Pandemic-related supply chain issues for lithium battery materials hitting the energy storage space are just “bumps in the road” for the sector, and the supply chain will “come out stronger because of it”.
US President Joe Biden announced a “major investment in domestic production of key minerals and materials” this week, including efforts to strengthen supply chains of lithium and other materials used in batteries.
Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with energy storage as an asset class but numerous regulatory and market design hurdles remain across European markets.
The energy transition arm of Italy’s Enel Group has started construction on a 20MW/40MWh behind-the-meter battery energy storage system at Imperial Oil’s petrochemical complex in Sarnia, Ontario, which it claims will be the largest in North America.
The first awards of funding designed to “turbocharge” UK projects developing long-duration energy storage technologies have been made by the country’s government, with £6.7 million (US$9.11 million) pledged.
Construction has started on a 3.5GWh pumped hydro plant in Gran Canaria, Spain, and progress has been made on two other projects totalling 18GWh of storage in mainland Spain and Nevada, US.
Energy storage industry executives have urged US legislators to swiftly reach a consensus on the Build Back Better Act, with a strong emphasis on introducing the investment tax credit (ITC) for standalone storage.
A US government pledge of US$2.9 billion support for the country’s battery manufacturing and recycling value chain is more like a band-aid than the “major surgery” required to fix the problem.
Australian energy retailer Origin Energy intends to build a 700MW battery storage system on the site of a coal power plant for which it has brought forward a planned retirement date by seven years.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has unanimously approved plans to add more than 25.5GW of renewables and 15GW of storage in the state by 2032 at a cost of US$49 billion.
