The paper aims at characterizing the electrochemical and thermal parameters of a 15 kW/320 kWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRB) installed in the SYSLAB test facility of the DTU Rise Campus and experimentally validating the proposed dynamic model realized in Matlab-Simulink. The adopted testing procedure consists of analyzing the voltage and current values during a power reference step-response and evaluating the relevant electrochemical parameters such as the internal resistance. The results of different tests are presented and used to define the electrical characteristics and the overall efficiency of the battery system. The test procedure has general validity and could also be used for other storage technologies. The storage model proposed and described is suitable for electrical studies and can represent a general model in terms of validity. Finally, the model simulation outputs are compared with experimental measurements during a discharge charge sequence. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.