Key Takeaways
- Snapping Shoals EMC is piloting a long-duration, scalable vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) built by Stryten Energy in Georgia.
- The battery can store six hours of energy and operate for about 20 years, making it a significant advancement in energy storage technology.
- VRFB is scalable to meet a utility’s growing needs, with stacks and tanks that can be reconfigured independently to increase power and storage duration.
- The technology has the potential to enhance reliability, maintain affordability, and support new energy resources, making it a valuable solution for electric cooperatives and utilities.
Introduction to Snapping Shoals EMC’s Pilot Project
Snapping Shoals EMC, an electric cooperative near Atlanta, is helping to test advanced long-duration energy storage technology to enhance reliability, maintain affordability, and support new energy resources. The cooperative has partnered with Stryten Energy to demonstrate a small vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) that can safely store electricity for up to six hours. This project is significant, as it is the first of its kind in Georgia and one of only a handful in the United States. According to Shaun Mock, CEO of Snapping Shoals EMC, "The state of the electric grid today is evolving every day, and our equipment has to be able to change and respond much quicker than electric systems in the past."
The Need for Long-Duration Energy Storage
The demand for energy is increasing rapidly, driven by residential growth and large industrial loads. Electric cooperatives like Snapping Shoals EMC are looking for innovative solutions to meet this demand while maintaining affordability and reliability. Long-duration energy storage is seen as the "Holy Grail" of energy storage, as it can help stabilize fluctuations and enable utilities to provide better service and manage costs. The VRFB system being piloted by Snapping Shoals EMC is a significant step towards achieving this goal. As Scott Childers, vice president of essential power at Stryten, noted, "Snapping Shoals has just been a tremendous help to us to take that first step and the second step and start to prove to the world that we need a new technology."
How Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries Work
The VRFB system is a completely liquid-based battery that consists of two tanks of electrolytes, one positively charged and the other negatively charged, and a stack assembly where ion exchange and electron movement from one tank charges the system. The battery’s power is determined by the quantity of stacks, and its duration is based on tank size. This design allows for scalability and flexibility, making it an attractive option for utilities. Childers likens the VRFB’s setup to that of an automobile, "If you want more horsepower, you get a bigger engine. Here, the number of stacks that you have in the system gives you your power that can be discharged at a given time. If you want longer duration or more total energy, you just get bigger tanks filled up with more liquid."
Comparison with Lithium-Ion Batteries
VRFBs have several advantages over lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used by utilities. One significant difference is that VRFBs are scalable to meet a utility’s growing needs, with stacks and tanks that can be reconfigured independently to increase power and storage duration. In contrast, lithium-ion batteries have limited scalability and must be fully replaced with a larger one or multiple batteries to increase energy storage capacity. Additionally, VRFBs can last up to 20 years without losing capacity, whereas lithium-ion batteries tend to be replaced within four years due to wear and tear. As Childers noted, "There’s really no limit to VRFB’s capacity. It’s really kind of a question of how big a field do you have to put tanks in."
Applications and Benefits of VRFB Technology
The VRFB technology has the potential to provide multiple benefits to electric cooperatives and utilities. It can help reduce the strain on the grid, provide backup power during outages, and support the integration of renewable energy sources. According to Mock, "The flexibility of our power supply structure enables us to explore new technologies. The world is changing, and we all need to have every available resource to us in order to meet the demand." The technology can also provide prepacked solutions for redundancy to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and large industrial or commercial consumers.
Conclusion and Future Prospects
The pilot project at Snapping Shoals EMC is an important step towards the development and deployment of VRFB technology. As the demand for energy continues to grow, innovative solutions like VRFB will be essential to maintaining reliability, affordability, and supporting new energy resources. The success of this project could pave the way for wider adoption of VRFB technology, enabling electric cooperatives and utilities to provide better service and manage costs. As Denney noted, "This is what cooperative innovation looks like when the grid has no time to wait. As demand accelerates from growth, electrification and large loads, co-ops are actively testing solutions that can scale, adapt and perform over decades."