents over technology in the increasingly popular vanadium sector of the battery field.
Vanadium flow batteries are safer than lithium-ion and well suited to large-scale customers such as electricity grid operators.
The V-KOR battery — which has been connected to Western Power’s electricity grid in WA — is Protean’s (ASX:POW) first Australian grid deployment.
Protean will be able to demonstrate the V-KOR vanadium battery to potential customers and collect data to refine configurations for grid-connected batteries.
It’s the latest win for Protean, which earlier signed a deal to fast-track its South Korean mining project after gaining access to a multi-million dollar vanadium and uranium pilot plant.
