A new agreement paves the way for the development of a manufacturing supply chain for vanadium flow batteries in Townsville.

Vanadium flow batteries are set to be a key part of our energy storage mix with demand rapidly increasing around the globe, and are now set to be manufactured out of North Queensland under a new agreement between three major companies.

Idemitsu Australia, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Vecco Group have signed a collaboration agreement to build a complete manufacturing supply chain, from mining to energy storage.

Under the non-exclusive agreement, Idemitsu plans to market, sell and deliver vanadium flow batteries to Australian customers using Sumitomo Electric hardware and Vecco’s electrolyte made from vanadium mined in Queensland’s north west minerals province.

Vecco will mine and refine high purity vanadium at their Julia Creek mine and manufacture battery electrolyte in Townsville. Detailed design for a commercial production facility is underway.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles said: “We are taking vanadium from Julia Creek – one of the world’s biggest and best vanadium resources – and turning it into batteries here creating more local jobs.

“We know those batteries will provide deep storage into our own grid, but today we are taking it a step further.

“This means manufacturing the vanadium flow batteries needed in Australia to transition to renewable energy and supplying vanadium electrolyte to the world.”

Vecco Group received support from the Industry Partnership Program to establish Australia’s first vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility which is currently operational in Townsville.

To cater for the growth expected under this new agreement, Vecco has now secured a 3.2 hectare site at Cleveland Bay Industrial Park (CBIP), in the Townsville State Development Area, for its commercial production facility.

Vecco Managing Director Tom Northcott noted demand for vanadium flow batteries was rapidly increasing to meet the world’s energy storage demands.

Northcott said: “Over 7.4 gigawatt-hours of vanadium flow battery projects globally are currently under construction or have been announced in the last 12 months.

“The decision for Idemitsu to market and deploy vanadium flow batteries using Sumitomo and Vecco products acknowledges the scale of the opportunity.”