The high and escalating demand for the lithium-ion batteries that dominate the market is driving the search for alternatives. Ideally, they will be made from inexpensive, abundant materials. David Chandler at MIT describes research there into a design that uses aluminium and sulphur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in-between. The results point at batteries that have a projected cost per cell of about one-sixth that … [Read more...]
Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks
The beauty of gravity batteries is that they simply involve lifting (charging) and lowering (discharging) a heavy weight, explains Simon Read writing for the World Economic Forum. For pumped hydro, access to water and a geological height difference is needed. But if you’re using rocks or bricks, anyone can do it anywhere, and at any scale. The rest is just a construction job. No rare materials or minerals will ever be needed, nor chemicals that … [Read more...]
Critical minerals: price spikes are affecting Wind, Solar, Batteries, EVs
A wide range of critical minerals are needed for the energy transition. Tae-Yoon Kim at the IEA summarises the reasons why we should expect this to be a year of price spikes due in the main to the Russia-Ukraine war and post-lockdown supply chain bottlenecks. So severe is the problem that the long record of declining costs in clean energy technologies like solar, wind, batteries and electric vehicles is being reversed. Although these crises will … [Read more...]
Latest U.S. modelling shows Battery Storage can support an 80% Renewables grid by 2050
NREL’s latest Storage Futures Study concludes that battery storage should be able to support an 80% renewables grid mix in the U.S. by 2050. Madeline Geocaris at NREL explains how they modelled hundreds of future scenarios to accurately represent the value of diurnal (<12 hours) battery energy storage. The high-storage scenarios made different cost and performance assumptions for storage, wind, solar PV, and natural gas. 15 storage … [Read more...]
Solar + Storage Hybrid plants are poised for explosive growth in the U.S.
At the beginning of 2021 the U.S. had 73 solar and 16 wind hybrid projects, amounting to 2.5GW of generation and 0.45GW of storage. By the end of 2021, over a third of the 675GW of solar in the grid connection queue were hybrids, and 19GW were wind hybrids. Only one in four typically get approved, built and connected. But that still points at a twenty-five-fold increase in hybrid generation. It’s why Joachim Seel, Ben Paulos and Will Gorman at … [Read more...]
Bringing home Europe’s sustainability supply chain: The continent’s lithium deposits can transform European manufacturing and get Europe to its climate goals
Europe’s tech sector has a concerning aversion. While the continent has produced many successful cleantech startups, European investors are reluctant to invest in difficult, hardware-based innovations—and the extraction industry that could power them. But it is just these innovations and the raw materials that make them possible, specifically in the sectors of transportation and energy storage, that will foster a successful energy transition and … [Read more...]
Critical minerals and materials: supply bottlenecks and risks need international cooperation
The growth in demand for minerals and materials needed for the energy transition is putting a strain on supply. Mining and processing are the two key bottlenecks. Dolf Gielen, Martina Lyons, Francisco Boshell and Peter Chawah at IRENA summarise the multiple challenges. New capacity is not the only problem: the geographical concentration of where the mining and, in particular, the processing is being done is the primary risk. China’s dominance in … [Read more...]
Research into slowing lithium degradation can extend Battery life by 30%
The massive scale-up of batteries is essential to a successful transition. That will be made much easier if the lifetime of existing lithium batteries is greatly extended. With each charge-discharge cycle, the batteries accumulate tiny islands of inactive lithium that are cut off from the electrodes, decreasing the battery’s capacity to store charge. Jennifer Huber at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory explains how new research is showing a … [Read more...]
HBr Flow Batteries: long term storage for grids, compatible with hydrogen
The growth of intermittent wind and solar and the search for replacements for coal and gas points at storage solutions that can ensure a reliable supply of electricity at all times. Standard lithium-ion batteries have limitations. Put simply, the future demand for batteries (including for transport) is expected to far outstrip the supply of lithium. But hydrogen and bromine are abundantly available on a global scale. Helena Uhde and Veronika … [Read more...]
Critical Raw Materials for the energy transition: Europe must start mining again
A ramp up of the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) is essential for the world’s energy transition. Wind and solar, batteries, digitalisation, transport and hydrogen cannot meet their targets without it. The EU defines 30 minerals as critical. To give one example, the global deficits in lithium supplies could surge more than 60-fold to 950,000 tons by 2030. Frank Umbach at EUCERS takes a thorough look at the issue. Europe represented just 5% … [Read more...]
Nanochemistry breakthrough could lift energy density of batteries by factor six
Finding new ways for batteries to increase the charge they can store will lift their energy density. Researchers at Stanford University have developed an alkali metal-chlorine battery that stores six times the charge of today’s commercially available lithium-ion batteries. Until this breakthrough, a high-performance rechargeable sodium-chlorine or lithium-chlorine battery has been impractical because chlorine is too reactive to convert back to an … [Read more...]
Is China really eyeing Afghanistan’s mineral resources?
Press reports of China hoping to strike deals with the Taliban to secure mineral rights in Afghanistan are very likely to be an exaggeration, explains Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius. It’s true that China wants minerals essential to the clean energy transition and other technologies. It’s also true that Afghanistan has an abundance (copper, cobalt, lithium, rare earths, etc.), and they’re worth something of the order of $1tn. But it can take a decade to get … [Read more...]
Biden’s major report on critical minerals supply: domestic mining + processing, innovation, EVs, global allies + more
In June, The White House issued its 250-page report on the global critical minerals supply chain, and how the U.S. can ensure continued supply as well as build up its own mining and manufacturing base. It is the fullest picture so far of how the U.S. is evaluating mineral access and supply chain resilience, says Reed Blakemore at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. Here he reviews the report, in particular the section on energy which … [Read more...]
Understanding battery costs better: Li-ion costs have dropped 97% in 30 years
There are two revelations here. First, quite how dramatically lithium-ion battery costs have dropped since 1991 – by 97%. Second, that nobody has been able to agree on how big that drop has been. But agreement on that number – and an established procedure to therefore make good forecasts - is vital for policy makers and related clean energy players. They need to know how much of a role batteries can play in the electrification of transport as … [Read more...]
For energy security and waste reduction, EV battery manufacture in Europe is on the horizon
Europe should have sufficient battery manufacture capacity for all its EV needs, explains Sam Hargreaves at T&E. Their report shows that Europe will not only achieve that capacity target this year itself, but has the ability to keep it up as EV sales continue to grow (460 GWh in 2025 and 700 GWh in 2030 of battery production in Europe). The report also stresses the major benefit of reduced waste. If manufacturers hit EU recycling targets, EV … [Read more...]
