VRB Energy Commissions 3MW 12MWh Vanadium Redox Battery Energy Storage System (VRB-ESS ®) in Phase 1 of the Hubei Zaoyang 10MW 40MWh Utility-Scale Solar and Storage Integration Demonstration Project

Robert Friedland, Chairman of VRB Energy, and Dr. Mianyan Huang, Chief Technology Officer and President of China Operations, are pleased to announce today that commissioning of a 3-megawatt (MW) 12-megawatt-hour (MWh) vanadium-redox-battery energy-storage-system (VRB-ESS) in China is currently underway, with the first battery module of 250-kilowatt (kW) 1MWh successfully commissioned.

The 3MW 12MWh VRB-ESS currently being installed in Zaoyang, Hubei to integrate a large solar photovoltaic system into the grid is the first phase of a 10MW 40MWh project that VRB Energy was awarded in November 2017. 

"We are delighted to have successfully integrated the first module of a 1MW 4MWh VRB-ESS into the local grid, allowing our customer Hubei Pingfan to immediately benefit from cost-savings on peak-hour electricity tariffs through energy arbitrage at its industrial park," said Dr. Huang. "By charging the VRB-ESS at hours when electricity tariff is low and then discharging that power during on-peak hours when electricity tariff is high, our customer will be able to reduce the cost of expensive on-peak power."

When Phase 1 is completed by the end of 2018, the VRB-ESS will be the largest vanadium flow battery installed in China.  

Following this 10MW 40MWh project, Hubei Province has planned a larger 100MW 500MWh energy storage project, to fulfill a key initiative under China's 2017 energy storage policy to deploy multiple 100 MW-scale vanadium flow batteries. This large project will be the cornerstone of a new smart-energy grid in Hubei, serving as a critical peak power plant to deliver energy reliability and reduce emissions. 

VRB Energy | www.vrbenergy.com