A vanadium redox flow battery bracing the pilot microgrid at Eni Renewable Energy and Environmental RDCenter

Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries are a promising technology for stationary energy storage, in the framework of the expanding decarbonized renewable energy generation and smart grids. This paper presents a pilot microgrid consisting of a photovoltaic generator, a vanadium redox flow battery for storing excess energy and different loads. The microgrid is in operation at Eni Renewable Energy and Environmental RD Center (Novara, Italy), with the aim of developing advanced decarbonized power management systems. A collaboration with the Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Lab of University of Padua, Padova (Italy) allowed to develop a comparative analysis of the battery performance and its capability to store and release energy, coping generator/load mismatches. In addition, an evaluation of the aging effects after three years of operation was carried out based on the stack performance analysis, which indicates that no significant degradation phenomena had developed.