ENERGY STORAGE HIGHLIGHTS - Special edition in collaboration with Business models beyond frequency regulation
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
February 2018
ENERGY STORAGE HIGHLIGHTS
Business models beyond frequency regulation
Redox flow vs. lithium-ion | Flexible sector coupling
Special edition in
collaboration with
SIMPLY DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.
CHARGE AND DISCHARGE YOUR BATTERY.
The new battery inverter
from KACO new energy:
50 kVA rated power
DC parallel operation
Ready for various types of batteries,
for example lithium-ion
Open Sunspec Modbus TCP/IP
for use with different EMS
blueplanet gridsave 50.0 TL3-S
Visit us at
Energy Storage Europe
KNE_PVM_bpg50_parallel_180131
Booth 8BB03
www.kaco-newenergy.com
Contents
Photo: Younicos
Photo: Anesco
6 Storage highlights 27 Masked surprises
An expert jury assembled by pv magazine picks the top 10 innovations that will Energy storage experts unravel
be on show at Energy Storage Europe. three of the major themes affecting
the landscape of energy storage.
Contents
Introduction Technology
Introduction: Editorial Director
2 Don’t worry, but keep asking:
18
Michael Fuhs and Executive Team Amid soaring demand, the
Manager at Energy Storage Europe industry has questions for the
Bastian Mingers introduce this pv lithium-ion supply chain.
magazine special.
Redox flow breakthrough: Can
21
Highlights this battery technology compete
with lithium-ion, or carve out its
Debrief: Four key questions facing
4 own niche in the large-scale
the storage industry. storage sector?
Storage highlights: At Energy
6 Business models
S torage Europe, 24 exhibitors
submitted their innovations to Driving long-term growth: Julian
24
our expert jury. See who made the Jansen of IHS Markit discusses the
top 10. growth and potential of co-locating
solar with storage.
A new concept: Flexible sector
16
c oupling is becoming a buzzword Roundtable
in 2018. pv magazine looks at two
innovative projects incorporating Roundtable discussion: Prominent
27
this model. energy storage experts brought
together by pv magazine discuss the
latest industry developments.
Service
32 Publisher information
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 1
Introduction
Flexible sector
coupling
Fuhs: We are happy that in cooperation right now. They were also all surprised Mingers: And what was most convinc-
with Energy Storage Europe we can pres- by how the combination of storage with ing for you?
ent this energy storage special edition. utility-scale photovoltaic systems devel-
For us at pv magazine it is a step to even oped over the past year. Fuhs: The evaluation criteria show that
more detailed coverage of energy storage there are different winners depending on
and related topics on all of our platforms. Mingers: That is also a very interesting the approach, and how varied interests
development for me. In any case, our can be. The trade fair visitors will also be
Mingers: And for us, the new issue fits team is very excited about seeing what very diversified. We looked in detail at
perfectly with the strategy that we pur- will prevail in the coming years, and how this issue, both at products that at first
sue with all trade fairs. Not only do we the models can be combined, especially glance look very standard, such as storage
see ourselves as a pure organizer, but in the utility-scale segment. This segment
we always try to promote the develop- has always played an important role for
ment of the industry. And of course, that our exhibitors because they show many
includes sound reporting. For the stor- solutions that are currently being used to
age industry, I hope the market’s devel- store large amounts of energy.
opment will align with Bloomberg New
Energy Finance’s forecasts, and that by Fuhs: In the special edition we have
2030 the global market will have doubled included, among other things, top new
six times. technologies submitted by exhibitors
at Energy Storage Europe, evaluated by
Fuhs: The outlook is good, and we are five well-known experts. The experts did
seeing how new business models evolve. not take a uniform approach to assess-
We ran a roundtable with analysts and ing these technologies. Some made the Bastian Mingers
industry experts, discussing among other uniqueness of the innovation the guid- Executive Team Manager
things the business models that can con- ing criterion. Others, whether a company Energy Storage Europe
tribute to this tremendous growth. has presented a clear business model in
Large-scale storage for frequency regu- its submission. Others still have priori-
lation will not be sufficient to drive this tized the company’s prospects based on
kind of growth. All participants agreed their market power, whether it comes
that there is a lot going on with business from having a good track record or a par-
models beyond frequency regulation ticularly strong financial footing.
2 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe
Introduction
a key driver
containers, and at innovations which still Mingers: I am fascinated by the speed play a major role in the conference pro-
appear further away from the market, with which sector coupling is currently gram. Flexible sector coupling acts as a
such as redox flow batteries. You have to developing, while at the same time being fundamental driver for the deployment
go deeply into the details, then you will the subject of much controversy. One con- of energy storage.
find the differences between the offerings trovery for example is the actual speed
and concepts. I found that very interest- with which sector coupling is brought Fuhs: At least if the sector coupling is
ing. The top 10 submissions will now be forward. Until recently, everyone has combined with renewable generation.
candidates for our pv magazine Award, done their own thing: those who develop Here you also see the complexity of the
which we will give at the end of the year. power-to-gas or those that develop technological solutions being deployed.
electric mobility, for example. Then In the magazine, we report on two
there were those who felt energy stor- interesting projects in the field, which
age was more important than expand- open up completely new perspectives.
ing grid infrastructure and vice versa. Speaking of flexible sector cou-
Fortunately, this has changed. For exam- pling, it has been more of a confer-
ple, at Energy Storage exhibitions and ence theme so far, and now you empha-
conferences various stakeholders now size its importance in the exhibition.
meet to bring these strings together. In In general, the importance of the exhi-
addition, the energy transition in the bition compared to the early years of
heating sector can play an increasingly Energy Storage Europe seems to have
important role, and thus also thermal increased. Is that so?
storage.
Mingers: The Energy Storage Europe
Michael Fuhs Fuhs: What impact do you see on the Conference is, so to speak, the link
Editorial Director pv magazine individual storage technologies? between the fundamental work of sci-
entific innovation and the market-ready
Mingers: The complexity of the different products that will be exhibited at the
storage technologies is strengthened by trade fair. This is the classic evolution of
the fact that the industry is now inten- a conference toward a trade fair. The con-
sively involved in sector coupling, which ference is the foundation, the fair brings
is simply great to see. This leads to flex- the leading experts, suppliers, and users
ible sector interconnection, which will together.
