Demand from flow batteries made up just 1% of total vanadium demand in 2012 but the demand picture for the future could be very different: "There are projections from other sources that suggest demand for vanadium in energy storage applications could grow from about 850 tonnes vanadium in 2012 to as much as 20,000 tonnes vanadium by 2015," [Terry Perles] told IM, but stressed that predicting this was very difficult because of a number of technologies competing with flow batteries.
John Hykawy of Byron Capital Markets agrees, telling IM that battery applications are potentially a important end market for vanadium, but that: "Time marches on, and technology is getting away from vanadium for these uses. We had thought, a few years ago, that vanadium reduction/oxidation batteries could be a large market. Now, other battery types are developing, including Sadoway's liquid metal batteries for grid storage (work done at MIT), and the reliability and cost of lithium batteries is decreasing to the point where vanadium redox has a much more difficult fight ahead of it." "Windimurra production is expected to meet about 7% of world demand," Atlantic Ltd has pointed out, "and it is expected global demand growth will require the equivalent of a "new Windimurra" to come on stream almost every year".
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