The 100 MW Dalian Flow Battery Energy Storage Peak-shaving Power Station, with the largest power and capacity in the world, has finished its system joint debugging in Dalian, China, and was put into operation in late October.

This is China’s first approved national, large-scale chemical energy storage demonstration project, and will eventually produce 200 megawatts (MW)/800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity.

The power station is based on the vanadium flow battery energy storage technology developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It will serve as Dalian’s “power bank” and help realize “peak cutting and valley filling” across the power system, thus helping the city make use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar energy.

The project’s first phase scale is 100 MW/400 MWh. The power station can meet the daily electricity demand of about 200,000 residents, thus reducing power supply pressure during peak periods and improving power supply reliability in southern Dalian.

Energy storage technology can help power systems improve their strain and response capability. It is also particularly important in facilitating the use of renewable energy, which is key for China to achieve its carbon peak and neutrality goals.

Renewable energy sources will be stored as chemical energy in the station’s batteries during the grid load valley period, and converted back into electrical energy at peak grid load.

Electrical energy and chemical energy are converted back and forth through the redox reaction of vanadium ions, thus realizing large-scale storage and the release of electrical energy.

This technology is safe, reliable, and environmentally friendly, with a large power output and storage capacity. It uses recyclable electrolytes, has a long life, good cost-performance and is therefore promising in large-scale energy storage applications.

Vanadium flow battery working mechanism [IMAGE: SCIENCEAPE]

Source: Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics,

Chinese Academy of Sciences