Batteries International magazine - issue 96 by hamptonhalls

Issue 96

Summer 2015

Nickel retains rightful place as vital cog in energy storage New uses for an established chemistry Pumping up the power The next generation of flow batteries is starting to emerge Island microgrids Replacing costly diesel for renewables and batteries

Fondly remembered Electrochemist genius Al Salkind passed away in June Profile: Lampe-Önnerud Mixing innovation, ability and commercialization

Bringing the industry try together

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T AS L E TH

M RO F LES A T D: R WO

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$50/€40 $50/€ / 40

CONTENTS COVER STORY: NICKEL STILL AN ESSENTIAL COG IN THE ENERGY STORAGE ARMOURY

NiMH has been around the block a few times, but recent developments in the industry are enabling the technology to prove itself as a cost-effective, reliable choice for a number of markets Pushing the potential of NiMH 61 Extending the energy density and operating temperature range are important developments for the future of the battery chemistry. BASF and Arts Energy have been researching this further

EDITORIAL

A time for clarity for an industry needing to know where psychology ends and economics begins

OBITUARY

Don’t mess with these guys: the new masters of second life batteries 11

Al Salkind, one of science’s outstanding figures in the understanding and commercialization of the electrochemistry of batteries, died this June

PEOPLE NEWS

Second life battery pioneer Spiers assembles team for new venture • Thuet joins Entek as VP business development • Digatron appoints Sobotka as new China manager • Skeleton picks Dudek as CTO following appointment of Schenk to COO slot • Exide hires Koelsch as new chief executive • Julie McClure appointed new EVP for MAC Engineering • EnerSys appoints Tufano to board of directors • Ghislain Lescuyer as new chair of Saft’s management board • New appointments for KPMG as Marshall, Petropoulos step forward

OPINION

ARENA’s Frischknecht to pit lead acid against lithium 23

Creating first life storage from second life batteries: the importance of autom

NEWS

GS Yuasa hits the acquisition trail: acquires Turkish battery firm and boosts stake in Malaysia, powers on in Indonesia • ARENA backs lithium-lead trials for next generation energy storage • ALABC publishes results of three-year programme • C&D Technologies’ CEO plans to boost lead acid battery output in revamp • PowerGenix nickel zinc battery passes 12V stop-start testing • Duke Energy storage project in Ohio to use nickel manganese cobalt blends • Saft wins Siemens regen Qatar tram system project in mix with ultracap twist • Leclanché to supply world’s largest battery operated ferryboat • Project Helios launched by Oxis Solar Centre • Beacon to supply flywheels to Alaska, announces collaboration in Europe’s first hybrid storage plant • Electrovaya receives $1m order from China for ceramic separator • Flow batteries Alps test could lead to bigger things says Imergy • H&V expands Massachusetts plant with expansion for AGM batteries • TNG partners with VRB battery manufacturer • Trojan Battery opens Ireland R&D centre • Johnson Controls unveils new advanced battery test centre • Saft supplies energy storage for Arctic Circle microgrid • Divide to form for lithium ion batteries between EV users and stationary ones • Cellstrom supplies vanadium battery for University of New South Wales microgrid • Methode secures independent certification for UPS GE enters into lithium-ion first with Con Edison • ViZn supplies advanced flow battery to US college• Younicos and Leclanché partner on Graciosa project Drexel develops next gen lithium-sulphur component • Cheaper batteries to boost energy storage tech revenues • Sumitomo buys stake in Willey, orders Toshiba batteries • VCs invest $69m in battery companies in first quarter www.batteriesinternational.com

Flow batteries: electricity from a pump 66

From diesel to batteries 79

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 1

CONTENTS PRODUCT NEWS

Skeleton launches 4500 farad ultracap, aims to reach lead acid energy density by 2017

POINTS OF VIEW

Tesla’s iPhone moment: what the Powerwall will spark off in the years to come

FEATURE: FLOW BATTERIES Bangkok and 16 ABC: clearly the place to be this September 90

Hybrid battery storage systems that also incorporate ultracapacitors are gaining in popularity in new markets including energy storage, microgrids and UPS.

ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS

CONFERENCE IN PRINT

Nail penetration tests offer further understanding of lithium ion energy density

EVENT PREVIEW: 16 ABC

Conference organizer and chair of the event, Mark Stevenson, gives a flavour of the Bangkok meetings to be held in September

EVENTS REVIEW Lampe-Önnerud: musician, scientist, entrpreneur 122

EUROBAT, annual general assembly and forum • Intersolar Europe/EES Europe • Pb2015, the 19th International Lead Conference

EVENTS

104

Our comprehensive listing of the must-attend conferences of 2015 and beyond

ADVERTISING DIRECTORY

121

BATTERY HEROES: CHRISTINA LAMPE-ONNERUD

122

Much of our present lead-acid theory is based on the work of one individual — electrochemist Jeanne Burbank who pushed back the boundaries of lead acid batteries.

THE LAST WORD BCI blues: Superheroes and supervillains meet in Savannah 128

127

Curse of the BCI • Spotted at BCI … two superheroes • Something for the bookshelf • 70 years a winner • True Grit, true charity • Fine dining — Thai style

Publisher Karen Hampton, karen@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 7792 852 337

Business development manager June Moultrie june@batteriesinternational.com +44 (0) 7775 710 290

Editor: Michael Halls, mhalls@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 1 243 782 275

Reception tel: +44 (0) 1 243 782 275 fax: +44 1787 329 730

Advertising executive: Jade Beevor jade@energystoragejournal.com +44 1243 792467

Subscriptions, admin manager: Claire Ronnie, subscriptions@batteriesinternational.com admin@batteriesinternational.com +44 (0) 1 243 782 275

The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorised translation or reproduction is permitted. ISSN 1462-6322

Research editor William Aslan will@batteriesinternational.com

Supplements editor: Wyn Jenkins, wyn.jenkins@serenglobalmedia.com, +44 1792 293 222

Staff reporter: Philip Moorcroft Production/design: Antony Parselle, aparselledesign@me.com +44 (0) 1727 899 360 International advertising representation: advertising@batteriesinternational.com

Disclaimer: Although we believe in the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this magazine, Mustard Seed Publishing makes no warranties or representation about this. Nor should anything contained within it should be construed as constituting an offer to buy or sell securities, or constitute advice in relation to the buying or selling of investments.

2 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

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EDITORIAL Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com

A time for clarity for an industry needing to know where psychology ends and economics begins Sokyu Honma may not be famous now but all modern financial markets owe him an enormous debt. In his classic work — The Fountain of Gold: The Three Monkey Record of Money — written in 1755 he formulated the first principles for predicting how buyers and sellers interact. Key moments in the life of the rice market that he followed were its close and opening. Was the market up or down on the day? What was the expectation for the following day? What was the trading range— broad or tight? On the basis of these expectations he was able to work out a feel for the market. Was it a good time to invest? Or a time to walk away? It’s a skill that’s as much needed now as it was three centuries ago because the energy storage market — and the players within this business sector — is equally vulnerable to sudden switches of mood and perception. In the past 10 years we’ve seen huge swings of sentiment about energy storage in general and the world of batteries in particular. We’ve seen the equivalent of the dot.com bubble with the surprise valuations of firms such as A123 in the hundreds of millions of dollars while never making a cent of profit. And then we’ve followed their descent into bankruptcy. We’ve seen irrational (and mostly foolish) talk of a new generation of electric cars about to replace petrol driven vehicles by the early 2010s. The photovoltaic industry has gone from boom to bust and looks now set to move into a full scale boom again. (And all in the space of just five years.) Within the past decade, we’ve also seen talk of a reemergence of fuel cells as the energy source of the future. The future of flow batteries is looking more promising too. Players are now crowing about their affordability. And in the hype that accompanies the arrival of new technologies, the start-ups continue to bombard the media with often inane talk that “potatoes will power the cars of the future” (almost quoted verbatim by the way). Irrespective of the energy density of starch, since the world began start-ups have always talked up their products. Think, Elan Musk, Giga-factories and his Great Choice; which US state will get my blessing/give 4 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

