World's largest VRFB was built with inadvertent help from the Department of Energy
Other VRFBs lack PNNL's special acid/electrolyte mixture, which the lab said was twice as powerful as other vanadium formulae and could last 30 years without losing capacity, hence their far smaller capacities.ended up in the hands of Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd, which stepped in when PNNL's lead VRFB scientist Gary Yang claimed to not be able to find a US company to invest in the technology's production.
Yang granted a sublicense to Rongke to manufacture PNNL VRFBs in China, which has since been transferred to Dutch company Vanadis Power, which manufactures PNNL's batteries, dubbed ReFlex, in China. Vanadis partner Bolong New Materials, also based in Dalian, is described as the exclusive producer of ReFlex acid-electrolyte material – the secret sauce cooked up at PNNL.
Earlier this month, US Senators John Barasso and Joni Ernst sent a letter to the Department of Energy asking for an investigation into the loss of PNNL's VRFB technology to China. Dalian Rongke, the senators said, has become the largest VRFB manufacturer in the world since acquiring the US patent. The pair expressed concern that the DoE was overtly derelict of its duties"and that this case may be emblematic of a department that routinely and flippantly permits government-funded technology to be transferred to China." ®
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