VRB Energy has announced the signing of a framework agreement for a 100 MW solar photovoltaic and 100 MW / 500 MWh vanadium flow battery integrated power station project in Xiangyang city in the Hubei Province of China. Additionally, the agreement also includes the construction of the first 50 MW per annum of a new 1,000 MW per annum “Gigafactory” manufacturing facility for the company’s energy storage systems, and a vanadium flow battery intelligent energy research and development institute.
The agreement was signed by the Xiangyang Municipal Government, Hubei Pingfan New Energy, the Xiangyang High-tech State-owned Capital Investment and Operation Group, and VRB Energy. The initial 40MW / 200MWh energy storage system and 50MW per annum of manufacturing will begin construction in May 2021.
The project comes after VRB Energy developed a 3 MW solar plant with a 3 MW / 12 MWh energy storage system in Xiangyang in collaboration with Pingfan New Energy in 2019. The company intends to take this business model and technology forward in the current project as ideally suited for integration of the daily cycling of solar PV onto utility grids.
VRB Energy is a privately-owned renewable energy developer. It is majority-owned by High Power Exploration, a North American, minerals exploration and development company that also invests in minerals-dependent, high-growth emerging technologies. With more than 30 MWh installed and in construction worldwide, and more than 800,000 hours of demonstrated performance, the company has developed one of the most long-lasting battery energy storage systems in the world.