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 3
Highlights
Debrief: 4 key questions
Storage trends: In the run-up to Energy Storage Europe, pv magazine asked industry experts the key storage topics
they were most interested in. Their responses were reflective of their own perspective and position throughout the
value chain, but nevertheless a theme emerged, with recurring questions arising over and over again. These were
those questions …
1. Which business models for medium and storage industry is moving in an Storage successfully participated in
and large-scale beyond frequency reg- exciting direction. a capacity auction in the U.K. winning
ulation are evolving? The market for C&I storage is espe- 0.5 GW for delivery in 2020/21. In Califor-
Perhaps the greatest surprise to emerge cially large and dynamic in the U.S. nia, this business model already appears
last year was the combination of large Such bullishness and optimism cannot successful. According to Goldie-Scot,
utility-scale solar power plants and stor- necessarily be applied yet to other coun- roughly 280 MWh capacity was com-
age systems. All of the experts included tries, because much depends on the tar- missioned in December 2016 and January
on the pv magazine panel were surprised iff structure. 2017 to respond to the potential shortage
by the alacrity at which this co-loca- Storage peaker plants are more typical of gas caused by the devastating leak and
tion business model grew (see p. 24 for in the U.S. or the U.K. than in continental subsequent shutdown of the Aliso Can-
a deeper analysis and p. 27 for the panel Europe. A gas peaker plant typically has yon gas storage plant. One reason for reg-
discussion). One story above all appeared a single digit capacity factor, i.e. it is run- ulators to pursue storage is that it can be
to shake the industry, and that was the ning for a short time only during a year – used to help hit their renewable energy
prices communicated in the solar + stor- when the load in the grid is particularly targets by shifting renewable generation
age bids for tenders at Xcel’s project in high. Some markets, such as the U.K., to later in the day, says Goldie-Scot.
Colorado, USA. The median price struck have capacity auctions where they specif- In 2016, the analyst came to the con-
was $0.036/kWh. However, this num- ically take bids for capacity, says Logan clusion that globally approximately
ber should not be overstated because the Goldie-Scot, analyst at Bloomberg New 390 GWh/170 GW purpose-built battery
bids are at a very early stage, and it is not Energy Finance (BNEF) in San Francisco. peaker plants could be feasibly commis-
yet known just how much storage capac- Other markets are energy only, where it sioned. A very interesting take on this is
ity the bidders have provided. Such bids is assumed that for a certain time of year to ask whether behind-the-meter-storage
should be seen more as a basis for nego- during the greatest peaks in demand, can take a slice of the cake. If incentivized
tiation, rather than binding offers. Never- energy prices will be just high enough to to do so, this would save some $100 bil-
theless, our experts agree that this result justify keeping a power plant operational lion in capex, primarily because behind-
is an excellent indication that the solar to meet those peaks. the-meter-storage is being built for other
purposes and often paid for by consum-
Photo: Neoen ers eager to reduce their electricity bills.
“Aggregation payments would not neces-
sarily have to cover the total cost of the
system, but could instead be partial and
additive,” Goldie Scot suggests.
One of the big questions during the
panel discussion was why do the most
effective business models differ from
region to region? It could be because
grids are developed differently and gen-
eration and load profiles are different.
It could also be simply down to a dif-
ferent political approach. Ravi Mang-
hani, Director of Energy Storage at GTM
Research, says, “The important fact is
that the energy transition is beyond just
centralized infrastructure.” One way to
deal with the energy transition is to use
it to develop new business models that
also serve the power system, which the
Australia’s 100 MW/129 MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve facility was delivered panel sees more in the U.S. and U.K. than
by Tesla and shows how business models beyond frequency regulation grow. in continental Europe. But there is also
4 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe
Highlights
facing the storage industry
movement in Germany, for example with Taken together, considerations on raw a promising methanation concept, and
applications of larger storage systems in material and technological development Nel Hydrogen with the combination of
the distribution network (p. 12). can be concluded as follows: “The decade solar power plants and hydrogen produc-
to 2025 is the decade of lithium-ion,” so tion. However, few can accurately predict
2. What does the raw material supply for said Matthias Leuthold from RES during how much the energy industry will rely
lithium-ion batteries on the one hand the panel discussion. on methane or hydrogen in the future.
and the technical development of other For most experts it is clear: This topic will
storage technologies on the other hand 3. What are the key innovations that become relevant in large scale only from
mean for the choice of technology? will affect the market for medium and about 2030 onwards. The technologies,
There is no clear answer to this ques- large storage systems? though, have to be developed right now.
tion, which is probably why it is asked so Large storage container solutions are cer-
often and so widely. Pure cobalt resources tainly vital here. Two companies submit- 4. What is the prospective for European
could last for 500 years, and lithium for ted their solutions to the highlights fea- cell production?
440 years. However, it is accepted that ture (p. 7). It is worth considering how Industry voices all say that they want a
such a viewpoint is simplified because the the technical specifications play a role, high volume production of battery cells
impact of resource availability depends including the control speed, which, in Europe. But the development land-
on the price at which these reserves can for example, highlights SMA as a USP scape is still tough. Germany-based con-
be mined. On the other hand, it is also because synchronous generators can only sortium TerraE plans to build a 6 giga-
known from coal, gas, and oil production be completely replaced when the reaction watt-hour factory soon, with considerably
that progress is immense and the price at time of the storage system to grid char- more capacity out to a 2027 time frame.
least does not rise – resource availabil- acteristics is extremely fast. On the other However, so far only €17 million in funds
ity regularly exceeds what was forecast. hand, of course, the positioning of the have been communicated, which is a rel-
Recycling is also gathering speed. Cobalt company is important for the impact of atively anemic amount that is unlikely to
can be recovered to over 90%. Lithium, a product. Fluence, which brings together drive any great technological leaps. The
however, is barely recycled currently, but AES and Siemens, is very well posi- 2027 goal is, cautiously speaking, unam-
there are developments in the pipeline tioned, according to BNEF. AES owns bitious in such a highly dynamic market.
