Rapid design and construction including environmental permitting - typically 8 months, since no appreciable air, waste or sound emissions are produced.
Existing systems can be readily upgraded - additional storage capacity can be added (at low incremental costs) by increasing the volume of electrolyte (litres) and/or output power can be increased by adding additional cell stacks.
Operations & Maintenance
Low operating temperatures and less sensitivity to ambient temperature variations.
SCADA interface is Internet enabled or via dial up modem. Modbus interfaces are available for interconnection to auxiliary systems.
Power Electronics and Controls. Use of advanced multi-quadrant power flow control allowing phase control of outputs, voltage sag/dip compensation, low harmonic distortion, reactive power flow compensation (PFC), high short term and instantaneous overload capacity - ideal for stability enhancement. Multi-layer, encrypted password access to the control PLC.
Designed for unattended (remote) operation with very low maintenance costs ($0.008/kWh for the VRB-ESS).
Performance
Availability of greater than 98%.
The VRB-ESS can be discharged and charged greater than 10,000 times (20% to 80% SOC) without material deterioration in system efficiencies.
The VRB-ESS has system round-trip efficiencies of 65 - 75%.
A theorical charge/discharge window of 2:1 (option of 1:1) - allowing off-peak charging for on-peak dispatch - a fraction of the time required by other battery systems and ideal for wind generation applications.
Electrolyte
For the VRB-ESS, cross mixing of electrolytes does
not lead to the contamination of electrolytes.
Indefinite life of electrolyte (no disposal or contamination issues).
Once charged, the electrolyte remains fully charged with low self-discharge.
