ROUNDUP: US$1.5m for geothermal lithium, Eos’ public listing, C&I thermal storage using aluminium
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Articles tagged with: Supply Chain
Feature
Guest blog
Think zinc: Another metal that can transform the energy storage sector
When most people think of the metals that power today’s energy storage systems, vanadium and lithium are at front of mind. Ron MacDonald, president and CEO of Zinc8, argues the case for another metal playing an important role.
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Editor's blog
Stackin’ the box: How Fluence’s new ESS range speaks to the next market phase
“This next phase we’ve entered is a large number of projects in a lot of places," Fluence VP for marketing and strategy, Brian Perusse, tells Energy-Storage.news.
Tesla: ‘Notion that a sustainable future is not economically feasible is no longer valid’
Tesla’s just-released sustainability report for 2019 asserts the belief that “the notion that a sustainable future is not economically feasible is no longer valid”.
Energy storage essential to fight climate crisis but supply chain ethics matter, World Bank says
Climate-smart principles must steer the global search for the minerals and metals required by the green energy boom to make sure the process remains sustainable, according to the World Bank.
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Editor's blog
Grid-scale energy storage and COVID-19: Fluence’s John Zahurancik Q&A
After we reported earlier this month that despite the impact of COVID-19, progress continues to be made on nearly every one of more than 70 projects underway by energy storage technology provider Fluence, here’s the full interview with Fluence’s chief operating officer John Zahurancik that that news story came from.
Fluence able to advance utility-scale battery storage projects despite COVID-19 delays
Fluence has been able to keep working on “all but two or three” of 73 utility-scale battery projects, with battery energy storage increasingly considered an essential part of grid infrastructure in many parts of the world.
Invinity: ‘Flow batteries suitable for opportunities lithium cannot reach’
There exist opportunities for flow batteries to target areas of the market lithium-ion “can’t provide in an economically justifiable way,” the chief commercial officer of Invinity Energy Systems has said.
COVID-19: ‘Essential services’ decree in Italy allows factory reopening, says Manz
“We are happy about the Italian government's decision that allows us to fully resume business operations in Italy,” Manz AG CEO Martin Drasch has said, following a ruling that deems lithium-ion battery production to be of ‘strategic importance’ for the European country.
CATL batteries energise Powin’s new ‘long duration, long life’ Li-Ion systems
Powin Energy has launched a set of three battery storage system products using CATL’s large form factor lithium-ion cells, including a system solution capable of 4+ hour duration and backed by a 20-year warranty.
Coronavirus is bringing to light ‘cracks in US infrastructure and supply chain’
The COVID-19 crisis is bringing into the public eye the US’ dependency on importing goods, particularly batteries for advanced energy storage and electric vehicles, the CEO of a battery materials startup has said.
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Editor's blog
COVID-19: North America’s grid-scale energy storage developers remain committed to work in progress
"We work hard every day to continue to push forward to the best of our ability, as we believe that we must do all that we can do to keep our projects on track and support the greater economy.”
China’s energy storage industry hopes for rebound in second half of 2020
A survey of COVID-19 impacts on China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA) members has underscored their faith in recovery, despite the worries over income and liquidity reported by nearly 80% of respondents.
Socially distanced workers, semi-automated lines enable start for ‘Europe’s first ESS gigafactory’
Production of commercial energy storage systems has begun at Tesvolt’s new 255MWh annual capacity factory in Wittenberg, Germany, with staff working in isolation due to the risk of COVID-19 infection.
COVID-19: KORE Power says Chinese supply partner ‘resumed operations in Mid-march’
US-headquartered energy storage manufacturing startup KORE Power has said that its supply partner in China has resumed operations “and is presently working to meet KORE Power’s customer orders”.
‘Immediate and potentially devastating’ to US projects: Hard truths emerge from ESA COVID-19 survey
The energy storage industry in the US is experiencing delays and could be staring in the face of potential job losses, according to a poll conducted by the national Energy Storage Association (ESA).
Feature
Analysis
China and the world take on the coronavirus
Dimitrios Pappas, analyst at new energy consultancy Delta-EE, considers the impact the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) could have on the energy transition, particularly for batteries used in EVs and ESS, while Energy-Storage.news editor Andy Colthorpe adds his own take.
BASF partners with ‘metal-free’ flow battery startup JenaBatteries
Multinational chemicals company BASF has furthered its interest in the energy storage industry, partnering on the development of ‘metal-free’ flow battery electrolytes with German startup JenaBatteries.
Renault batteries find ‘megawatt-scale’ 2nd life use in Belgium
An energy storage system made up of ‘second life’ batteries previously used in Renault’s electric vehicle (EV) has been deployed for Umicore, a multinational materials technology company headquartered in Belgium.
Li-Cycle: Recycled lithium battery materials sent to first commercial customer
Canada-headquartered start-up Li-Cycle has claimed a victory in commercialising its lithium battery recycling processes, with a shipment sent to a customer just before the end of last year.
Feature
Editor's blog
Energy-Storage.news’ Top 10 blogs of 2019
The 10 most popular blogs on Energy-Storage.news during 2019 offer a fairly strong indication of the overall topics leading industry thinking during the year - so without further ado, here they are:
Flow batteries: leaders starting to live up to promise, says Navigant
Flow batteries have so far, failed to live up to the disruptive potential they promise, a new report says, but authors Alex Eller and William Tokash at Navigant Research have identified 12 leading vendors in the nascent field, based on metrics of strategy and execution.
Lead acid batteries are US’ ‘most recycled’ products, trade group says
Lead acid batteries are “the most recycled” consumer product used in the US today, according to National Recycling Rate Study, a new biennial report from the Battery Council International (BCI).
China to ‘dominate recycling and second life battery market worth US$45bn by 2030’
While recycling of lithium and other materials such as cobalt from batteries will greatly increase in the coming years, the potential availability of second life batteries should not be underestimated, according to new research and data.
International, domestic providers seek to capture potential of Australian market
Australia’s strong and ongoing potential for energy storage paired with solar PV has seen international and domestically-headquartered companies race to gain market share.
GE’s systems selected for 100MWh of projects by developer Convergent
GE Renewable Energy, an arm of the US engineering giant, will supply 100MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to three projects being developed by Convergent Energy + Power in California.
‘Willing investors, manufacturing scale’ the only way for non-lithium ESS to reach the mainstream
While lithium-ion enjoys the most media and customer interest at the moment, alternative technologies for storing energy could become competitive – if investors are willing to take them on to the extent that manufacturing efforts can be greatly scaled up.
KORE Power targets 6GWh of NMC battery production capacity for ESS
Idaho-headquartered KORE Power claims it will have 6GWh annual production capacity for its lithium battery energy storage solutions, based on high-power nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells, up and running during the first quarter of next year.
Podcast audio: SolarEdge’s first battery launch and how solar is ‘now a real contender’
Here's the extended audio version of our recent interview with Lior Handelsman, founder and VP for product and marketing strategy, talking for the first time in depth about the forthcoming launch of a battery system under the SolarEdge brand.
Feature
Editor's blog
Throwing caution to the wind (and sun): why Solaredge is ‘all in’ on energy storage
We talk about how solar and storage can be competitive with fossil fuels, how Solaredge is maintaining its own competitive advantage as well as some exclusive inside info on the company's forthcoming residential battery energy storage systems.