me some subsidies? (And all the while the debate was raging he was preparing his eventual site for the new plant.) Aren’t they little more than the 21st century equivalent of previous times “do you want your mega-pyramids in Memphis or Valley of the Kings?” And irrespective of the site of the world’s next Gigafactory there is also a reality behind these massive swings of sentiment. Frequently they have been driven by external factors — think the market reverberations from the wall of money that the US government gave to the lithium battery industry. Or the spectacular unexpected consequence from the tsunami in 2011 which destroyed Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant? Which in turn prompted Germany to accelerate its decision to remove nuclear and go for renewables. (And also create the most expensive electricity in Europe.) But market events are a factor of life and are just part of Sokyu Honma’s reflections as a trader on the Osaka rice exchange. At its simplest this is understanding the link between perceptions of value and value as a function of time. Which way will the lemmings jump and when? The dilemma And, of course, perceptions of value are complicated when other fundamentals are competing for attention — markets are dysfunctional; unable to see value even when its staring investors in their face. The immediate effect of this is a kind of paralysis. That’s something most energy analysts would agree about. Utilities dither over projects to fund or upgrades that are needed — if you don’t know which chemistry or technology to adopt, you stick to coal, say, it’s true and trusted. For most utilities this has meant remaining true to a business model that is fast going to be outdated. For the firms trying to push out new technology, the dilemma is with the funding. To add to this, venture capital and private equity investors are notoriously fickle friends in any kind of short term play. Typically they want to get their payback — their exit — within three to five years. But long term investors say the search for value is a question of just looking hard enough. Possibly the most successful investor in the past century www.batteriesinternational.com

EDITORIAL Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com

is Warren Buffett who, starting from nothing, has achieved a personal net worth of some $62 billion. Buffett who bought a $5 billion stake in investment bank Goldman Sachs over a can of cherry coke one lunchtime and sold it at a profit of $2 billion five years later is a socalled “value investor”. At its simplest, for Buffett, this consists of an analysis of the business, not the market or the economy or investor sentiment. He then looks for a consistent operating history. He uses that information to work out whether the business will be a good long-term investment. Buffett’s investment style has also been characterized by a deep reluctance to invest in technology stocks. So Buffett’s investment in the energy business in general and renewable energy in particular is fascinating. One subsidiary of his main fund, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, owns everything from utilities to gas pipelines. Talk of the US utility industry about to face a crisis, as it squares up to the challenge of residential home owners generating their own electricity from solar, would seem ridiculous to the man who shelled out nearly $6 billion to buy NV Energy, the largest utility in Nevada. In addition to this Hathaway Energy holds some $15 billion of solar and wind investments. And the phrase ‘chemistry agnostic’ clearly is relevant to Buffett’s investment portfolio. He owns stakes in lead acid battery manufacturers as well as lithium ion. Battery Technology Solutions, which has developed continuous paste mixing technology and high speed grid punching, is owned by a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. And just to add to the mix he’s moved from holding a huge chunk in Duracell for a couple of decades to buying the entire business from Procter & Gamble. As ever he’s taken the long-term view and clearly his moves in China — he bought a 9.9% stake in Chinese battery maker in 2008 which five years later is looking to open manufacturing facilities for electric buses in California. In February last year a project he had looked at favourably — six giant batteries went live for Northern Powergrid — was one of the first iteration of firms looking at using energy storage for load levelling and grid balancing. The biggest of the six batteries has a capacity of 5MWh, making it one of the largest in operation in Europe. However, there is a sad story contained here. Only a few investors can be like Mr Buffett with the deepest of pockets that can take a portfolio perspective — covering every number on the roulette table to varying degrees. For those of us without a crystal ball or a few billion to www.batteriesinternational.com

invest — but caught in the middle of the great energy debate at the moment — the one thing that makes markets work efficiently is still lacking. Transparency. We’re still living in the world of start-ups, hype and — even from the big guys — apparently deliberate misunderstandings. Three centuries ago Sokyu Honma would have understood this. This is what makes people invest or disinvest. But honesty seems a long way away from any kind of rational talk. In the course of one week at a recent conference Batteries International heard from two senior industry figures offering completely opposite views: lead acid batteries would be a sideline within the stationary power sector within a decade, said one. The other predicted that the combination of high prices, the potential of advanced lead and lithium safety issues would see lead remain an industry leader for a long time to come. It’s unlikely that either will be fully right. (And deep down, in our opinion, both knew that that was the case.) It’s just a shame that intellectual dishonesty for short term gain, should hold an entire industry sway to market psychology. Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 5

