AI gen vanadium flow battery concept
Adobe Stock
The Market Online - At The Bell

Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights

Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL) has kicked off Project Lumina, seeking to build a modular 100MW Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) for use in Australia.

Built by 100% owned subsidiary VSUN Energy Pty Ltd, the company is seeking to shore up faith for VFB builds in the ‘big battery’ – or Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) market.

‘Big Batteries’ are, for that acronym, sometimes called BESSies.

According to AVL, VSUN has run the numbers and states a 4-hour 100MW VFB battery with a storage cost of A$274 per megawatt hour would be economically competitive with lithium-based BESSies.

Built to paper design, VFB systems are widely perceived as posing less of a fire risk than lithium-ion BESSies like Tesla’s sometimes fire prone megapack batteries.

Should Project Lumina do what it’s trying to do on paper – design a largely Australian made vanadium-based BESS – it expects to shore up confidence among potential buyers, and, find a use for its Australian hard rock vanadium assets.

Already producing small amounts of electrolyte, the company is opting for a domestic onshore ‘pit to battery’ strategy ex-China.

Of course, the question of funding remains.

“AVL is considering a range of funding options for Project Lumina at either parent company or asset level within the AVL group, which is expected to include debt supported by strategic equity or cornerstone equity funding, including from Australian Government agencies,” the company wrote on Wednesday.

But AVL chief Graham Arvidson thinks that those funding discussions likely come at a good time.

“The need for long duration energy storage in Australia is rapidly growing and the work the team is undertaking with Project Lumina is a key enabler to create a platform for us to deliver competitive long duration battery energy storage solutions,” Arvidson said.

“The scale of the projects VSUN Energy is pursuing aims to provide AVL with the ability to utilise our own manufactured vanadium electrolyte, ultimately unlocking the development pathway and full value of the Australian Vanadium Project.”

AVL last traded at

Join the discussion: See what HotCopper users are saying about Australian Vanadium and be part of the conversations that move the markets.

AVL by the numbers
More From The Market Online
AI image of copper mineralisation

Bastion picks up historic samples grading up to 9.88% Cu from ICE Copper project in Canada

Bastion Minerals Ltd has been carrying out sampling work on historic drill core at its ICE…
Crosse section of the earth

Earths Energy confirms Paralana as an Enhanced Geothermal Systems Program project

Earths Energy Ltd has completed preliminary work on its Techno Economic Feasibility study for the Paralana…
Small pile of rare earth minerals

Critica confirms high grade REE mineralisation at Jupiter with 3,074 ppm intercept

Critica Ltd has confirmed high grade REE mineralisation at the Jupiter target, part of the larger…
Market Update Graphic

ASX Market Update: Index rises as US election count continues | November 6, 2024

Counting in the US election is underway and markets are eagerly watching the results trickle in.