Handbook of Energy Storage for Transmission or ... - W2agz.com

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Figure 6
SEI Cell Stack (Courtesy Telepower Australia)
2.3. Vantech (VRB) Technology Corporation
Vantech is a small technology development company based in Vancouver, BC. Vanteck
is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("VRB"), the OTC Pink Sheets ("VTTCF") and
on the Frankfurt Exchange ("VNK"). Its largest shareholder is Federation Group with
34% ownership. The company has invested several million dollars on the advancement
of VRB technology, with most of the effort in systems design rather than research.
The company has strategic relationships with Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation
(South Africa) for vanadium material supply, SEI for cell stacks, Telepower Australia for
systems integration and construction, and TSI-Eskom (South Africa) for power
electronics. For small systems (1 to 5 kW), Vanteck has entered into a joint venture with
Schmitt Industries, Inc., a precision manufacturing company in Portland, Oregon. A
commercial product for this market is projected for July 2003.
To prove the system design and reliability of a large-scale system in the field, Vantech
designed and installed a 250 kW / 2 hour VRB system at the University of Stellenbosch
in Cape Town, South Africa in 2001. The system was made from six 42 kW, 100-cell
stacks (650 – 850 VDC) arranged in series with two hydraulic systems. Figure 1 shows
the stacks and tanks from this project, and Figure 4 shows the hydraulic configuration.
Building upon the success of this project, the company is currently installing in 2002 the
Vanadium Redox Battery 17