and a 70% recycling rate seems possible. many distribution utilities globally and In the U.K. rather more generous sums
We have therefore titled the article on the is a large independent power producer. are being spent. Some €300 million will
subject as: “Do not worry, but keep ask- This allows Siemens to benefit from the be distributed to leading universities
ing” (p. 18). operational experience of its new partner. to boost R&D efforts and help acceler-
“Don’t worry” also applies to the devel- Another powerful storage application is ate commercialization and cell indus-
opment of new technologies. A recent the combination of battery storage with try problem-solving. However, while
calculation by Apricum shows that redox gas turbines submitted by Siemens, You- laudable, both programs target research
flow can compete with lithium-ion tech- nicos, and Bosch. These solve the prob- institutions, with little immediate cash
nologies for storage durations of more lem brought by lithium-ion batteries, earmarked for production. Northvolt,
than three to four hours (p. 23). At least namely that the capacity is costly. Then a Swedish startup that wants to build a
as an alternative, this technology is dis- again, it no longer pays to run gas tur- 32 gigawatt-hour production by 2023, is
posable, even if there are challenges in bines continuously. setting its sights higher: to €4 billion to be
securing financing. Nevertheless, large There are also interesting develop- exact. Volkswagen Scania and ABB have
projects are already being planned, such ments where companies are pursu- already invested relatively modest sums,
as huge storage in salt caverns in North- ing entirely new approaches. Much still and it is not yet known whether the com-
ern Germany. It will take some time for remains to be seen how effective these pany has raised more than tens of mil-
the developments to accelerate, and it will will prove. For example, Max Bögl com- lions of euros. In conclusion, there are
also depend on the development of lith- bines wind power and pumped hydro plenty of recent developments, but it is
ium costs. Even with lithium-ion batter- storage. Schmid combines electric still necessary for commercial entities to
ies, progress has not paused, and develop- charging stations with redox flow stor- actually take action, and investment, into
ments in the coming years will also allow age systems. Electrochaea participates their own hands.
for batteries with reduced cobalt. in the power-to-gas technologies with Ian Clover, Michael Fuhs
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 5
Highlights
Energy storage Highlights Jury
highlights
Ranking: At the Energy Storage Europe trade fair in Düs-
seldorf, 24 exhibitors submitted proposals that our high- Logan Goldie Scot heads up the Energy
light jury ranked in the following categories: relevance to Storage insight team at Bloomberg New
Energy Finance. He leads the company’s analysis
industry, USP, market impact, contribution to energy tran- on the global energy storage markets, providing
sition, and innovation. Here, we present the top 10, as cho- insights on technology, markets, policies and regulation, and
sen by our experts. the competitive landscape.
T he submissions of exhibitors at Energy Storage Europe
for the first pv magazine highlights feature in 2018 are
drawn from a collection of very different approaches. So it is
not surprising that the five jurors judged things differently. In
the end, every juror had their own top candidate: SMA, Flu-
ence, Max Bögl, Younicos, and electrochaea were all selected Tobias Federico is the Founder and
in the top position of one juror respectively. After averaging Managing Director of consulting institute
Energy Brainpool. He is a proven expert on the
the votes, all of them finished among the top 10, except for Flu- energy market, and on price forecasts in Germany.
ence. The two main arguments that the judges used to evalu- He actively monitors the introduction of new technologies such
ate are simple: One part was focused on the foreseeable suc- as blockchain.
cess of the product, concept, or project as well as the market
position of the company. Other members of the jury placed
higher emphasis on innovation, potential for disruption, and
the chance to change the market in a sustainable way.
That such a chance will materialize is not always a given.
Among the submissions are, for example, the wind turbine
of Max Bögl with a water reservoir built into the foundation Dirk Uwe Sauer is Professor of
that is part of a hydro storage power plant; and Jena Batteries, Electrochemical Energy Conversion and
Storage Systems Engineering at RWTH Aachen
with a redox flow battery utilizing organic electrolytes that are University, and one of Germany’s foremost experts
environmentally sound, and possibly cheaper than conven- on energy storage issues.
tional electrolytes based on vanadium. Both concepts have yet
to prove their competitiveness. There are also some submis-
sions where the USP is not immediately clear, but some jurors
nevertheless expect to be successful: For example the storage
containers from SMA and Fluence. The jurors also highlighted
the extent to which a submission served an important market
segment, such as Younicos’s combination of a battery with a Julian Jansen is a Senior Market Analyst at
used gas turbine. Incidentally, Siemens and Bosch also sub- IHS Markit Technology. He focuses on battery
storage market activity and industry trends, as
mitted similar combinations. well as analyzing key value drivers and emerging
In this highlights feature, we present in detail those submis- business models driving storage deployment. Additionally,
sions that made it into the top 10 (10th place is shared, and all Julian provides high level consultancy and strategic advice for
bespoke projects.
other entries are listed on page 14). Those that did not make
the top 10 are certainly worth a mention and visit at the trade
fair: Aside from Fluence, for example, Schmid was also highly
rated. The company from southern Germany has developed
a carport with several electric filling stations and integrated
redox flow storage. If many cars refuel at the same time, the
storage buffers the load so that the grid does not need to be Stephan Schnez is Senior Scientist in
reinforced so much. This is flexible sector coupling, and one of Corporate Research at ABB in Switzerland.
As a physicist, he works in the field of energy
the most important current developments (see p. 16). storage and systems. He also regularly assists
The top 10 submissions will automatically be candidates for ABB management and technology ventures with questions
the pv magazine award 2018. This will be awarded at the end regarding the assessment of potential future technologies.
of the year along with the submissions we will be looking at
throughout the year, and will be evaluated overall on various
highlight categories.
6 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe
THE WORLD OF ENERGY STORAGE:
Düsseldorf, Deutschland Peking, China Pasadena, CA, USA
March 13–15, 2018 March 27–29, 2018 November 06–08, 2018
Tokio, Japan Neu-Delhi, Indien
October 2018 January, 2019
www.worldenergystorage.com
Highlights
1 Younicos
Combined gas and battery grid services power plant
Photo: Younicos
Y ounicos managed to interest and
convince the jurors with its simple
concept. Their rankings ranged from first
provide a range of balancing services and
is predestined to effectively stack multi-
ple values,” says Jansen.
combination, says juror Tobias Federico.
