The first lithium-ion battery cells have been produced at Northvolt’s new gigafactory in Sweden and a UK sodium-ion battery startup has been acquired by the solar subsidiary of India’s Reliance Industries.
US Vanadium has followed up a recent commitment to ramp up its flow battery electrolyte production with a deal to secure vanadium feed material and the acquisition of a processing plant near its existing facilities in Arkansas.
A subsidiary of Russian state-owned nuclear technology and electric utility company Rosatom, will establish domestic lithium-ion battery cell and manufacturing facilities, following a deal to acquire 49% of South Korean company Enertech International.
Chinese companies CATL and KSTAR have begun supplying ‘all-in-one’ single phase residential energy storage solutions in Europe, kicking off with the market for home storage in the Netherlands.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a new recycling facility for lithium-ion batteries helps create quality jobs and support clean energy as the state “builds back stronger” from the COVID-19 crisis.
Lithium battery cells will be rolling off a production line at a 16GWh-capacity factory in France in 2023, with manufacturing startup Verkor then planning to scale up to 50GWh “in line with market dynamics”.
The government of India has announced measures to promote new “Champion Sectors” of economic growth, including support incentives for advanced battery cell and solar PV manufacturing.
The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) that can be achieved today for battery energy storage means that “new-build batteries can be competitive on cost with gas peaker plants,” according to BloombergNEF.
