800MWh: construction of world biggest flow battery in China has started

Summary

Commissioning has taken place of a 100MW/400M vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) energy storage system in Dalian, China. A second phase will bring it up to 200MW/800MWh.

The biggest project of its type in the world today, the VRFB project planning, design and construction has taken six years. It was connected to the Dalian grid in late May, according to a report this week by the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA) industry group. The system is part of a wave of large-scale VRFBs China is looking to deploy.

In China’s Hubei Province, another (very) large-scale VRFB is being built in phases. The Hubei projects cost for 500MWh of VRFB, along with a combined 1GW of solar PV and wind generation from which it will charge, was cited as around US$1.44 billion.