However, as with most business mod-
els, there is also competition. As the mar-
to 16th, and so for the average overall juror There are many small-scale, partly ket for primary balancing power is rel-
rankings and proposals, this led to the older gas turbines in operation – 250 atively limited, the option of achieving
top position in this highlights feature. with under 15 MW of power in Germany the conditions for the secondary balanc-
Younicos submitted a project in which alone. Their long-term operation is often ing power market is interesting, notes
the company, together with the Tech- no longer worthwhile. One reason is that another member of the jury. With this
nische Werke Ludwigshafen, developed they can only offer balancing power if business model, however, the combined
a combined balancing power plant, cou- they are up and running, otherwise their gas and battery storage power plant is
pling a 4 MW gas turbine with a 9 MW reaction time is too slow. competing with intelligent demand-side
battery with a capacity of 6.5 MWh. The At the same time, the demand for management.
intention is to provide both primary and balancing power is rising as part of the One of the categories for the highlight
secondary control power, and to get pre- energy transition. For battery storage ranking is its relevance for the energy
qualification from the network operator to be able to offer this alone it must be transition. For the combined gas and
for both installations as one technical equipped with a lot of storage capacity. battery plant, this is the case because it
unit. The plant is still under construc- The charm of the solution presented is reduces the so-called must-run capacity
tion. The left side of the building in the that within this technical unit the gas of conventional power plants. How rele-
photo above is intended for the battery, turbine does not have to run continu- vant the topic is can also be seen by the
the right for the gas turbine. ously, but the battery initially takes over, fact that Siemens and Bosch have also
The combination will serve an often- and the gas turbine only intervenes when submitted highlights that deal with the
overlooked market segment with signif- the duration of the control power exceeds connection of battery storage systems
icant scaling potential, says juror Julian the capacity of the battery. with conventional generators.
Jansen. “Younicos has successfully shown It is therefore an interesting “second
how to do a hybrid solution which can life” project for gas turbines in the given Hall 8b / D02
8 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage EuropeHighlights
2 E3/DC
Multi-string three-phase battery inverter technology
Photos: E3/DC
H ighly rated by several of the jurors,
E3/DC made it into second place
overall. If you look at the individual
used in the 12 kW battery systems of the
company.
The challenge for the innovative state-
highlight categories, the manufacturer of of-charge-control is that no lithium bat-
small and medium-sized storage systems tery system can have an accurate state of
scored particularly high for innovation. charge measurement without being dis-
The company, already well known for charged and charged from time to time,
its residential storage system, has submit- states the company. If you measure the
ted a new technology for a DC-DC con- state of charge in this way, the battery
verter for battery storage systems, with may be empty in an emergency. The solu-
which users can better control the state tion is to operate two battery modules
of charge. This is especially important for asymmetrically. As one is discharged,
emergency power systems. the other holds a defined state of energy.
In addition, the power electronics have The comments in the jury on the prod-
a high discharge capacity with efficiency uct are varied. One juror sees technical
of up to 98%, even if you connect 48 volt innovation, but is not sure about the
battery modules. This allows a C-rate business relevance. Another is not sure
of 1 and a maximum output current of about the USP, but places emphasis on
120 amps. According to E3/DC, the trick the strong contribution to the energy
is a new topology with galvanic isolation transition.
and an ultra-high frequency allowing for
small components. The inverter will be Hall 8b / E22
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 9Highlights
3 SMA
Large-scale storage solution
Photo: SMA
I n 2017, SMA introduced its large-
scale turnkey solution Medium Volt-
age Power Station to the global market,
While the jurors generally doubt that
the solution is as unique as the com-
pany claims, most acknowledge other
the shelf” (see photo above). PV penetra-
tion now can now reach 100% during the
day, says the company.
and now the company reports it has con- strengths of the product. One juror Volker Wachenfeld of SMA is con-
cluded contracts with a total capacity of emphasizes it’s importance in grid con- vinced of the uniqueness of the product.
400 MW. One container has an output nected installations to reduce the share of “We supplied island-ready battery invert-
power of 5.5 MW. conventional power plants, which today ers, PV inverters, batteries, medium volt-
Unique to this solution is that the guarantee the frequency stability with age connection, the power management
Sunny Central Storage with grid forming their rotating masses. Another empha- system with the interface to the genera-
capacities acts just like a rotating mass in sizes the pure size, i.e. the 5.5 MW power tors, and the SCADA”, he explains.
a power grid, writes the company in its output of these devices, the long track He goes on, “We regulate the load bal-
submission to pv magazine highlights. record of SMA in this field, and the con- ancing, create a seamless transfer at die-
There is a distribution of responsibility tribution of the company to bring down sel shutdown, provide instantaneous
between Grid Controller and Sunny Cen- costs. reserve, and primary and secondary con-
tral Storage. “Out of all the entries SMA has prob- trol power.”
Energy flows and general operational ably submitted the most commercially Typical systems for primary control
tasks that take place within a few hun- advanced offer, rather than a technical power need several hundred milliseconds
dred milliseconds to seconds or even innovation”, says juror Julian Jansen of to send the command to the responding
hours are carried out on the Grid Con- IHS. “Building on their strength in the units. “We can initiate a reaction within
troller, while functions regarding grid power conversion system market, SMA the time of a half wave,” he says, which
stability that need reaction within milli- has used the experience to build a turn- corresponds to about 10 ms. This reac-
seconds or less are located in Sunny Cen- key solution which can target multiple tion time has to be adjusted according to
tral Storage, directly avoiding any com- applications and seamlessly integrates the characteristics of the individual grid
munication to fulfill these tasks. into existing infrastructure.” in order to guarantee the security of the
The technology mimics the function of SMA has deployed the system in places supply, also when load in the grid changes
rotating mass in the grid to load and sub- such as the island St. Eustachius in Neth- quickly.
sequent frequency changes. When load erlands Antilles. The first step was a fuel
increases, rotating masses are deceler- saving system. In 2017 it was comple-
ated, but their inertia dampens the effect mented with the new inverter and bat-
until the generator power is increased. tery system, which is now available “off Hall 8b / B22
10 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage EuropeHighlights
4 Fraunhofer ISE
Power electronics for battery inverters
Photo: Fraunhofer ISE
battery inverter. According to Stephan and at the same time allows the volume
Liese, Head of Group Distributed Gener- to be kept small. The electronics for 1 MW
ation and Storage, the key factor enabling output power fit into a standard 19 inch
this high efficiency is the high frequency switch cabinet.
with which the transformer is operated The jury found the submission very
and which is even modulated. Accord- interesting from a technological point of
ing to Liese, efficiency levels of between view. “Currently, inverters in stationary
90 and 95% are customary in the mar- applications cause around twice as much
ket for comparable applications. In addi- loss as the lithium-ion batteries them-
tion to the increased efficiency, the high selves,” writes one juror. “Therefore, effi-
frequency also helps to reduce the size of ciencies are of such high relevance.” He
A ccording to Fraunhofer ISE, the
Cell-Booster and the power elec-
tronics for the project “Netefficient” per-
the housing.
