Australian Vanadium brings in global heavyweight to provide technology for Kalgoorlie-Boulder battery

Australian Vanadium has brought in a global industrial heavyweight to bolster its bid to develop Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s $150 million vanadium battery project. Australian Vanadium has submitted an expression of interest for the 500MWh battery the State Government has pledged to have operational in the Goldfields by 2029. The company told the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday its subsidiary VSUN Energy had signed a pre-bid agreement with Sumitomo Electric Industries for the Japanese corporation to be the technology provider for the battery project through the expression of interest and bid process. Australian Vanadium said subject to the awarding of the project and the companies entering into a definitive supply agreement, Sumitomo Electric would supply vanadium flow battery equipment, engineering and support services for the project. The company said the collaboration provided a structured framework for bid-stage joint technical, commercial and delivery planning, including further refinement of system configuration and design, cost, schedule, delivery methodology, and risk management. Australian Vanadium said this framework aimed to support technical validation, independent technical expert review processes and financing workstreams, as might be required through the expression of interest process and any subsequent financing workstreams. The expression of interest process is stage one of the project, and the company said the WA Government had indicated stage two would start next month, with negotiations with the preferred proponent expected in June, subject to the State’s assessment process. Australian Vanadium chief executive Graham Arvidson said Sumitomo Electric’s involvement reflected a relationship that had been built over several years of technical collaboration. “Through that engagement, we have developed confidence in the reliability and performance of Sumitomo Electric’s vanadium flow battery technology, long-term performance guarantees, and the depth of engineering and financial strength behind them,” he said. “Bringing this established relationship and Sumitomo Electric’s leading technology into the Kalgoorlie VBESS process strengthens execution confidence and complements the integrated capability that AVL and VSUN Energy have developed in Western Australia.” Sumitomo general manager redox flow battery division Kazuyuki Kamada said the company valued long-term partnerships built on trust, technical alignment and shared objectives. “Through our collaboration with AVL and VSUN Energy over several years, we have developed a strong appreciation of their integrated capability and commitment to delivery in Western Australia,” he said. “The Kalgoorlie VBESS represents an important opportunity to apply proven vanadium flow battery technology at scale, and we look forward to supporting VSUN Energy through the EOI process.”