Lithium battery technology is rapidly enabling the electrification of transport, and of the energy sector. However, batteries themselves can often be seen as a short-lived commodity and as yet, recycling and reuse have not become major priorities in the industry. Dr Amrit Chandan, CEO of UK-headquartered Aceleron Energy discusses what it means to build a circular economy around advanced lithium-ion batteries, designed with longer lifetimes and their repurposing for second-life use in mind.

Vena Energy Australia has achieved financial close for its 100MW / 150MWh Wandoan battery energy storage system project in Queensland and named Doosan GridTech as engineering, procurement and construction partner.

Ensuring high quality levels in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries is critical to preventing underperformance and even safety risks. Benjamin Sternkopf, Ian Greory and David Prince of PI Berlin examine the prerequisites for finding the ‘sweet spot’ between a battery’s cost, performance and lifetime.

A AU$20.3 million (US$15.36 million) project to demonstrate the capabilities of utility-scale vanadium flow battery storage in combination with solar PV has been announced in South Australia, with the Federal government helping to fund the project.

There are 7GW of battery energy storage projects that have either been proposed or are in the planning process in Australia, with the average project in that pipeline sized at around 150MW.

China deployed 533.3MW of new electrochemical energy storage projects in the first three quarters of 2020, an increase of 157% on the same period in 2019.

Large-scale energy storage solutions provider Powin Energy has begun manufacturing of its products at two additional sites in Taiwan.

A new three-year project allowing residential solar and batteries to trade electricity and grid services in Victoria, Australia, is aimed at creating a replicable model marketplace that could be widely expanded across the country.

Singapore-headquartered microgrid company Canopy Power has partnered with Total Solar Distributed Generation (DG) to build a hybrid project for a remote resort island in Cambodia that includes 2MWh of battery storage.

The Australian government-backed Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has committed AU$125 million (US$92.12 million) to help build grid infrastructure for a 2GW pumped hydro project with 175 hours of storage duration.