For the Netefficient project, which aims
to increase the share of renewable ener-
also sees Fraunhofer ISE’s ability to bring
the technology to market together with
industrial partners. Two jurors are miss-
mit high efficiencies on the one hand, gies on the North Sea island of Borkum, ing that they have not found a concept for
and small construction volumes on the the institute has built a 1 MW battery the market launch. One of the jurors asks
other. The cell booster converts the typ- inverter. whether the large number of components
ical 48 volt output of a low voltage bat- This is characterized by the use of sil- would lead to higher costs.
tery with an efficiency of 97% to 700 volts, icon carbide MOSFET switches, which
as required for example by a three-phase leads to high efficiencies of up to 98.5% Hall 8b / B39
5 Electrochaea
Scalable Methanation plant
Photo left: Electrochaea , photo right : Prof. Andreas Klingl
Y ou would be forgiven for not know-
ing of methanothermobacter therm-
autotrophicus – a small green bacterium
– but it is the basis of this energy storage
highlight. Electrochaea uses it to convert
hydrogen to methane. With this submis-
sion it reaches first position in the cate-
gories innovation and contribution to the
energy transition, which together lead to
fifth position overall.
The company uses a variant of the bac-
terium, named archeva (see right photo),
as a biocatalyst, which is exclusively
licensed from the University of Chicago.
It developed the technology to a state that
it can be used in large methanation facil- should be stored directly. Biomethane has not convinced that power-to-gas tech-
ities and the first demonstration plant is the advantage that it can be used with- nologies will become relevant in large-
running near Copenhagen with 1 MW out limitation or expensive investment scale in the near future, but only after
electrical power (see left photo). The effi- in the existing natural gas grid. There- 2030. Low temperature processes and
ciency of the methanation exceeded 80%, fore, Electrochaea sees Power-To-Hydro- fast reaction times might be helpful for
writes Electrochaea in its submission. gen as a supplier technology for metha- the implementation of the technology,
The plant has demonstrated, according nation, rather than a direct competitor. which might be an advantage compared
to the company, that the technology can “Power-to-gas will become one of the to other methanation concepts, and the
be “quickly” scaled to the 100 MW range. crucial aspects in the energy transition,” use of microorganisms may be a major
One of the questions is whether it says Tobias Federico. “It is necessary to innovation in this sector.
is necessary to convert the hydrogen build it in large scale.” Other members of
to methane, or whether the hydrogen the jury also see the innovation, but are Hall 8b / D12
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 11Highlights
6 Smart Power
Large-scale storage business model in the distribution grid
G erman EPC Smart Power is working
on a promising solution for making
large-scale storage systems usable in the
Photo: Google, GeoBasis-DE/BKG
distribution grid despite regulatory hur-
dles. According to the numbers given by
the company, this approach can totally
make sense. The utility Stadtwerke Trost-
berg Energieversorgung is charged €113/
kW peak load at the transformer station
to the 110 kV grid. By peak shaving in the
distribution grid in the order of 11%, this
payment can be reduced.
For this purpose, Smart Power is
installing a 1.5 MWh/1.2 MW storage
system on behalf of a retail company. An services to the operating retail company, streams, so it is not possible to establish a
annual revenue stream of about €59,000 is which is its customer. USP with such business models.
expected from the peak shaving use case, The theoretical upper bound for the Also how well this business model
and an additional €89,000 will be gen- revenue stream can be calculated as fol- complies with German regulation is still
erated from being active on the primary lows: €113 × 1,200 kW × 80% = €108,000. to be proven. There is an intensive ongo-
control market. The real peak load reduction is roughly ing discussion about what is possible and
The tricky point, however, is compen- half of this upper bound value. To achieve what should be possible. Only by under-
sation. The utility compensates 80% of this revenue peak shaving is necessary taking such projects can one move for-
the amount it saves from the peak shav- only for some weeks of the year. And ward and develop the details. The com-
ing activity, and 20% will be used to by pooling several storage systems, the pany emphasizes that the installation is
reduce grid surcharge on the electric- losses from peak shaving for the pri- not simply a demonstration project, and
ity bills for consumers in the region. The mary control power revenue stream can that it is planned to be profitable without
utility itself cannot draw direct finan- be reduced to a single digit percentage. any subsidies.
cial benefits from this project because The jury appreciates the effort to make
of German regulations. The cooperation use of the possibilities storage offers for
is partly driven by idealism, and partly the distribution networks. However, they
because the trading division of the util- say, many other companies already are, or
ity is in favor of it, as it can offer good soon will be aiming for multiple revenue Hall 8b / E13
7 Abo Wind
Storage in rural distribution networks stabilized the grid
Photo: Abo Wind
grid is characterized, writes Abo Wind, and fewer blackouts. Typically, the max-
by “large distribution networks at 33 kV imum load in Tunduma is about 7 MW
supplying thousands of small transform- in the evening. With the projected PV
ers.” The overhead lines are working at and battery size, which during the day is
maximum capacity, leading to high losses charged with about 5 MWh, the maxi-
and a drop in voltage of almost 20%. Abo mum load can be reduced to about 6 MW.
Wind has evaluated how the grid can be The company writes that there have
stabilized using solar and storage. Now been studies for similar projects, how-
it is in the development stage of a proj- ever, they haven’t heard of any as far
ect to realize this potential. The instal- advanced. “Not conceptually new, but
lation will stabilize the voltage level in a straightforward use of batteries with
the 33 kV radial distribution networks ‘smart’ power electronics and control,”
T unduma, a small Tanzanian town
at the border with Zambia, is con-
nected to a 220 kV transmission grid. The
between 95% and 105%. This will allow
more consumers to be connected and
SMEs to profit from better grid quality
comments one member of the jury.
