Bushveld Minerals’ strategy to establish itself in all stages of the vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) value chain is set to benefit the local economies of three of South Africa’s provinces, including Mpumalanga, the company said.
This was conveyed by Neo Kgatuke, the Bushveld Energy Business Development Manager, speaking at the Mpumalanga Energy Summit at eMalahleni.
The company’s Mpumalanga operation is Bushveld Vanchem at eMalahleni, a vanadium processing plant.
Bushveld Energy, a subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals, is also building a vanadium electrolyte production plant in partnership with the IDC, which will be the largest such plant outside of China. This is currently under construction in East London in the Eastern Cape.
Each of these are sources of jobs and local procurement for their respective local economies.
VRFBs are an essential part of the just energy transition, providing large scale energy storage capacity of the type required for the storage of, for example, solar and wind renewable energy to be used in periods when sun and wind is not available.
“Stationery storage applications are critical for energy security in municipalities and large cities, and Bushveld Energy provides viable energy storage solutions. Our solutions allow them to store electricity from all sources, for use when it is most needed by residents”, Kgatuke concluded.
