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LIBRA: modelling sustainable Battery supply chains as Grids and EVs scale up

May 3, 2023 by Rebecca Martineau

Sustainable battery manufacture needs supply chains that minimise gaps and maximise resilience. Rebecca Martineau at NREL describes their Lithium-Ion Battery Resource Assessment Model (LIBRA) that guides investments and research to make sure the growth of grid storage and EV batteries continues uninterrupted. LIBRA tracks the movement of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other elements through the supply chain, and is designed to adapt to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: batteries, cobalt, EVs, investment, lithium, nickel, recycling, storage, SupplyChains, sustainability

Geothermal’s full potential: 24/7 power everywhere, storage, environmental mineral extraction

March 29, 2023 by Kelly MacGregor

Geothermal is not just for generating energy. It can be used for storage and extracting minerals too. Kelly MacGregor at NREL summarises the research into taking geothermal to the next level and making it a solution to multiple challenges. Depending on how far down you dig, geothermal is available for running utility-scale power plants as well as heating and cooling individual districts, buildings and houses. And new techniques are being … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Geothermal Tagged With: batteries, electricity, geothermal, innovation, lithium, minerals, power, research, storage, sustainability, US

‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ explainer: 40%+ of the top low-carbon technologies must be made in the EU by 2030

March 24, 2023 by Daisy Dunne and Josh Gabbatiss

The EC’s new series of proposed targets and reforms, contained in its Green Deal Industrial Plan, aim to ensure that at least 40% of the EU’s low-carbon technologies will be made within its borders by 2030. The eight “strategic net-zero technologies” are: Solar (power and thermal); Onshore and offshore wind; Batteries and energy storage; Heat pumps and geothermal; Electrolysers and fuel cells; Sustainable biogas/biomethane; CCS; Grid … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: batteries, biogas, biomethane, CCS, CDR, China, copper, EC, electricity, electrolysers, EU, Europe, finance, fuelcells, geothermal, grids, HeatPumps, jobs, lithium, markets, permitting, solar, storage, subsidies, trade, US, wind

“Combustion” can make cathodes for lithium-ion batteries more cheaply, quicker, using less energy

March 15, 2023 by Nancy Stauffer

Burning things produce soot. And that soot contains materials that have been morphed into something else. As Nancy Stauffer at MIT explains, new research there has shown the burning process can be used to produce cathodes far more cheaply, quicker, more simply, and with less energy than the standard method. It’s another example, from an unexpected direction, of innovations cutting the costs of an essential component of the energy transition: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Storage Tagged With: batteries, cathodes, combustion, commercialisation, EVs, industry, innovation, lithium, storage

Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target?

March 14, 2023 by Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn

If the production and processing of critical minerals cannot keep up with the accelerating adoption of batteries, EVs, wind turbines and solar PV technologies, the pace and success of the global energy system transformation will be put at risk. In this explainer, Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University address the big questions, drawing on the data underlying the IEA’s “The Role of Critical … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: australia, batteries, Chile, China, chromium, cobalt, copper, critical, DRC, EVs, graphite, IEA, lithium, manganese, minerals, netzero, nickel, processing, production, REEs, silicon, solar, SouthAfrica, turbines, wind, Zinc

Fast-charging lightweight next-gen lithium metal batteries: has the “short circuit” problem been solved?

March 1, 2023 by Andrew Myers

Research into next-generation lithium metal batteries that have a solid electrolyte hold out the promise of being high in energy density, low weight, non-flammable, and can be recharged very quickly. But they can short-circuit easily. Andrew Myers writing for the Precourt Institute at Stanford University describes breakthrough experiments that reveal why. The slightest bend, twist, or speck of dust will cause imperceptible crevices in the ceramic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: batteries, ceramic, electrolyte, EVs, fastcharging, lithium, metal, solid

Aluminium, sulphur and salt batteries. Cheaper than lithium-ion, for homes and EV charging stations

September 7, 2022 by David Chandler

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: aluminium, batteries, charging, costs, electrolyte, EVs, innovation, lithium, research, residential, salt, storage, sulphur

Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks

July 27, 2022 by Simon Read

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: batteries, electricity, gravity, grids, lithium, PumpedHydro, rocks, storage, water

Critical minerals: price spikes are affecting Wind, Solar, Batteries, EVs

June 9, 2022 by Tae-Yoon Kim

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: aluminium, batteries, China, cobalt, copper, efficiency, EVs, innovation, lithium, minerals, nickel, palladium, prices, Russia, solar, Ukraine, uranium

Latest U.S. modelling shows Battery Storage can support an 80% Renewables grid by 2050

May 18, 2022 by Madeline Geocaris

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: batteries, buildings, costs, distributed, diurnal, gas, lithium, modelling, PV, rooftop, scenarios, solar, storage, US, wind

Solar + Storage Hybrid plants are poised for explosive growth in the U.S.