Hall 8b / D39
12 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage EuropeHighlights
8 Wemag
10 MW-storage plant with black start capability
N orthern German utility Wemag
made headlines several years ago
with what was then the largest battery
Photo: Wemag
storage power plant in the country. In
2014, 5 MW went online for market-
ing in the primary control energy mar-
ket. In 2017, this battery storage power
value was extended to 14 MW and made
black start capable. Now it has a capacity
of 15 MWh, and provides control capac-
ity comparable to that of a 100 MW gas
turbine. The company emphasizes that
the extension was not subsidized, but for
the black start ability, a state subsidy of
€180,000 was paid. Wemag now wants to
offer its expertise in construction, oper-
ation, and marketing to other interested
parties. Tobias Federico says, “These are
innovative projects, due to the fact that
they have taken the financial first mover
advantage.” However, the jurors note that innovative. They also talk about how the storage capacity.
primary control power plants and black primary reserve power market is evolving
start capability are no longer particularly in the face of the huge buildup in battery Hall 8b / C01
Advertisement
Available power.
Whatever the location !
new
PUB 1107 01 3i
Energy Storage solution for microgrid
• Grid resiliency
• Maximisation of renewable energy self-consumption and production
• Optimisation of diesel generators
VISIT US Hall 8b - Stand D15
Düsseldorf, March 13-15, 2018
Energy Storage System
from 33 kVA to multiple MVAHighlights
9 Fronius
Adjustable water heater with further functionality
Photos: Fronius the setting, the device heats up to over
60 °C for Legionella (pathogenic bacte-
ria) prevention in the time intervals set,
even if there is no excess of solar power.
With appropriate dimensioning of the
solar system, conventional heating can be
completely switched off during warmer
months, so that the hot water is obtained
only by the heating rod, writes the com-
pany in its submission.
The response from members of the
ecessary function – heating the hot
n jury was as follows: It is a relatively
water boiler – it also includes more fea- straightforward product, and while it
tures than usual: It includes comprehen- does not require any major innovation,
A solution that allows homeowners to
use excess solar power via a heating
element does not seem like big news at
sive monitoring, can be networked via
WiFi, LAN, or RS 485, works in combi-
nation with other heating elements, and
the described functionality and mar-
ket position of the company is convinc-
ing. One juror notes: “Integrated home
first glance. Such devices have been avail- above all is steplessly controlled. The sin- energy supply systems, in particular with
able for some years, controlling residen- gle-phase device has a power of between 0 the integration of heating systems with
tial rooftop solar so that no current flows and 3 kW, the three-phase device between PV, will play a central role. Therefore, the
into the grid, but surplus is used to warm 0 and 9 kW, and both comply with the product is definitely going in an impor-
up the hot water boiler with a heating rod. guidelines for electromagnetic compati- tant direction.”
According to Fronius, the special bility. Minimum and maximum temper-
feature of the device is that beside the atures can be defined, and depending on Hall 8b / C18
Highlights rank 12 to 24 and more
12 Schmid Energy Systems: Charging station with PV and redox flow battery Hall 8b / B24
13 NEL Hydrogen Electrolyser: Large-scale hydrogen production from PV power plants Hall 8b / B11
14 Commeo: Energy storage Hall , 8b / D01
15 Siemens: Siestart hybrid gas turbine and battery Hall 8b / D40
16 Fluence: SunFlex Energy Storage technology platform Hall 8b / D40
Home Power Solutions: Picea is a combination of battery and power-to-gas energy storage, heating support, and
17
indoor ventilation for residential Hall 8b / D08
18 Fenecon: Voltage balancing solution for storage systems Hall 8b / G02
19 Solarwatt: MyReserve Matrix for commercial application Hall 8b / G23
20 Robert Bosch: Combining a power plant with a battery Hall 8b / E39
21 Autarsys: State of the art energy storage system for refugee camp in Northern Iraq Hall 8b / G05
22 Hoppecke Batterien: Scalable hybrid energy storage system combines lead and lithium Hall 8b / E16
23 NES: Storage system with particularly high charging and discharging power Hall 8b / G04
24 Nilar: NiMH batteries also for high voltage Hall 8b / D27
Not participating in the first round of the pv magazine highlight ranking, but also at Energy Storage Europe
Tesvolt: Battery storage system storing electricity for €0.09/kWh Hall 8b / E01
Stäubli Electrical Connectors: Modular energy system Power-Blox PBX200 Hall 8b / A31
Kaco New Energy: Bidirectional battery inverter blueplanet gridsave 50.0 TL3-S Hall 8b / B03
14 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe10
Advertisement
Max Bögl
The water battery
Photo: Max Bögl
M ax Bögl has built wind turbines
with embedded tanks for a water
The water battery ranked in the top five
with three jurors, while two ranked it in
POWER-BLOX
reservoir. The wind turbines are located the lower half. Those who are convinced Plug and Power off-
on a hill about 80 km from Stuttgart. The value the innovation and potential. “It is
lower reservoir is down in the valley.
One reason to build hydro storage co-
a very interesting approach with a highly
innovative character,” says Tobias Fed-
grid storage solution
located with wind is, according to Max erico. Scalability, however, “might not be
Bögl, that spatial demand for the upper so easy.” The project must show that it is Power-Blox is revolutionizing the off-grid
reservoirs is only marginally larger than competitive – even with lithium-ion. energy market by opening up new ways
that for wind turbines. Capex for the stor- and means for independent power gener-
age part is €300 to €400/kWh. Hall 8b / E31
ation.
The innovative principle not only allows for
10
simple expansion of capacity and perfor-
Jena Batteries mance, but also applies intelligent swarm
technology when connecting several units
Organic redox flow battery up to the Kilowatt range.
J ena Batteries is developing a redox place, one could use cheaper materi- Each Power-Blox unit can be charged
flow battery that uses organic elec- als, since it does not have to withstand by photovoltaic modules, wind or other
trolytes instead of vanadium-containing aggressive acids. The first pilot plant generators. Thanks to its design and us-
electrolytes. It is more environmentally with a 10 kW/40 kWh battery will now er-friendliness, it is perfectly suitable for
friendly, because it is free of heavy metals be installed. areas of application where flexibility and
and hazardous acids, the company says. As with the other company with which
ease of use are essential
In addition, there is no fire risk. Jena Batteries shares 10th place, the jurors’
One of the big questions facing redox assessments differ greatly. For two jurors,
flow technology is how it can be cheap the company is among the top five sub- www.staubli-alternative-energies.com
enough to compete with lithium-ion bat- missions. It is especially strong in the
teries (see p. 23). As far as price is con- categories innovation and USP. “This is
cerned, the company does not yet pro- a truly novel innovation, which given
vide any information. However, unlike the expected resource constraints for
vanadium redox flow batteries, the price the existing battery supply chain could
is independent of commodity markets help alleviate the long-term challenges to
and depends more on scaling, writes the deploy energy storage as part of a trans-
company. forming energy system,” opines Julian
Also for the stack, which sits between Jansen.
the two tanks of a redox flow battery and
in which the energy conversion takes Hall 8b / E03
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 Staubli is a trademark of Stäubli International AG, registered in Switzerland and other
countries. © Stäubli 2016 | Photocredits: Shutterstock 123732148, StäubliTechnology
A new concept gains traction
Flexible sector coupling: To date, the energy transition has unfolded primarily in the electricity sector. This
limitation should be overcome by sector coupling, which is basically electrification of the mobility and heat sectors.
