Grid Think

After reading the Vanadium post, I am sure its pretty clear that VRFBs are expensive but they are one of the oldest, most stable, most deployed and proven redox flow battery chemistry yet. So, I feel its worth giving Vanadium another chance before dismissing it fully. Vanadium Supply Chain As of 2026, global Vanadium production is 100,000 metric tons, that may sound like a lot, but its tiny, to put that in perspective, we produce 3x more Lithium and we still need to discover and open new lithium mines, and Lithium supply chains are considered to be volatile.  Since we are talking about supply chain, its obvious to see when you buy Lithium or Vanadium ores, where exactly are they being dug up. Lithium producing countries- Source Vanadium producing countries - Source I'll be honest even I am a little surprised, I imagined Lithium to be produced in China, and its an obvious assumption, if the biggest lithium ion battery makers are Chinese, it would be obvious to think that its produce...

Search flow batteries anywhere on the internet, you'll find Vanadium's monopoly, ask any AI model about flow batteries and they'll assume vanadium and give you all the information. That's because Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (or VRFBs in short) are already being commercialized, or at least they're trying their best.  I'll try to explain why, but before i move further, i forgot to explain the redox part in the last 2 posts. All Batteries are Redox Batteries- Batteries have 3 basic parts, positive side (cathode), negative side (anode) and a membrane or separator. So, when you connect a charger to your phone, the charger takes electrons from positive and gives it to the negative side, but if the positive and negative mix together they will neutralize each other, so they need to be separated by separator (or membrane). The word "redox" is made of two words : Reduction- gaining of electrons (by the negative side) Oxidation - loss of electrons (by the posit...

We all know what a battery is, that same thing in almost every portable electronic device in your room has. Most batteries we use in our day to day are static batteries, i.e. once they are manufactured, their chemical composition doesn't really change. Now the chemicals used in a battery dictate everything about it, like its - 1. Cyclability  2. Efficiency 3. Safety 4. Supply chain constraints. Let me explain in a little more detail using examples - The AA and AAA batteries (chemical composition is Zinc and Manganese) normally used in T.V remotes are not rechargeable, they are single use. Once the energy inside them is used them, they are pretty much dead. They are mildly toxic, but safe to use, efficiency doesn't come into picture as they can't be recharged, energy density is ( 50-150 Wh/kg ) The Lithium Ion batteries in your phones and EVs are rechargeable (Duh !). Its of many types, i am aware of only two- a) NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt along with Lithium)  b) LFP (Lith...

What's the one thing you cannot imagine modern life without ? Phones ? AI ? Social Media ? These are relatively modern inventions, commercialized in the last two decades. Let's go farther back - Cars, Trains ? Ships ? Planes ? still hardly a century old. Personally, my answer would be energy. From food you eat all the way to content you consume, everything is essentially some form of energy.  And i don't think any person reading this will need to be told that even today, most of humanity's energy comes from fossil fuels (petrol, diesel, crude oil etc), basically carbon that took 300 million years to form, which we dig up, process, and burn in seconds But energy is changing, fast and its happening at a historic pace, EVs, batteries, green hydrogen, solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear fission (hell maybe even fusion !!! ). Just to put that in perspective the amount of solar energy we deployed in the last 12 months (511 GW)is equal or may be more than the electricity demand o...