Fig. 5: Techno-economic cost analysis of emerging AFBs.
From: Long-life aqueous zinc-iodine flow batteries enabled by selectively intercepting hydrated ions
a Bulk energy storage LCOS analysis of Zn-Br FBs62, Zn-Fe FBs63, and Zn-I FBs as a function of discharge duration E/P (180 cycles per annum (p.a.), interest rate 8%, electricity price (Electricity-P) USD-20 MWh−1). The gray zone indicates the price range for commercial VRFBs4,56; the dashed plot indicates the price for AQFBs58; the black arrows indicate E/P greater than 18 h (Supplementary Table 2). b Breakdown of the LCOS with a discharge duration of 18 h for Zn-Br FBs62, Zn-Fe FBs63, and Zn-I FBs, including electricity cost (E-Cost), operation and maintenance (O&M) cost, and investment cost. The gray zone indicates the price range for commercial VRFBs4,56; the dashed plot indicates the price for AQFBs58. c normalized installation cost breakdown including energy cost (CE, including chemical costs and tank cost), power cost (CP), balance-of-plant cost (Cbop), and additional cost (Cadd) for 270 kWh/15 kW (upper) and 3600 kWh/15 kW (lower) Zn-I FB systems. The left (light color) and right (dark color) charts represent the present and projected future costs of the Zn-I FB systems, respectively. Considering the extended cycle life demonstrated by our Zn-I FBs, a 20-year project lifetime is adopted as a benchmark in the LCOS analysis, along with an 8% annual discount rate to account for discounted energy delivery over time, thereby underscoring the advantages of our developed Zn-I FB systems.