But this alone does not offer a complete solution. Sector coupling must be flexible. To this end, a Berlin-based
startup is developing a colossal steel storage tank, and battery storage facilities are being built in Canada along a
highway.
Photo: Lumenion off for longer periods, they have to be
designed larger so that they generate
the same amount of heat during shorter
operating periods.
A steel colossus rises in Berlin
On a street called Bottroper Weg in the
Wedding district of the German cap-
ital, it will soon be possible to see how
the Lumenion concept makes sector cou-
pling more flexible. The startup plans to
build the first demonstration of its high
temperature steel storage tank before
the end of this year, in a residential area
with around 1,000 apartments. It will be
charged with 720 kW of electrical power
and store 5 MWh of energy. It will be con-
nected to a large district heating network
and can discharge 100 kilowatts of heat.
If required, it can also deliver electrical
energy discharged through a turbine.
Some 15 kilometers away, Lumen-
ion has been working for the past year
to bring the steel storage tank from con-
View of the Berlin office of Lumenion, located in an old industrial building. cept to reality. The heating fins, which
give the laboratory its characteristic
smell, are designed to heat the structural
It is early morning, and already the Flexible sector coupling aims not only steel. The art is getting the energy into
smell of heated steel wafts through the to overcome a particular technical diffi- the steel in a short time without the fins
room. Heating surfaces made of stain- culty, but also to tackle an economic one. getting too hot.
less steel are connected to heavy cables. Think of cogeneration plants, which are
In the future, ever-increasing amounts generally heat-controlled. This means A heat storage tank that also
of electricity produced by photovoltaic that they do not start feeding power to produces electricity
and wind power plants will make these the grid until they receive a signal from When used as CHP storage, some 75% of
heating fins glow. They are at the heart the heating sector that more energy is the stored energy flows into the heating
of Lumenion’s storage concept. The Ber- needed. From the electricity sector’s per- sector, either as process heat between 300
lin-based startup is transforming sector spective, that’s not very flexible. and 500°C for industrial and commercial
coupling into “flexible” sector coupling. It is also a matter of design whether or use, or as district heat and low tempera-
This term is becoming a new buzz- not a combined heat and power (CHP) ture process heat between 80 and 120°C.
word, as a glance at the conference plant can be run more in line with the Thanks to the storage tank’s high tem-
agenda of Energy Storage Europe in needs of the electricity market. Such perature, up to 30% of the stored energy
Düsseldorf reveals. In three sessions, plants are often designed to run for can be reconverted to electricity through
experts at the conference will spell out many hours of operation, usually 4,000 a steam turbine if power is needed to sta-
in minute detail what this means for the to 6,000 hours per year to produce suf- bilize the grid, which generates another
individual sectors. ficient heat. If they are to be switched revenue stream.
16 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage EuropeTechnology
To see the advantage of the develop- value chain does not have to be built up; charge their electric cars simultaneously
ment, one has to consider the alterna- it is already on the market – unlike pho- at each of the so-called FAST charge
tive. Flexibility can also be achieved with tovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries, for stations via level 3 chargers with 480 V
battery storage prior to the conversion of instance,” says Hiersemenzel. charging in about 20 minutes.
electricity into heat. But in such appli- To prevent excessive load on the grid,
cations battery storage cannot be oper- Considering the grid and storage the power comes from large lithium-ion
ated economically, as costs are currently function batteries. The standard size of these bat-
more than €200/kWh. In the medium The project idea has fallen on fertile teries will be 250 kilowatt hours. “This
term, battery-based systems will still be ground. Current discussions on grid sta- depends on the projected demand at the
well in excess of €100/kWh. They have to bility and negative electricity prices indi- respective sites, but the battery capac-
go through several useful cycles per day cate that the electricity system is already ity is modularly expandable,” says Bryan
to finance themselves. running up against its limits. “The prob- Urban, the North American head of
The big advantage of the steel colossus
is that Lumenion aims to achieve storage
costs of €25/kWh, about one tenth of the
cost of storing electricity in a battery. The
“From the electricity sector’s
company says that the low costs enable a
lower number of cycles and a relatively
perspective, that’s not very flexible”
long storage period of two days. Assum-
ing 20 years of operation and 180 cycles
per year, the stored kilowatt hour at the lems of distributed storage often drop Leclanché. At Energy Storage Europe,
target price would cost less than €0.01. out of the system analysis, or the issues battery manufacturer Schmid will be pre-
Reconverted to power at 30% efficiency, of network and storage are mixed,” says senting a redox flow storage device cou-
the energy storage cost would be €0.023, Andreas Hauer, head of energy storage at pled to a charging station, which it has
and over 40 years it would be equivalent the Centre for Applied Energy Research also submitted to pv magazine Energy
to €0.015, accounting for the stored heat. (ZAE) in Bavaria, and Chair of Energy Storage Highlights (see p. 7).
“However, the storage tank is not Storage Europe. Storage shifts power over According to Urban, the estimated
designed for seasonal applications,” time, networks shift power locally. These CA$17.3 million (US$14 million) project
says Lumenion cofounder and techni- functionalities sector coupling alone can- has now successfully completed its dem-
cal director Andrew Zwinkels, “but for not take over. onstration phase and is currently in tran-
a maximum discharge time of 48 hours. With their innovative concepts, com- sition to the early stage of production as
This is compared with a charging time panies such as Lumenion are pushing well as site identification and approval.
of 10 hours. It is precisely this asymme- the boundaries between sectors. Their This fall, the first charging stations along
try of the storage tank – it decouples a coupling concepts work even better if the highway will be set up, and by spring
high charging capacity from a lower dis- the transition is directly combined with 2019 the entire route, with stations about
charging capacity – that makes the sys- a storage system, says Hauer. For these every 100 kilometers, is scheduled for
tem innovative. This lets us absorb big applications the energy supply has to be completion. Daniel Seeger
surges in wind and solar without expen- shifted to meet the demand: “In indus-
sive power electronics; we only need trial applications in particular, there is a Photo: pv magazine
those to deliver the power.” strict demand at certain times.”
