An off-grid hybrid energy system at Fekola, a gold mine in Mali, Africa, has gone online incorporating solar PV, battery storage and the site’s existing fossil fuel generators, project partners Baywa R.E and Suntrace have said.

Equity investors have already committed more than US$300 million to lithium battery recycler Li-Cycle’s plan to go publicly-listed through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger.

A lithium-ion battery recycling plant is under construction in Norway, focusing initially on electric vehicle (EV) batteries, but the CEO of the company behind it has said that it will also be capable of processing batteries from stationary energy storage systems (ESS).

Finland has launched a new battery development strategy and is touting for investors to build up its manufacturing industry.

A solar-plus-storage microgrid being deployed at an alloys mine in South Africa will feature a vanadium flow battery energy storage system, using locally sourced vanadium electrolyte.

The past few days have seen various announcements across the lithium-ion battery production value chain in Europe, Australia and the US.

News in brief from around the world of energy storage.

Controlled Thermal Resources and Lilac Solutions are creating facilities for lithium extraction and chemical processing at a geothermal plant at Imperial Valley’s shallow, saline Salton Sea.

Mining giant Rio Tinto is to develop a large-scale solar-plus-storage system at an iron ore mine in Western Australia, continuing a trend of hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects in the region.

A project to hybridise the energy supply of Fekola, a gold mine in Mali, Africa, with renewable energy and battery storage, will be supplied with a hybrid energy solution, including energy storage, by Wärtsilä.