WA Labor Government commits to building $150 million, 50-megawatt vanadium battery for Kalgoorlie-Boulder

The Cook Labor Government plans to build a $150 million, 50-megawatt vanadium battery to help power Kalgoorlie-Boulder into the future if re-elected, with 2029 the target date to get it up and running. The thinking behind the project is not only to better secure the Goldfields city’s energy supply, but also to develop a WA-based vanadium industry. Premier Roger Cook, Energy Minister Reece Whitby, and Kalgoorlie MLA Ali Kent made the State election commitment on the balcony of the Palace Hotel in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Thursday. Mr Cook and Mr Whitby said the project would be entirely WA-focused, with vanadium to be mined from one of the world’s largest deposits near Meekatharra from 2027, and all the construction and installation work to be done in the State. The project would create about 150 local jobs, with Mr Whitby saying there would be opportunities for local companies to get involved in construction and the supply of basic technology such as pumps and tanks. The battery would provide 10 hours of backup electricity storage — equating to 500 megawatt hours — to provide an additional layer of protection and guard against weather events or other supply disruptions. “Vanadium batteries sit in the background, building energy throughout the day,” Mr Cook said. “But whereas lithium batteries are fast to charge, fast to discharge, vanadium batteries can continue to discharge over around a 10-hour period. “So it’s not only helpful in terms of that peak period, where you look at that early, late afternoon to early evening, vanadium batteries can continue to power on throughout the evening, and that long 10-hour discharge is going to be so important for continuing to build out the resilience of our South West grid. “It will continue to usher the way forward in relation to harnessing renewable energy and decarbonising our South West grid. “This is the perfect solution, too, for Kalgoorlie when it comes to the challenges to do with energy security. “It’s about making sure we build the resilience of our edge-of-grid communities to ensure that they continue to have reliable energy as they look to power their homes and their businesses throughout the day.” Mr Whitby said the battery would help eliminate shorter-term outages the Goldfields had experienced. “This (project) is internationally significant,” he said. “The only bigger vanadium batteries on the planet are to be found in China, 100MW. “I think Japan has a 17MW vanadium battery. “The latest one to be built in Australia was in South Australia, and it was 2MW. “So we’re talking about delivering a 50MW vanadium battery.” Mr Whitby said vanadium technology had been around for decades, and the energy transition had now reached the point where such batteries “are starting to make real sense”, with a trial currently taking place in Kununurra in the Kimberley, a place with a hot climate similar Kalgoorlie-Boulder. “The beauty about vanadium . . . it doesn’t have the issues that you have with lithium,” he said. “You don’t need the cooling elements, the fans to keep it cool . . . can operate at very high temperatures. “It is stable. It is virtually unknown to catch fire. It’s simple technology, but proven technology. “(The Kununurra trial) is working well, and that’s helping inform us how the vanadium battery will work in the Goldfields.” Mr Cook said the project would deliver local jobs and local opportunities. “What we’re really excited to announce is that the vanadium battery will use locally sourced and locally processed vanadium, utilising some of the great resources that we have in vanadium here in Western Australia,” he said. “We are actually home to some of the . . . world’s largest vanadium deposits, but at this stage we haven’t actually built up our vanadium mining industry or our vanadium battery supply chain capability. “So what this will do is create local demand. “By creating local demand, we’ll actually be able to commission mines and process vanadium, looking to then to deploy it into a vanadium battery here, in Kalgoorlie and, of course, other parts of our South West grid.” The Government said the project would drive growth in the emerging vanadium industry and stimulate opportunities for downstream processing and exports. Mr Cook said more than 85 per cent of the world’s vanadium supplies came from Russia, China, South Africa and Brazil, so WA also had an important role to play in securing global supply chains for vanadium. He said along with commitments to replace the West Kalgoorlie Power Station by 2026, and the new gas backup generation secured from the mining industry last year, his Government now had short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions in play for Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s energy system.