Zwinkels envisages a wide range of Hauer says that the economic value
applications for the tank-connected com- of electricity increases for power-to-gas
bined heat and power plant: for organic or power-to-liquid applications in the
farmers, in industrial parks, in commer- mobility sector. In electric cars, the form
cial areas, or as a district storage facility. of energy remains the same despite the
There are already plans for what comes change in sector. The planned expansion
after the demonstration in Berlin. “In of the charging infrastructure along the
northern Germany, where wind power Trans-Canada Highway illustrates how
sometimes produces huge surpluses, additional storage at the sector boundary
talks on another project have already is also sensible for e-mobility.
come a long way,” says Philip Hierse-
menzel, who was reluctant to elaborate. Flexible e-mobility
Hiersemenzel is Lumenion’s spokesper- In the middle of last year, eCamion of
son, and the connection is no accident. Toronto partnered with two Swiss com-
He is also press spokesperson for You- panies, Leclanché and SGEM, and the
nicos, one of many renewable energy Canadian government to launch a project Andrew Zwinkels, Technical Director
companies founded by Alexander Voigt. for the construction of 34 quick charg- and cofounder of Lumenion behind
Voigt also happens to be the Founder ing stations along the approximately one of his heating fins in the
and CEO of Lumenion. “The nice thing 3,000 kilometers of the country’s Trans- laboratory. He evaluated the long-
about our system is that the necessary Canada Highway. Three drivers can term stability.
pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage Europe | 02 / 2018 17Technology
W hat’s inside? A question seldom
heard in modern society hooked
on a use-and-discard cycle. Things are
Buried treasure
As one of the critical raw materials for
lithium-ion batteries, cobalt has attracted
uct of copper and nickel, and therefore is
linked to the production of these com-
modities, and “2016 showed how produc-
taken for granted; wake-up calls go much attention, having ended last year as tion cutbacks of nickel and copper miners
unanswered. But, perturbed by the raw a hot trading commodity. and refiners in Australia (Yabulu Nickel
material price spikes, the storage indus- There are various cobalt demand sce- Refinery), Brazil (Niquelandia Nickel
try recently had many more questions to narios at the moment, which range from Refinery), and the DRC (Kamoto and Til-
ask. The immediate answer is: Keep calm, about 180,000 to 260,000 metric tons of wezembe mines of Katanga Mining Ltd.)
but for a short while it might get rocky. total demand per annum by 2025. More directly affected cobalt output,” explains
Last year, the price of cobalt soared by than 40% of global production is already Al Barazi. “Steep price increases, such as
more than 120%. But the arguments of used as cathode material for the produc- the one observed in 2017, are the result.”
James Frith, Energy Storage Analyst at tion of lithium-ion batteries. “According Moreover, he estimates that when cop-
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, indicate to our assumptions, cobalt demand for per and nickel producers operate under
that the overall situation is not that dra- electric vehicles could reach only 56,000 healthy market conditions, cobalt supply
matic. First, for the cost of a battery pack to 88,000 metric tons by 2025 if the share will meet future demand.
this makes only a slight difference. “A of EVs increases to 12 – 18% of global Meanwhile, mining companies are
50% rise in the cost of cobalt, from today’s vehicle production,” says Siyamend Al announcing increases in cobalt output to
$91,000 per metric ton on the Shanghai Barazi, a geologist at the German Min- cater to the market. Seeking to cement its
market, would only increase the cost of a eral Resources Agency (DERA). number one position on the global mar-
battery pack by 9%,” explains Frith. And That is why, beyond market ups and ket, Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore
that does not necessarily mean that sys- downs, geologists see no threat of a severe announced in December last year plans
Don’t worry, but keep asking
As both energy storage makers and car manufacturers keep close track of the prices of key raw materials for lithium-
ion batteries, the question of their availability is thrust into the limelight. Meanwhile, the recycling industry is
gearing up to provide alternative supply chains.
tems are really becoming more expen- cobalt shortage in terms of the metal’s to double its cobalt output over the next
sive. “This price increase is likely to be availability. According to the U.S. Geo- three years, following supply negotia-
absorbed by savings in other areas, so on logical Survey’s (USGS’s) Mineral Com- tions with Tesla, Apple, and Volkswagen.
the whole battery pack prices are likely modity Summary issued in January 2017, Also, junior mining companies are eager
to continue falling in 2018.” Second, the world reserves were estimated at 7 mil- to get their slice of the cake.
price increase is not just based on sup- lion metric tons. If one counts cobalt in Another raw material that keeps inves-
ply bottlenecks. Adding to the shortage, manganese nodules and crusts on the tors on their toes is lithium, which the
investors scrambled to hoard physical floor of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific European Commission does not even
supplies, betting prices would increase Oceans, then according to the USGS esti- characterize as critical. In 2017, the
further. “The rise in the price of cobalt in mates, there is an additional 123 million USGS estimated that worldwide lithium
2017 was exacerbated by stockpiling by metric tons of resources. However, deep- reserves were 14 million metric tons,
funds such as Cobalt 27 and Pala Invest- sea mining for now remains out of the whereas production stood at 35,000 met-
ments,” adds Frith. industry’s depth. ric tons. “Based on the current known
So far, there is no indication of a long- lithium reserves and production, there is
term shortage, and no major impact on The by-product mechanism enough lithium for the next 440 years,”
prices. Nevertheless, the topic of mate- Clearly, it is not only the availability, but says Al Barazi, adding that this is not a
rial availability is suddenly here. In the also the mining economics that count. fixed number and can vary according to
run-up to the Energy Storage Europe “The real problem is not the availability annual consumption and further explo-
show, experts quizzed for this publica- of resources, but the cost of extracting ration of lithium deposits.
tion highlighted the questions of raw them,” Frith underlines. In addition to being more avail-
material availability and sustainability With the exception of only one deposit able, lithium is also cheaper to extract.
of their production and use. in Morocco, cobalt is mined as a by-prod- Nonetheless, its price has not remained
18 02 / 2018 | pv magazine in cooperation with Energy Storage EuropeYou can also read
