Energy Storage

A gigafactory, as the name indicates, is a facility that aims to produce Li-ion cells at a gigawatt-hours scale of total capacity, so they can then be used in electric vehicles or stationary storage applications. The global production capacity of Li-ion cells is expected to reach 740 GWh by the end of 2021 – almost a threefold increase from 2017 – and Europe will account for 8% of the total. João Coelho, an analyst at Delta-EE, looks at how Europe plans to catch up.

Western Australian company Australian Vanadium Limited has been awarded $3.69 million in federal government funding to fast-track manufacturing of large-scale vanadium redox flow battery systems that can be used to support rooftop solar PV or in off-grid settings such as mining, agriculture and remote communities.

Brisbane-based battery casing company Vaulta has more to celebrate than just Brisbane’s winning 2032 Olympic and Paralympic bid. The company has won a Federal government Accelerating Commercialisation grant that will see its innovative design pushed ahead as the tide of electric vehicles rising globally.

Australian renewable developer Maoneng has revealed details for its 240 MWp/480 MWh big battery proposed for Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula which has now opened for public exhibition.

Recent research has revealed a previously underestimated role for oxygen in limiting the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Newly published research from both Japan and the United States has sought to look deeper into the chemical reactions at the heart of lithium-ion storage; and to better characterise the cumulative effects that minuscule amounts of oxygen released during these reactions can have on battery performance and safety.

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Energy Renaissance, has received a half million dollar grant to develop its pilot manufacturing facility in the state’s Hunter region.

The number of residential home batteries in Queensland has doubled while electricity bill cost concern has almost halved, found the “biggest survey of its kind” conducted in the state. The survey’s findings, which set to be released in full later this week, were summarised this morning by Queensland Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, Mick de Brenni, at a virtual event.

Compressed air energy storage is not exactly a new technology, but recent months have seen this older storage technology with a new lease of life as intermittent renewable sources of energy come to the fore. Recent large-scale air storage plants have been announced in North America and the Middle East, and now some of that hot air has arrived on Australian shores.

A 125 kW/500kWh storage unit will be tested by China’s National Photovoltaic and Energy Demonstration Experimental Center. The storage system will be provided by Canadian specialist VRB Energy.

Renewables contracting giant Sterling and Wilson Solar has declared the integration of large-scale batteries into solar PV farms in Australia will be not only crucial for effective management of the nation’s energy supply as the transition to renewables continues at pace but can improve returns on utility scale solar investments.