Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL) has kicked off Project Lumina, seeking to build a modular 100MW Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) for use in Australia.

Built by 100% owned subsidiary VSUN Energy Pty Ltd, the company is seeking to shore up faith for VFB builds in the ‘big battery’ – or Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) market.

‘Big Batteries’ are, for that acronym, sometimes called BESSies.

According to AVL, VSUN has run the numbers and states a 4-hour 100MW VFB battery with a storage cost of A$274 per megawatt hour would be economically competitive with lithium-based BESSies.

Built to paper design, VFB systems are widely perceived as posing less of a fire risk than lithium-ion BESSies like Tesla’s sometimes fire prone megapack batteries.

Should Project Lumina do what it’s trying to do on paper – design a largely Australian made vanadium-based BESS – it expects to shore up confidence among potential buyers, and, find a use for its Australian hard rock vanadium assets.

Already producing small amounts of electrolyte, the company is opting for a domestic onshore ‘pit to battery’ strategy ex-China.

Of course, the question of funding remains.

“AVL is considering a range of funding options for Project Lumina at either parent company or asset level within the AVL group, which is expected to include debt supported by strategic equity or cornerstone equity funding, including from Australian Government agencies,” the company wrote on Wednesday.

But AVL chief Graham Arvidson thinks that those funding discussions likely come at a good time.

“The need for long duration energy storage in Australia is rapidly growing and the work the team is undertaking with Project Lumina is a key enabler to create a platform for us to deliver competitive long duration battery energy storage solutions,” Arvidson said.

“The scale of the projects VSUN Energy is pursuing aims to provide AVL with the ability to utilise our own manufactured vanadium electrolyte, ultimately unlocking the development pathway and full value of the Australian Vanadium Project.”

AVL last traded at

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