The Solar Media podcast is back for another episode, and Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe explores the deepening materials crisis impacting upstream solar manufacturing, through from modules to trackers.

Canada-headquartered lithium-ion battery recycling specialist Li-Cycle will build its third facility in Arizona, joining plants the company already operates in Ontario and New York State.

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.

South African vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals is investing US$7.5 million in vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) energy storage company Enerox, which is planning to scale up its manufacturing capabilities.

The US could see new mines and raw material production “scale up” as demand for battery energy storage systems and grid resilience increases over the next decade, according to Margaret O’Riley, battery, automotive and electrification business recruitment lead for Duke Energy Corporation.

Large-scale Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) technology looks set to be deployed at a 100MW solar energy power plant in China, two years after a smaller-scale demonstration project was commissioned in the region.

Europe is on course to become the world’s second-largest lithium-ion battery cell producing region by 2025, although some key challenges need to be addressed, a European Commission vice-president has said.

With the US having rejoined the Paris Accord on the climate crisis last week, President Joe Biden has now signed an Executive Order which identifies the importance of mitigating risks in the supply chain for “large capacity batteries”.

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

Vertically-integrated vanadium mining, production and supply company Largo Resources wants to launch its own vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) onto the market within a year-and-a-half, predicting that the technology will play a “critical role” in addressing significant demand for energy storage.