The Spanish engineering group said it will design, supply and build the facility which will be located at Bushveld Minerals' Vametco Alloys mine to increase the operation's enery autonomy.

The plant will integrate an energy storage system using Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB BESS), with a capacity of 1MW/4MWh, and a 3.5 MW solar photovoltaic plant.

The VRFB BESS system will be provided by Bushveld Energy subsidiary Enerox. The plant will be the first commercial-scale hybrid project with vanadium flow batteries in the continent and the first MW-scale hybrid power plant for a mine in South Africa, Albengoa added.

It expects the photovoltaic solar plant and the energy storage system to cut more than 114,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over 20 years.

Bushveld Minerals unit Bushveld Energy was launched in 2016 with a focus on developing and promoting the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through VRFBs. 

Bushveld Energy leverages the group's South African-mined and beneficiated vanadium.