The Western Australian (WA) Government will give Australian Vanadium up to A$15 million to help it build a mobile vanadium electrolyte plant that can support flow batteries across the state.
Australian Vanadium has agreed to fund at least 50% of the mobile plant’s design, construction, and commissioning costs, the company told investors on 9 November. It will use proprietary technology to build the plant, the company said.
Vanadium flow battery systems release energy over longer periods than lithium-ion-based systems. They can help smooth over short-term dips in renewable generation, without generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions.
The WA Government has used its procurement power to support vanadium developers in recent years. In 2025, it agreed to spend A$150 million on a locally-sourced 50 MW Vanadium battery system – with a 10-hour discharge capacity – in the state’s Eastern Goldfields.
The Government plans to pick and announce a preferred battery developer by the end of 2026 and turn on the system in 2029, it said on 22 July.
“Alongside delivery, operational sustainability and commerciality, [battery proposals] will be evaluated based on their alignment with the Made in WA plan and support for broader [social and economic] outcomes,” the Government added.
Eastern Goldfields, a vast and sparse region, often experiences grid capacity constraints because it depends on a single transmission line.
Lynas Rare Earths experiences periodic power failures at its Kalgoorlie processing plant in Eastern Goldfields – where it converts rare earth concentrates into carbonates – because of grid challenges.
The company sustained approximately one month’s worth of rare earth production losses in October-December 2025 because of power cuts at Kalgoorlie, it estimated in November 2025.
It produced 1,404t of neodymium-praseodymium oxide, using carbonate feedstock, over the quarter, down 30% from July-September 2025, data from its quarterly reports show.
By Avinash Govind