KEY POINTS
• Queensland Farmers’ Federation has received a grant from the Federal Government’s Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund
• VSUN Energy is included in the recipient group to provide energy analysis and modelling for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) as a potential battery storage solution
• Project to consider the benefits of microgrids and energy storage to Queensland and New South Wales agricultural energy consumers and networks
• Analysis will commence on four virtual microgrids
• VSUN Energy’s storage opportunities continue to grow, as focus shifts to sustainable, long duration storage alongside renewable generation deployment
Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL, “the Company” or “AVL”) is pleased to announce that its 100% owned subsidiary, VSUN Energy is part of a group of companies working with Queensland
Farmers’ Federation (QFF) which has been awarded $654,807 to assess the advantages of microgrids through the Federal Government’s Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund.
VSUN Energy will receive payment for the modelling work it undertakes, with a portion of in-kind contribution to assist the project.
Other members of the group include Cotton Australia, ReAqua and Constructive Energy.
AVL’s Managing Director, Vincent Algar commented, “We are delighted that the QFF project has been chosen to receive this grant and will enable information to be provided to their members about the way renewable energy and potential storage technologies such as vanadium redox flow ASX: AVL 2 batteries, can provide security of cost and energy supply. VSUN Energy has seen a significant increase in enquiries and interest for microgrids and stand-alone power systems (SPS) in agricultural settings and in the mining sector in 2020. VSUN Energy’s focus on building strong relationships with major VRFB manufacturers over the last few years has enabled the company’s ability to provide robust and detailed modelling of various microgrid and SPS opportunities.”
Ben Lee, Managing Director of ReAqua says that the grant is great news for industry and ‘We look forward to the opportunity to work with the Project Partners and VSUN Energy to understand how solar pumping and battery storage can make solar irrigating within a microgrid more viable.’ VSUN Energy and ReAqua built a relationship through the inaugural National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo held in Wagga Wagga, NSW last year. The agricultural sector was a perfect fit for the Federal Government’s grants to assess microgrid capability, and VSUN Energy provided a letter of support to the project for the grant application.
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