Claimed to be the world’s largest battery, the large-scale VFBs have been developed by UET and Rongke Power to meet the challenges of grid modernization, renewable penetration, and resiliency.
Designed to provide peak-shaving and enhance grid stabilization, the VFB battery has potential to facilitate more storage capacity for additional intermittent renewable energy deployment in the region.
The Rongke’s VFB strategic application into the utility grid has been approved by the China National Energy Administration due to its competitive price and lack of emissions.
The battery also demonstrated longevity, operational flexibility, and class-leading performance.
UET president and COO Rick Winter said: "This visionary project is a watershed moment for the energy storage industry, vaulting China’s electric grid into the 21st century, supplying tremendous resilience and enabling seamless deep penetration of renewables.
"The massive scale of the project was made possible by years of reliable field performance of vanadium flow batteries, and allows us to rapidly optimize our supply chain across our product lines."
The China National Energy Administration also approved the battery arrays, which feature ten (10X) 20MW/80MWh VFB systems deployed on the Dalian peninsula.
The VFB battery is scheduled to be commissioned in fall of 2016 with a phase 1 capacity of 300MW of VFB electrode stacks at Rongke Power’s new GigaFactory.
This will be followed by the development of a phase 2 capacity of 1GW and phase 3 capacity of 3GW.
Upon commissioning, the VFB battery is expected to peak-shave approximately 8% of Dalian’s expected load in 2020.
The large-scale battery will form an additional load center to enhance grid stabilization. It will also secure power supply and provide black-start capabilities.
