Redox flow batteries for the storage of renewable energy: A review

The need for grid-connected energy storage systems will grow worldwide in the next future due to the expansion of intermittent renewable energy sources and the inherent request for services of power quality and energy management. Electrochemical storage systems will be a solution of choice in many applications because of their localization flexibility, efficiency, scalability, and other appealing features. Among them redox flow batteries (RFBs) exhibit very high potential for several reasons, including power/energy independent sizing, high efficiency, room temperature operation, and extremely long charge/discharge cycle life. RFB technologies make use of different metal ion couples as reacting species. The best-researched and already commercially exploited types are all-vanadium redox batteries, but several research programs on other redox couples are underway in a number of countries. These programs aim at achieving major improvements resulting in more compact and cheaper systems, which can take the technology to a real breakthrough in stationary grid-connected applications. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.