Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) is to work with South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation to assess whether it is viable to make vanadium redox batteries in the country.
Subsidiary Bushveld Energy and the IDC will undertake a feasibility study to assess the size of the potential market in South Africa and opportunity for local manufacture.
In additional, local and foreign partners will be sought and two pilot sites established with capacity of up to 1.0 Mw each.
Bushveld Energy said grid penetration is below 50% in the majority of countries in Africa, which offered significant opportunities in applications such as off-grid, voltage support, transmission, distribution deferral and diesel substitution.
Fortune Mojapelo, Bushveld’s chief executive, said: “Africa's insufficient power infrastructure and rapidly growing electricity demand create a unique environment for immediate, mass-scale adoption of energy storage across a variety of use cases.
“The agreement with IDC is an important step for Bushveld Energy, and we are very pleased to add a major local partner with significant resources and expertise.”