IDTechEx Discusses Future Market Penetration of the Redox Flow Battery - Seite 3

Promise of cheaper RFB chemistries

Other RFBs which use cheaper and more widely available active materials for electrolyte could, however, pose a future threat to VRFB players. Other chemistries being developed include all-iron, zinc-bromine, zinc-iron, and hydrogen-bromine, among more. The electrolyte costs in these RFB systems are estimated by IDTechEx to be approximately an order of magnitude less than vanadium electrolytes, presenting a key advantage.

While many of these chemistries see a number of pilot projects and commercial demonstration projects being deployed in recent years, key player CMBlu Energy AG (CMBlu), developing an organic redox flow battery (ORFB) technology, seem to be gearing towards technology commercialization. In October 2023, Technology Group STRABAG invested €100M (~US$108M) into CMBlu. IDTechEx has identified this as one of the largest funding rounds into a RFB company in recent years, beaten only by Dalian Rongke Power (VRFB developer), raising over US$145M, and WeView (zinc-iron developer), raising over US$140M across 2022 - 2023,, respectively. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz Group AG ordered an 11 MWh ORFB from CMBlu in March 2024 and is expected to come online in H2 2025, marking one of the largest projects of an ORFB globally. While such developments signify ongoing commercial activity for ORFBs, the field performance of these technologies will be needed to start validating any technical advantages over VRFBS or other RFB chemistries at commercial scale.

Future RFB application for Long Duration Energy Storage

Regardless of chemistry, it is important to consider when demand for RFB technologies is expected to increase. Li-ion batteries exhibit a CapEx competitive with or lower than many of the alternative RFB chemistries at shorter durations of storage (1 – 4 hours). Moreover, the round-trip efficiency of Li-ion batteries is greater than that of RFBs, demonstrating another advantage. Li-ion batteries have been deployed on a much wider scale than RFBs for stationary energy storage applications, such as energy shifting, or for providing ancillary services to the grid over short durations (<1 hour). As such, this can make it difficult for RFB players to penetrate the existing stationary battery storage market and acquire sizeable market share.