One of the advantages of VRFB is that it has a long storage and cycle life. VRFB generally has a life of 20,000+ cycles and over 20 life years, which is the longest amongst commercially available rechargeable battery. Due to this long life, it can dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership through low maintenance costs.
One of the key features of VRFB is that the power output and energy capacity are completely independent. The output is determined by the number or size of the stacks, and the energy capacity is determined by the amount of electrolytes stored in a separate tank, allowing easy scaling of power output and storage capacity according to the customer's needs. VRFB is suitable to accommodate from several kWh to hundreds of MWh large scale system.
VRFB is inherently stable based on an aqueous electrolyte which provides a solution risk-free of explosion. It is also very sustainable due to it’s indefinite reusable and recyclable electrolytes.
A single-cell comprises of several components to create a positive and negative side . The electrolytes flow through each side of the electrode separated by the membrane. Several single-cells may be stacked together to create a single unit stack which decides the power capacity.
Energy is stored directly in the water-based vanadium electrolyte during its flow through the stack. According the battery’s charged state, the electrolyte shows four different electron states, V5+ and V4+(positive), V2+ and V3+(negative). The colors of the electrolyte in the above picture represents the actual electron state of the electrolyte. During the repeated cycling of charge and discharge, the electrolyte is non-consumed allowing an indefinite use and there is no emission of gas or byproduct
