Over the last decade clean energy became a megatrend, and with it a multitude of sub-topics like energy storage, electric vehicles, carbon capture, hydrogen and many others.

 

While the initial focus of energy storage was the technical aspect of the systems, analysing their cost or efficiency, focus has slowly shifted toward the power grid. Driven by the adoption of an increasing amount of variable renewable energies (VREs), stationary storage devices - besides Li-ion batteries - are approaching the market, and IDTechEx foresees a large adoption of Redox Flow Batteries toward the end of the next decade, as described in the updated report: "Redox Flow Batteries 2021-2031".

 

From the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and the acknowledgment of the pollution problem, several countries around the world started to address the pollution problem, working on the most polluting sectors, among them: automotive and power generation.

 

While the electrification of the automotive sector was (and still is) mostly related to a technical aspect of efficiency of the car power source (the Li-ion battery pack), the power sector focusses its attention on the adoption of renewable energies, or more specifically variable renewable energy (VRE), like solar photovoltaic (SolarPV), and wind turbines.

 

Because of the intermittent nature of the wind and the sun ("The wind doesn't always blow" and "The sun doesn't always shine"), the increasing adoption of VRE is having a direct impact on the existing power grid infrastructure. Developed over the last hundred years and based on a centralized structure, where central power plants provided energy to the final consumer, the adoption of VRE is changing this scenario toward a decentralized network.

 

Scientific studies and countries with large renewable energy adoption have both shown the necessity to increase the power grid resiliency to allow greater adoption of VRE and decarbonize the power sector. The main tool to reach this target is through adoption of energy storage systems (ESS).

 

ESS includes a multitude of devices, differentiated by the type of storage (electrochemical, gravitational, etc.), and by the storage capacity, hence the hours of storage each device can provide. To understand the role of RFB in the power grid, IDTechEx investigated the power grid need to install stationary energy storage, and particularly medium and long duration energy storage.

 

Because the ES necessity is linked to the adoption of VRE, this trend has been extrapolated by IDTechEx from a study conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).

 

BESS companies are already looking at longer durations of storage, as also mentioned from one of the largest battery manufacturers over an interview with IDTechEx and academic professors.

 

Because longer duration technologies than Li-ion battery have cost advantages on the specific energy cost price, IDTechEx has calculated and compared the Levelized Cost of Storage for Li-ion batteries and Redox Flow Batteries, to show the advantage of RFB specific cost ($/kWh) over the technology lifetime.

 

Finally, based on future VRE adoption and electricity consumption trends, IDTechEx forecasted the future adoption of RFB and related market size.

 

The "Redox Flow Batteries 2021-2031" report provides a complete overview about the Redox Flow Battery system, showing the reader the different types of Redox Flow Battery chemistries, investigating advantages and disadvantages of each of them. A further relevant aspect of the report is related to the components and materials adopted in the main RFB types.

 

The core part of this report update targets the future applications of RFB. Because the RFB sector has struggled over the past few years to get its position on the market, due to strong competition from the well-established Li-ion battery systems, IDTechEx explain and address the possible roles which the redox flow battery will play in the future.

 

Finally, to economically explain the great technical advantage of RFB regarding the large energy throughput of the device, IDTechEx calculate the Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) for LiB and RFB systems, showing the different trend under specific assumptions.

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