What do you get when you blend the technological aspects of fuel cells and batteries?
Power and endurance.

And that’s a combination a local high-tech company is hoping will be a winner in the power supply industry.

VRB Power Systems Inc. is developing a technology called flow batteries that has been around in concept since the late 1800s.

The Vancouver-headquartered company, which has an assembly facility in Richmond, purchased the intellectual properties for the equipment from an Australian company in New South Wales several years ago. And since then VRB has gone about refining the system, called the Regenesys Energy Storage System, so it can meet the demands of clients that range from public utilities to the military.

So, just what is a flow battery?

Essentially, it is made up of two components. The first is a chemical reservoir where the energy is stored in a solution of vanadium and sulfuric acid—akin to a common household battery. And the second is a fuel stack—like that in a fuel cell—that converts the chemical energy to electrical form.

The benefits?
Vince Sorache, VRB’s president, said the system’s ability to store energy is only limited by the size of the chemical reservoir, and the number of fuel stacks which increases the power output.
And that positions the technology to be used in a number of practical applications including “remote area power supply,” where delivering energy to a site is difficult or impractical, and “green” energy producing sources, such as wind farms and solar energy cells, that can be affected by changes in the environment.

Sorache said in that latter application, when energy production and demand can sometimes be at odds with each other, surplus energy from a wind farm or set of solar panels can be stored in large quantities in the flow battery’s reservoirs.

Then, during times when the wind or solar sources dip and demand from customers remains constant power from the flow battery can be instantly substituted, leaving no reduction in service.

And since the flow battery can provide energy for much longer than traditional technologies, it can be a more practical back-up power supply for utility providers. Smaller applications for Remote Area Power Supply can also be tailored for powering telecommunications systems.

One of the company’s most recent customers is the South Carolina Air National Guard which is using the technology for an “uninterrupted power source” back up for one of its portable, tactical radar systems.
By using VRB’s technology, company officials said the length of backup power for the radar equipment was extended from 10 minutes to two hours. Military applications are a potentially large market segment for VRB given the equipment’s low heat signature.

Currently, 15 people work at the Richmond assembly facility where the fuel stack components—all considered proprietary technology and as such a series of very closely guarded secrets—are being put together by hand.

Sorache said that with sales anticipated to rise, staffing levels could add at least another five jobs.

He add that Richmond was chosen for the assembly facility because of its close proximity to air cargo connections which makes exporting equipment to customers—most of them outside Canada—easier.