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American Vanadium announces first CellCube installation in New York

Photo by American Vanadium

Photo by American Vanadium

23rd April 2014

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

  

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US vanadium project developer and renewable energy technology purveyor American Vanadium on Wednesday unveiled plans to demonstrate the CellCube vanadium redox flow energy storage system in partnership with the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in New York.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York City Transit (NYCT) Office of Strategic Innovation and Technology will host this demonstration at the MTA’s Energy Star-certified facility at 2 Broadway, in New York city.

Power utility ConEdison and the Advanced Research Technology Centre (AERTC) at Stony Brook University would also support this effort.

This proof-of-concept effort would be implemented at a cost of $1.2-million, which is being funded by American Vanadium (about $700 000) and supported by NYSERDA (about $500 000) under the NYSERDA Advanced Buildings Technology Development Programme.

American Vanadium president and CEO Bill Radvak told Mining Weekly Online that the demonstration was intended to add to the existing energy management measures at the MTA’s 148 645 m2 office building.

The CellCube batteries would complement an automated demand response system with Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory previously funded by NYSERDA.

“The project would demonstrate how vanadium flow battery technology, capable of multi-hour and multi-megawatt energy storage, can enable buildings to be ‘smarter’ about how and when they use energy,” Radvak explained.

CellCube is a commercial energy storage system that has been sold and installed in Europe, Asia and Africa, with more than 60 systems currently in operation at customer sites worldwide.

The CellCube system is modular and can serve loads from 10 kW to multi-MWs, and, as a flow battery, the system excels at providing multiple hours of energy for long-duration requirements.

American Vanadium is the master sales agent in North America for the CellCube systems, which are manufactured by Gildemeister, in Germany.

Radvak explained that it is American Vanadium’s strategic objective to become a vertically integrated supplier of vanadium redox batteries to the North American market. He said that the company was progressing through the permitting phase for its Gibellini vanadium project, located in Nevada, which is being designed to economically produce vanadium electrolyte for the energy storage industry, as well as vanadium products for the steel and alloying industries.

Together with Gildemeister, the company also plans to establish CellCube sales and manufacturing capabilities in New York state.

“As we continue the development of the only vanadium mine in the US, which is a critical source of vanadium electrolyte appropriate for energy storage systems, we are honoured to be working on this groundbreaking energy storage installation with the MTA, who are the largest energy consumer in the US behind the military,” Radvak said.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT

The two-year-long proof-of-concept demonstration project involves installing three 30 kW/130 kWh CellCube modules on the roof of the MTA building, providing a total of 90 kW/390 kWh of additional stored electrical energy.

The smaller systems weigh in at about 7 t to 14 t and the larger systems range in weight from 57 t to 191 t.

The modules would be integrated into the building management system in order to manage electrical loads in the building, saving money while providing reliable power when it is needed. The systems will typically be charged at night when the rates are lower, then during the daytime, the stored energy will be employed to automatically reduce daily peak loads and reduce demand charges that can often account for half of the facility’s electric bill.

The additional energy will also be employed when demand curtailments are requested from utilities to reduce peak load demands on the grid.

The NYCT Office of Strategic Innovation and Technology will be working with NYSERDA and American Vanadium to capture and quantify operational performance benefits offered to overall facility energy management.

This proof-of-concept demonstration effort would quantify the value proposition of such an installation as it might apply to 2 Broadway, and other facilities across the MTA and in the New York metropolitan area.

FRONTIER MARKET

Radvak referred to the stellar role this type of battery could play in significant grid failures such as occurred in Manhattan, New York, during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, noting that when interconnected with utilities, these installations could provide power to critical services in emergencies.

“New York is clearly creating a substantial energy storage marketplace and the knowledge gained from this demonstration will serve to help realise the gains in building and grid energy efficiency, while saving money for electric ratepayers, and importantly, adding a new method of assuring building resiliency in the event of future grid outages,” he said.

Radvak also pointed out that while New York residents are in particular faced with high peak energy prices, which are set to increase soon, CellCube installations could assist buildings to lower their peak power demand, thus reducing energy costs.

“America is well down the growth path for accepting such new grid energy storage solutions. We have seen tremendous change in recent times, with utilities realising that they would have to change the way in which they operate to win public perception.

“Renewable energy is entrenched in the public consciousness, as is evident in the millions of private residences that have installed windmills and solar power solutions in an effort to cut their reliance on grid energy,” he said.

This of course bodes well for American Vanadium, and Radvak said that US states with reduced electricity production capabilities, such as Hawaii and Alaska are in his opinion the potential ‘frontier markets’.

He also noted that New York state, California and Ontario were significant potential first movers in installing vanadium flow batteries for grid balancing and he expected that large contracts would be awarded “soon”.

Further, several states were offering significant incentives for implementing large-scale energy storage systems, and Radvak suggested that in New York state, the incentives could account for up to half a project’s cost.

“As we enter this new frontier of energy storage solutions, American Vanadium is positioned to take advantage of this unfolding market,” Radvak said.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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