Fluence has entered a collaboration with solid-state lithium-metal battery startup QuantumScape, with the pair working together to develop stationary energy storage solutions using the new technology.  

For this third instalment of our look back at 2021, we’ve something of a mixture of views from around the industry.

The Solar Media editorial team reflect on what’s proven to be a frenetic 12 months for the global solar PV and energy storage industries.

Bringing you the thoughts of leaders from across the industry in our series of end-of-year blogs.

‘Zinc hybrid cathode’ battery storage company Eos Energy Enterprises has signed a long-term supply and collaboration agreement with industrial chemicals group TETRA Technologies.

FREYR Battery, a European startup developing advanced lithium-ion battery cells for mass production, has signed a 31GWh off-take agreement with an energy storage system manufacturer. 

LG Chem and LG Energy Solution have agreed to make a US$50 million investment into lithium-ion battery resource recovery and recycling company Li-Cycle.

A “novel and innovative” technology which uses CO2 as a medium to store energy could be made using off-the-shelf equipment and made available to the market as early as next year, the company behind it has said. 

Supply chain shocks are causing short-term rises in the price of lithium-ion battery packs, but overall the price trend is downward and by 2024 average prices could dip below US$100/kWh.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supplies most of the world’s cobalt, but exporting semi-finished or finished products rather than raw materials would better help the country capture the value of the metal used in high power lithium-ion batteries.