Mine the gap: Sourcing vanadium for the energy transition

Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) are a long-duration energy storage (LDES) technology at the forefront of grid stabilization and decarbonization. Alleviating materials criticality and addressing supply-chain risks of vanadium are key to sustaining the growth of VFB deployment. Here, we present living databases gathered from vanadium stakeholders across the world that capture a holistic, up-to-date snapshot of the vanadium economy along vectors of production, processing, and large-scale battery installations. To mitigate risks to vanadium supply chains and encourage long-term resource availability, numerous opportunities are evaluated, including expanded primary mining in untapped, resource-rich regions, increased secondary production to promote a circular resource economy, and the risks and benefits of state actors in incentivizing supply response and modifying market volatility. By aligning technological innovation with strategic resource management, vanadium can both advance the energy transition through energy storage and serve as an exemplar for building resilient supply chains for other critical materials. The global energy transition requires robust and scalable energy storage solutions to address the intermittency of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) have emerged as a leading candidate because of their long cycle life, recyclability, and a distinctive combination of safety at scale by dint of using an aqueous electrolyte, independent modulation of power and capacity, extended cycle lives in excess of 20 years, and low self-discharge. From a supply-chain perspective, vanadium is subject to geopolitical, economic, and technological constraints that impact its availability and price. Though vanadium has historically been closely tied via supply and demand with the construction steel industry, the explosive growth in vanadium deployment for energy storage in the last decade has created unprecedented demand. This work presents a comprehensive and dynamic view of mineral access and deployment through “living” databases mapping vanadium production, processing, and VFB deployment across the world. These databases are intended to inform energy researchers, investors, manufacturers, and policymakers by offering granular, real-time insight into the vanadium ecosystem, thereby providing a transparent foundation for informed strategic decision-making. The databases and analyses provide a lens on potential strategies for building resilient, geographically diversified supply chains, including specific models of capital investments, leasing agreements allocating risk and operating costs, and the development of strategic stockpiles. This work provides a template for integrating mineral-criticality considerations into energy transition planning, explores interconnections with traditional sectors, and serves as a model for addressing supply risks in other critical materials beyond vanadium as renewable integration and energy storage resilience are adopted at greater scales. Living databases of critical minerals production, processing, and deployment are critical to enabling the energy transition. Such databases guide prioritization of sustainable exploration, enable granular mapping of raw material cost and availability to long-duration energy storage (LDES) build out, and identify strategies for accelerating LDES adoption through amelioration of supply-chain bottlenecks.