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OBITUARY

Alvin Salkind

1927-2015 Al Salkind, one of science’s outstanding figures in the understanding and commercialization of the electrochemistry of batteries died this June. It is with sadness that Batteries International has learned that Al Salkind, one of the greatest electrochemists of his generation — and a true pioneer in shaping our understanding of the processes involved in batteries of all types — passed away on June 9. Tributes to his intellectual heritage and also his personal legacy followed swiftly afterwards. The Electrochemical Society — he joined the society in 1953 — said: “The majority of Alvin Salkind’s life has revolved around electrochemical technology. From being the first to build a battery into an X-ray port tracking structure with state of

charge, to run-ins with Einstein’s assistant, to his resolution of the structure of AgO using neutron diffraction, to his time shared with Nobel Laureate Rudy Marcus — Salkind’s impact in electrochemistry has been vast and immense.” Personal tributes also followed, “Al Salkind has been my friend and scientific associate for many years,” says Bob Hamlen, a former chief of the Power Division of the US Army Communications-Electronics Command. “I always respected and admired him over the 40+ years that I have known him. This is a great loss.” Others mentioned how he was kind,

“From being the first to build a battery into an X-ray port tracking structure with state of charge, to runins with Einstein’s assistant, to his resolution of the structure of AgO using neutron diffraction, to his time shared with Nobel Laureate Rudy Marcus — Salkind’s impact in electrochemistry has been vast and immense.” 8 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

encouraging and deeply supportive of clever and insightful thinking. “Al has always been a delight — smart, knowledgeable, warm, helpful, and guiding. We lunched just a couple of weeks before he passed away,” said Mike Trachtenberg, managing director of Greenhouse Gas Industries. “I remember he pulled out some lecture notes to demonstrate why my last ideas would be successful. He went though his old lecture notes and pulled out the very papers that answered my concerns in a clear and really helpful manager. It was all the more valuable as the literature was full of wooly thinking that he made simple. That was one of his huge skills — insight and simplification of seeming arcane and complex issues. “On a personal level he was always gracious and supportive and funny I will also miss his charm and twinkle for he was always a very warm person.” Kevin Desmond, Batteries International’s resident historian, interviewed Alvin Salkind shortly before his death and was able to record some of the highlights of his life. Salkind was born on June 12, 1927 in New York City of second generation immigrants. He showed immense early promise and his primary school education was in a special wing of a nearby public school in which IQ gifted children were trained. The minimum IQ was 150. This promise was fulfilled later by taking his bachelor and masters degrees and doctorate at what was the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn better now known as New York University. He learned electronic repair in the Eddy program of the US Navy. Most of his graduate studies were part-time, while he worked at Usalite, a small manufacturer of dry and special cells, and Sonotone, where he was a senior engineer responsible for nickel-cadmium cell components. In his doctoral training, his major field was chemical engineering and his minor fields were chemistry and X-ray physics. His thesis advisers included Donald Othmer, Paul Bruins, Joseph Steigman, and Isidor Fankuchen. Other advisers included Herman Mark and Rudy Marcus. In 1958, Salkind started work as head of a research group at the central labs of ESB Inc (common trade or divisional names included Exide, Rayovac, Grant, Edison, Willard) in Yardley, which is near Princeton in Pennsylvania.

