Price increases and shortages, which have become the key words in the lithium battery industry, have also become a stumbling block to the development of energy storage system projects. So what kind of news is there in the lithium battery industry and energy storage industry recently, here is the market advisory collected by SES Power for you.

A: Battery material shortage may plague US battery storage industry

The battery storage industry will be a major beneficiary of the Inflation Reduction Act, but a shortage of battery materials may plague the battery storage industry in the coming years, research institutes have said.

The bill, which was signed into law by US President Joe Biden in August, aims to provide the US government with US$369 billion in funding, mainly in the form of tax credits for clean energy projects, and is expected to attract significant private capital and boost domestic manufacturing. It is unclear how much of the money will ultimately be used to stimulate and subsidise the development of battery storage projects, as businesses and individuals can claim the tax credits in the coming years.

According to an analysis released by Credit Suisse on 28 September, government spending under the Inflation Reduction Act is likely to be twice the overall figure. According to the analysis, with the multiplier effect of subsidised financing and federal grants and loans, public and private financing for clean energy in the US could reach around $1.7 trillion over 10 years.

Sam Jaffe, vice president for battery solutions at ESource, said that investment in energy storage systems will increase significantly in the coming years, largely because of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Scott Childers, vice president of Stryten Energy's core energy division, said both approaches are quite effective, with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act measures providing funding for the installation of demonstration battery storage systems, while the Inflation Reduction Act will more likely help fund battery manufacturing.

Jaffe said materials such as lithium, copper foil and graphite used to make batteries are facing supply shortages. To meet demand, the US government is investing heavily in mines, refineries and processing plants.

He said, "It's just not happening fast enough."  

Jaffe said battery shortages are expected for the next three years, making it difficult to order batteries for delivery by the end of this year or 2023.

John Godfrey, senior director of government relations for the American Public Power Association, said that with the passage of the two federal spending bills, there will be a tightening of battery supplies.

Jaffe said battery manufacturing in the United States is strong, but battery products are mainly coming from Chinese, Japanese and South Korean battery makers, including Ningde Times, Panasonic and LG Energy Solution, which are committed to expanding their market share.

In contrast, he said, US companies are reluctant to take losses and find it difficult to dominate the battery market.

B: 60MWh! Eos and Invinity to supply battery storage system for largest US microgrid project

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) providers Invinity Energy Systems and Eos Energy Enterprises have said that they are providing long term energy storage systems for microgrid projects deployed in the US using renewable energy facilities, developed for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians in Southern California.

(Viejas tribal leader John Christman (fifth from left) at the project grant ceremony)

Eos is the supplier of the 3MW/35MWh zinc battery energy storage system for the 60MWh microgrid, which recently received a $31 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and a $13.5 million contract from Eos.

The microgrid project will also include a 15MW solar power facility and will provide power to the tribe's Viejas Resort, which Christman describes as the economic lifeblood of the tribe.

The microgrid will provide clean power to the community through on-site services during grid outages and will allow the tribe to transmit power from the microgrid to the California grid. The project is expected to be online and operational in the first half of 2023, and will be optimised using Indian Energy's in-house software platform.

Invinity Energy Systems is reportedly supplying a 3MW/10MWh liquid battery storage system for the microgrid, the largest battery storage system the company has deployed to date and the largest liquid battery storage system in North America.

Allen Cadreau, CEO of Indian Energy, said the remaining 15MWh of energy storage in the grid project has not yet been contracted, but may not be a lithium-ion battery storage system.

Commenting on the genesis and development of the microgrid project, Christman said: "The speed with which we have been able to work with Indian Energy is incredible. I've never seen a government agency move so quickly, and Indian Energy proposed deploying a microgrid project when we really needed to deploy it because Pacific Power & Gas (SDG&) had lost power in most areas due to storms and wanted to be able to power the community without using diesel generators. The community has also been asking us when we will be using solar power facilities to provide clean energy. We initially entered into a partnership to deploy a flywheel project that evolved into a microgrid built using a solar power facility and a battery storage system."  

C: 30MW/63MWh! Rolls-Royce deploys battery energy storage project in the Netherlands

Rolls-Royce is deploying a 30MW/63MWh battery storage project in the Netherlands which, when operational, will be the largest battery storage system in the country.

Renewable energy developer Semper Power has launched the deployment of the project, called Castor battery storage, which will last 2.1 hours and will be deployed in Vlissingen Oost in the south-east of the Netherlands. The project will be online in the spring of 2023.

(Battery energy storage project deployed by Semper Power at the end of last year)

British aerospace and defence technology developer Rolls-Royce is supplying the battery energy storage system under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement. The battery storage system will support the integration of renewable energy generation facilities into the Dutch grid, which can be achieved by mitigating the intermittency of wind and solar power generation and providing frequency response services.

A year ago, Semper Power commissioned a 10MW battery storage system in Terneuzen, the Netherlands.

In 2020, the industry press reported on the company's deployment of battery storage projects in Costa Rica and the South Pacific island of Rarotonga.

The storage system surpasses the largest GIGA Buffalo battery storage system operating in the US, which is 24MW/48MWh in size and went live in October this year.

Andreas Görtz, President of Sustainable Power Solutions at Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said: "With the deployment of this large-scale battery storage system, which allows us to integrate renewable power into our electricity supply, we have taken another step towards achieving our goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions. We are very much looking forward to working with Semper Power on the Castor battery storage project."  

As one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, the grid in the Netherlands is particularly congested and as a result some areas have reached their grid connection limits for wind and solar power. To address this, some battery storage system operators are exploring time-limited contracts with grid operators, whereby they can only charge and discharge for specific periods of time to ease pressure on the grid.

Rolls-Royce said it would supply eight mtu Energy Packs battery storage systems to energy developer Vispiron for the construction of two battery storage projects in Bavaria and Thirungia, Germany. The eight battery storage systems have a total storage capacity of 10.1MWh, a company spokesperson said.

SEtrade GmbH combines its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform with an automated trading system to cope with price fluctuations in the electricity market and optimise the performance of the energy storage systems.

Rolls-Royce currently has more than 100 mtu Energy Packs battery energy storage systems in operation around the world.  

As a manufacturer with nearly two decades of experience in the lithium battery industry, SES Power has focused early on the need for lithium battery energy storage systems, for which we have introduced corresponding products for different application scenarios to achieve the best price/performance ratio, such as lead-acid alternatives with balanced performance of square aluminium-cased lithium iron phosphate batteries (12V100Ah, 12V200Ah, 24V100Ah, etc.), high-current (2000A) starter lithium batteries, UPS high-voltage lithium battery systems (up to 860V), 3Kw~20Kw off-grid, grid-connected, islanded lithium battery storage systems, wall-mounted home energy storage systems 48V100Ah, 48V200Ah, stacked energy storage systems (single 51.2V100Ah, supporting up to 15 stacks), etc.

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