Distributed Storage

Annual battery storage installations will exceed 10 GW/28 GWh in 2021, following a particularly strong year in 2020, despite the challenges created by the global pandemic, writes IHS Markit analyst Mike Longson. Combined solar and storage will be a core focus for new deployment in 2021, as the front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter energy storage markets are both expected to grow significantly in the months ahead.

U.S. company Group 14 Technologies has announced it will launch factory capable of producing 120 tons per year of its innovative silicon-carbon-based anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The factory is located at Group 14’s headquarters in Washington and is the first of several planned by the company.

Greater dispatchability will be required from solar as it becomes increasingly mainstream worldwide, or investors could experience diminishing returns as a victim of the technology’s success at bearing down on electricity prices.

In a strange synchronicity, two of Australia’s major aspiring vanadium producers have today come out with announcements. TNG Limited has solidified a deal to commercialise vanadium redox flow batteries using output from its Mount Peake project, while competitor Australian Vanadium has filed a patent application for its vanadium processing route.

Energy giant AGL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Finnish technology company Wärtsilä, to develop large-scale hybrid energy systems for AGL’s commercial and industrial customers.

Concerned that a lack of understanding in the community is hindering the uptake of rooftop solar, a New South Wales local council has struck an agreement with the Australian Energy Foundation in a bid to demystify solar PV and battery energy storage systems.

Taiwan Cement is planning to build a US$352 million EV battery factory in southern Taiwan. The 1.8 GW facility will produce high-charge-discharge nickel ternary batteries.

Tasmanian Labor believes Premier Peter Gutwein and his Liberal Party have dropped the ball on solar in a big way. Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White is therefore promising $20 million to fund loans for residential and commercial solar and battery storage installations, as well as solar for state schools and social housing.

Australia’s only lithium mine outside of Western Australia, Core Lithium’s Finniss Lithium Project, has produced “battery grade” lithium hydroxide, which it hopes will place it at the “forefront” of lithium production for the global renewable energy and EV markets.

The Chinese manufacturer has unveiled a low-voltage battery with a modular design and a high-voltage storage system which is claimed to have a one-hour, ultra-rapid charge rate.