We have successfully concluded the commissioning of our first vanadium redox flow battery. It was sent to Hyderabad (India) a few months ago, after it was acquired by the Indian state-owned enterprise Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). Its commissioning started on August 27 and concluded on September 15, when the Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) was signed, so it is now fully operational and at the customer’s disposal. It will provide 50 kW of power, and will be capable of downloading 200 kWh of energy in a period of four hours.
E22 onsite personnel in Hyderabad managed to solve every difficulty encountered during the commissioning of the battery. Both the container and the pipes had to be cleaned several times, in order to remove the remnants of dirt and electrolyte accumulated on the inside during the factory testing and the transport preparations.
In addition, the paint finish quality was very deteriorated, and most of the walls and ceiling of the container were repainted with paint from a local provider. Rust had left some marks on the walls of the container, and priming and two layers of synthetic paint were used to stop it.
Furthermore, due to the dirt found on the water tanks used in India, water testing was affected at first, but the delay was quickly made up for thanks to the supply of clean deionised water.
After water testing got solved, electrolyte tanks were filled, and the battery was tested for charge and discharge procedures. Stacks were placed in their final position, with the help of a platform made of materials by BHEL.
