The Board of Tivan Limited (ASX: TVN) (“Tivan” or the “Company”) is pleased to advise that the Company is advancing planning for its proposed vanadium electrolyte (“VE”) manufacturing facility (“VE Facility”) at the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct (“MASDP”) in Darwin, with commencement of a testwork program targeting production of high-purity vanadium electrolyte in collaboration with Sumitomo Electric Industries (“SEI”), a Japanese headquartered global manufacturer of electronics. SEI is a leading manufacturer of large-scale, long-life vanadium redox flow batteries (“VRFB”).
Tivan announced in October 2023 its plans to deliver a VE Facility at MASDP, using vanadium from the Speewah Vanadium Project as the proposed feedstock, to facilitate deployment of VRFB in northern Australia. VE is used to store energy in VRFB. In support, Tivan signed a Letter of Intent with Larrakia Energy for the supply of up to 30 MW of renewable energy from a proposed 300 MW solar farm to be located on Larrakia Country (see ASX announcement of 31 October 2023).
Tivan and SEI have been working in collaboration since mid-2023. Executive Chairman, Mr Grant Wilson, has visited SEI in Osaka to introduce the Speewah Vanadium Project and to further due diligence on VE and VRFB technology. In support of the testwork program, SEI has provided Tivan with its VE specification on a commercial-in-confidence basis. Tivan has designed the resulting testwork program, shown in Figure 1 below.
The Company has established a working group to oversee planning and execution of the program, which includes Emeritus Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos from the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales, a member of Tivan’s Technical Advisory Group and also the inventor of VRFB.
The objective of the testwork program is to produce VE, using vanadium produced from Speewah samples, which meets the specifications provided by SEI. The program is planned to be completed within a nine month timeframe, supported by work being progressed with Hatch as part of the pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) for the Speewah Vanadium Project (see ASX announcement of 22 February 2024). The scope of the PFS also includes development of a concept design for the VE Facility.
VRFBs are widely viewed as a preferred technology for long duration energy storage.
Advantages include:
- Longevity: extended lifespan of greater than 20 years, with minimal performance degradation.
- Cycle: capability for greater than 20,000 cycles.
- Discharge: capability for full discharge without shortening battery life.
- Duration: long duration optimised up to 24 hours of energy storage and power output.
- Cost-competitive: lower maintenance and long life provides for lower levelised cost of energy storage.
- Safety: use of aqueous electrolyte removes susceptibility of thermal runaway events.
- Recyclability: VE can be reused and recycled indefinitely.
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Source: Tivan Limited