May 4, 2022 by Joachim Seel, Ben Paulos and Will Gorman

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: batteries, California, generation, grids, hybrids, incentives, Intermittency, lithium, markets, plants, solar, storage, wind

Bringing home Europe’s sustainability supply chain: The continent’s lithium deposits can transform European manufacturing and get Europe to its climate goals

April 6, 2022 by Josephine Bush

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...]

Filed Under: Community, Platform Tagged With: batteries, energy storage, EU Policy, Europe, investment, lithium, supply chain

Critical minerals and materials: supply bottlenecks and risks need international cooperation

February 25, 2022 by Dolf Gielen, Martina Lyons, Francisco Boshell and Peter Chawah

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: batteries, China, cobalt, critical, demand, EVs, grids, innovation, lithium, magnets, manganese, minerals, mining, nickel, prices, processing, solar, stockpiling, supply, wind

Research into slowing lithium degradation can extend Battery life by 30%

February 2, 2022 by Jennifer Huber

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Storage Tagged With: batteries, efficiency, EVs, grids, innovation, lithium, storage, transport

HBr Flow Batteries: long term storage for grids, compatible with hydrogen

January 13, 2022 by Helena Uhde and Veronika SpurnĂĄ

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...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: baseload, batteries, bromine, coal, electricity, Elestor, Flow, gas, grids, HBr, hydrogen, lithium, policy, regulations, solar, storage, Vanadium, wind

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Most read this week

  • Financing Renewable Hydrogen globally: ramp up to 2030 only needs $150bn/year by Dolf Gielen | posted on May 26, 2023
  • Five charts on the Energy Transition: the 2020s is the decade of maximum disruption. By 2030 the endgame will be clear by Sam Butler-Sloss | posted on May 25, 2023
  • Making Hydrogen direct from seawater using double-membrane electrolysis by David Krause | posted on May 24, 2023
  • 10 Carbon Capture methods compared: costs, scalability, permanence, cleanness by Ella Adlen | posted on November 11, 2019
  • Understanding the new EU ETS (Part 2): Buildings, Road Transport, Fuels. And how the revenues will be spent by Simon Göss | posted on February 6, 2023
  • Micro-nuclear reactors: up to 20MW, portable, safer by Christina Nunez | posted on April 22, 2021
  • Oil & Gas can meet 2030 net-zero target for only $600bn, quickly recouped. But it’s still not happening, warns IEA by IEA | posted on May 22, 2023
  • Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks by Simon Read | posted on July 27, 2022
  • The history of evidence of CO2-driven climate change starts in the mid-1800s by Marc Hudson | posted on May 23, 2023
  • The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric by Schalk Cloete | posted on December 6, 2021
  • EU Energy Outlook to 2060: how will power prices and revenues develop for wind, solar, gas, hydrogen + more by Alex Schmitt | posted on December 6, 2022
  • What’s best for Hydrogen transport: ammonia, liquid hydrogen, LOHC or pipelines? by Herib Blanco | posted on May 5, 2022
  • Enhanced Weathering: crushed rocks spread on farmland can capture billions of tons of CO2/year by Benjamin Houlton | posted on July 21, 2020
  • Hydrogen production in 2050: how much water will 74EJ need? by Herib Blanco | posted on July 22, 2021
  • U.S. EPA: new rules proposed for cutting Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plant emissions by Cy McGeady | posted on May 30, 2023
  • Why hydrogen fuel cell cars are not competitive — from a hydrogen fuel cell expert by Zachary Shahan | posted on June 17, 2016
  • Modelling green Ammonia and Methanol in 2050. It will be expensive by Schalk Cloete | posted on September 9, 2022
  • EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework: new rules to turn greenwashing into genuine removals by Simon Göss | posted on May 16, 2023
  • China should comfortably meet its 2030 Renewables target. But its emissions? by Simon Göss | posted on February 21, 2022
  • Can Aluminium-air batteries outperform Li-ion for EVs? by Helena Uhde | posted on September 8, 2021

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      Recent Posts

      Perovskite: abundant, cheap, printable solar cells demonstrated, ready to generate power

      U.S. EPA: new rules proposed for cutting Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plant emissions

      Financing Renewable Hydrogen globally: ramp up to 2030 only needs $150bn/year

      Five charts on the Energy Transition: the 2020s is the decade of maximum disruption. By 2030 the endgame will be clear

      Making Hydrogen direct from seawater using double-membrane electrolysis

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