Energy storage in 2022

Challenges and Opportunities

Energy storage technologies are undergoing a challenging transformation, vital in an emerging climate that necessitates renewable energies and recyclable hardware.

BY IDTechEx RESEARCH

LITHIUM-ION AND MATERIAL DEMAND

Demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is forecast to undergo rapid growth over the next 10 years, driven primarily by the electrification of transport. This will involve growth in demand for battery-electric cars, but also for a wide spectrum of vehicle types and segments, and it is these non-car segments that many pack manufacturers will be targeting.

While lithium-ion will continue to remain the dominant technology in electric vehicles, the fears of potential bottlenecks to the supply of certain critical materials, such as lithium, nickel or graphite, may ultimately limit the rate of EV uptake. Concerns also exist over the environmental impact and sustainability of Li-ion production.

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LITHIUM-ION RECYCLING

Recycling offers a partial solution to both the sustainability and supply chain issues faced by the Li-ion industry by providing a degree of circularity – materials from waste and end-of-life batteries can be extracted and refined to be re-used in cell and battery manufacturing. This can have several beneficial impacts. It can diversify material supplies, helping to reduce reliance on any single country or region. Environmentally, Li-ion recycling, especially via hydrometallurgical or direct recycling routes, is expected to reduce the total energy requirements of producing a cell, compared to using virgin materials. Other emissions, including suphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulates, in addition to carbon dioxide (CO2), are also expected

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to be lower by using recycled material over primary extraction.

Local recycling and refining capabilities, as are beginning to be built up in Europe and the US, can also reduce the distance travelled by materials further reducing the emissions profile of Li-ion batteries. However, even if enough recycling capacity was built up to deal with the entire volume of waste Li-ion batteries by 2030, recycled material could only contribute a fraction of the material demand.

To help alleviate possible supply chain constraints, several alternative battery and energy storage technologies are under development that may be able to replace Li-ion batteries in applications where energy density is not such a critical parameter. The applications for these technologies could include small, citydwelling electric cars, e-buses, hybrid electric vehicles, fuel-cell trucks or autonomous guided vehicles.

But the array of energy storage technologies available and underdevelopment is most obvious in the stationary energy storage sector. This is true because energy density becomes a less critical factor in stationary energy storage, allowing a range of technologies to be utilised.

SOLID-STATE BATTERIES

With Solid Power and QuantumScape going public, solid-state batteries are attracting tremendous attention, especially for electric vehicle applications. Electric vehicles are the major motivation for the development of solid-state batteries, and many automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have announcements for the year ahead.

There have been improvements in every section of solidstate battery technology: polymer, oxide and sulphide. Of these improvements, a notable one is that a lithium metal anode is essential to get higher energy density, upping the performance of solid-state batteries to make them more competitive.

Moving from material/cell development to pilot and mass production is also an important trend. It is quite common to find solid-state battery players partner with automotive OEMs for further development.

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THIN, FLEXIBLE AND PRINTED BATTERIES

Thin, flexible and printed batteries have been spoken about for a while, with many of them having found niche applications. Lots of the batteries have mature technology but finding proper applications with large demand is the key to growing this technology. There are quite a lot of companies in the market working in this area, which means that competition is growing all the time. The company that identifies the most relevant applications – those which require the special features of thin flexible and printed batteries – will be the one to succeed and corner this market.

SODIUM-ION BATTERIES

Sodium-ion (Na-ion) has seen renewed interest after CATL’s announcement of their development of Na-ion. Similar in many ways to Li-ion batteries, Na-ion batteries utilise sodium (Na) as the working element instead of lithium (Li), as the name would suggest. Na-ion batteries are generally characterised by having slightly higher powers and cycle lives than lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) Li-ion cells, but with slightly lower gravimetric energy densities. While Na-ion will of course reduce reliance on lithium, their cathodes can still make use of cobalt and nickel, and so whether they can be utilised to reduce reliance on these materials depends entirely on the specific cathode chemistries that will be used.

REDOX FLOW BATTERIES

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) differ from intercalation batteries such as Li-ion and Na-ion, by storing energy in the electrolyte, separate to the electrochemical cell, thus allowing the de-coupling of energy power. This key aspect makes RFBs well suited to stationary storage applications, especially long-duration applications.

Vanadium is by far the most widely deployed chemistry, with 15-20 companies commercialising vanadium systems. However, the high cost of vanadium leads to high capital costs that may be prohibitive to widespread use, though schemes such as

electrolyte leasing are being explored to try and reduce the initial capital expenditure. Nevertheless, the high cost of vanadium has led to the development of alternative RFB chemistries that utilise low-cost active materials, such as the all-iron-based chemistry being developed by ESS Inc or even flow batteries that can utilise low-cost, widely available organic compounds as the electrolyte active material.

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The use of hydrogen for energy consumption, where there are alternative solutions, may not be the optimal choice.

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Flow batteries can independently scale energy and power.

ALTERNATIVES AND HYDROGEN

Non-electrochemical technologies such as gravitational storage or cryogenic air storage are also being explored, but they are at an early stage of development and may not be suitable for economic storage over longer timeframes. Balancing of supply and demand for grids utilising high percentages of variable renewables will require a combination of energy storage, overcapacity, interconnection, and other solutions like vehicle-to-grid capability and demand-side response. A variety of non-electrochemical storage technologies, from supercapacitors to compressed air energy storage is being explored for stationary applications.

Green hydrogen is also discussed as a potential solution for longduration energy storage and continues to receive government support. Electrolysers, whether polymer electrolyte (PEM), alkaline or solid-oxide type, can be used to produce hydrogen from water to be stored for use later. Whether long-term storage of hydrogen will become feasible remains to be seen. Storage in gas cylinders may be too costly, while underground storage in

Growth expected in demand for electrolysers. aquifers or salt caverns for example has geographic constraints and remains relatively untested.

An alternative hydrogen (H2) storage method being explored consists of injecting H2 into existing natural gas pipelines where there is an inherent energy storage capacity, though there will be limits to the amount of hydrogen that can enter current gas networks. Beyond this, electrolytic hydrogen will be necessary to green various industries such as ammonia, steel or chemicals production. The use of hydrogen for energy consumption, where there are alternative solutions, may not be the optimal choice. Instead, it is demand from industrial sectors which IDTechEx expect to drive demand for electrolysers and green hydrogen.

Storage projects in Varel, Lower Saxony, Germany using NaS (sodiumsuphur) batteries. For more information on NaS batteries in South Africa, please email Lloyd Macfarlane, Altum Energy at lloyd@altum.energy.

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THOUGHT [ECO]NOMY

greeneconomy/report recycle

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA INFRASTRUCTURE

INSIGHT | Global Lithium Outlook | Fitch Solutions

[July 2021]

Read more on:

- Lithium supply. Investment hot spots, scale of the upcoming lithium supply, project pipeline and potential; recycling. - Geopolitics and government interventions in the lithium sector. - Lithium demand. Hydrogen versus batteries, lithium hydroxide

versus concentrate, risks of a return of lithium oversupply. - Battery supply chain, auto manufacturers’ strategies: battery type trends, battery supply chain trends and automakers’ strategy on raw materials.