Lithium leader S Korea funds 4MWh vanadium trial that targets doubled energy density

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Protean/KORID’s V-KOR vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) stack. Image: Protean Energy.

With a view to creating a mass market design for vanadium flow batteries, Australia’s Protean Energy will deploy a 4MWh battery energy storage project in South Korea that will be researched over eight years of operation.

The ASX-listed company is involved both with vanadium resources as well as creating energy storage systems using vanadium pentoxide electrolyte, producing its own stack technology, V-KOR. V-KOR ‘stacks’ individual vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) cells within a main system stack, unlike most vanadium flow battery designs in which the whole system is one large ‘cell’. Protean claims this lowers manufacturing costs and improves battery performance. The company connected its first project to the grid in Australia in August, a 100kWh system in Western Australia.

Protean, via its’ 50%-owned Korean subsidiary, KORID ENERGY, has been awarded AU$3 Million in funding towards a trial 1MW/4MWh system by the Korean Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP). KETEP’s various areas of research and development include extensive focus on renewables and advancing energy technologies overall including the Energy Storage System (ESS) Technology Development Program. The award to Protean is part of a wider AU$9 million project in this area. The institute selected the provider through a competitive process for the project, which is anticipated to run for 96 months. It is hoped the trial will double the energy density of vanadium electrolyte, in turn reducing the physical footprint of Protean’s V-KOR battery.

South Korea is best known as home to some of the world’s biggest lithium battery suppliers including Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation but this project aims to develop a mass production VRFB through lowering costs and improving manufacturing processes for Protean’s 25kW V-KOR stack. Protean said KORID’s commercialisation strategy will include targeting the market for large-scale commercial and industrial (C&I) projects.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

South Korean chemical company Chemtros will manufacture and supply electrolytes, while other partners are:

Electrolyte chemistry – UniPlus

Power conditioning equipment – EKOS

System development – H2

Sungkyunkwan University

Read Long Time Coming, a feature article published across two quarterly editions of PV Tech Power, looking at the tech, the ambitions and strategies of four flow battery makers, here on the site, or download it as a free PDF from ‘Resources’ to keep and carry (subscription details required).

Read Next

Premium
September 18, 2025
ESN Premium speaks to Matt Harper, president of flow battery company Invinity Energy Systems, about pursuing a competitive advantage in an emerging space.
September 18, 2025
Tesla has issued a product recall on its Powerwall 2 residential battery storage solution across Australia due to a “battery cell defect” from a third-party supplier.
September 18, 2025
Chang Jae Won of the Korea Smart Grid Association believes companies lack a model for recovering their investment in DC energy storage.
September 18, 2025
Hydrostor has secured US$55 million in funding from Export Development Canada (EDC) to advance development activities for its 200MW/1,600MWh Silver City Energy Storage Centre project in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
September 17, 2025
Chinese PV module manufacturer Trina Solar has received the green light from the Victoria government in Australia to build a 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

Most Popular

Email Newsletter