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OBITUARY This was to be the pattern for the future — for the rest of his life he was to have a career split between industry and academia. While at ESB Inc he took research management courses at Penn State University and as a member of the Industrial Research Institute he took special research management training at Harvard Business School. He also started teaching graduate courses one night a week initially at the Poly and later at nearby Rutgers University. In the 1960s ESB supplied Ernest Yeager of Case-Western Reserve University with the catalyzed silver electrodes for his mercury-amalgam fuel cell designs. In 1970 Salkind became president of the Research Lab Corporation and a vice-president of the parent NYSE listed company. ESB had licensees, technology collaboration agreements, and equity interests throughout the world and at one point owned the Chloride Battery Company in the UK. The agreements included: the NIFE (Jungner) company in Oskarshamn Sweden, where Uno Falk was the chief engineer; on alkaline batteries, Varta in Kelkheim Germany, where H Bode was research director, on lead-acid and dry cells (Voss was also there), Hellesens in Denmark on dry cells, Toshiba in Japan, Century in Australia, Tudor in Spain, Microlite in Brazil, and others. In 1974, ESB was acquired by INCO but in 1979 closed the central lab. Salkind returned to teaching with two half-time appointments. The first was as a tenured full professor in the Rutgers Medical School, where he was head of a bioengineering division of the department of surgery, where he developed battery powered medical implants. The second was as a professor and later associate dean of the Rutgers School of Engineering. He founded the Rutgers Center for Energy Storage Materials and Engineering, where improved silver-zinc and lead-acid batteries were developed. He also started a consulting engineering company, Alvin J Salkind Associates, which has carried out projects across the Americas as well as India, Europe, and Australia. During the 1970s Salkind collaborated with Yeager in editing five books titled “Techniques of Electrochemistry” published by Wiley. The book became an instant classic. A Russian translation was pub-

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“One of his huge skills was his insight and simplification of seeming arcane and complex issues. On a personal level he was always gracious and supportive and funny I will also miss his charm and twinkle — he was always a very warm person.” lished by Mir. Total sales have since approached 20,000. In 1980, Salkind assisted Yeager in starting the Center for Electrochemical Sciences at Case as a part-time visiting professor and executive director of the centre. After retiring from Rutgers in 2004, Salkind became a part-time faculty member and lecturer at the University of Miami, City University (NYC), and at the University of Adelaide in Australia and a visiting professor at the Academy of Science (Moscow), Technical University (Graz), Academies of Science in Belgrade, Serbia, and Zagreb, Croatia, in Japan, and at the Chinese Academy of Science in Jilin. He has been a member of advisory boards of many companies including; ElectroEnergy, PowerGenix, Hittman Labs, Ackrad Labs, Rechargeable Battery Co, Exide-ASEA (Sweden), Inframat, Wonder Battery (France), HBL (India). Salkind has been the author or editor of 11 other books or proceeding volumes. He is the author of over two dozen patents, 120 technical peer reviewed papers, and over 400 articles. He has been a fellow of: the Electrochemical Society, American College of

Cardiology, AAAS, AIMBE, and the NJ Academy of Medicine. His honours have included: Distinguished Alumnus Award (Polytechnic), Case Centennial Scholar Medal, The ITE Award (Japan ECS), Frank Booth Medal (IPPS, UK), Edison Patent Award ( NJ R&D council). Just before he died Salkind said he was organizing an LLC to study advanced energy storage battery systems, especially suited for locations with no grid. “There are bright and willing people everywhere. Take time to learn from them. The world is a small place and needs preserving.” His friends remember him as a warm, kind and generous human being — anxious to help and excited about creating a future where energy storage would help create a better world. He is survived by his wife Marion, children James and Susanne as well as grandchildren Abigail and Jacob. Much of this story was provided by Mr Salkind in the months before to his death and will appear in Kevin Desmond’s book “Innovators in Battery Technology. Profiles of 93 Influential Electrochemists”, to be published early 2016.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 9

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PEOPLE NEWS

Second life battery pioneer Spiers assembles team for new venture Dirk Spiers, the key figure in introducing the concept of Second Life for advanced nickel and lithium batteries to the energy storage industry, set up his own firm, Spiers New Technologies Inc in December. He has since been recruiting senior staff for the company. Spiers was formerly the founder of a division within Oklahoma ATC Drivetrain known as ATC New Technologies. Three of his core team at ATC — Bryan Schultz, John Junger and Brian Enis — joined him earlier this spring. Second life is a generic term whereby a battery that is not suitable anymore to be used in its original environment, is repaired or repurposed in some fashion to be useful again (or at worst recycled), thus capturing some of the original value of the battery. Second life battery chemistries are lithium ion or even NiMH. Key to the success of the process is the speedy diagnosis of the health of the battery. SNT’s extensive data

— which is proprietary to Spiers — means that battery pack diagnostics start, before they are opened with algorithms that look at the pack number, age and type of use. Spiers’ team are at the cutting edge of this process, having conducted research that have investigated everything as disparate as sound-wave detection of battery failure through to olfactory testing. He says the initial revenue streams that have come with batteries coming from major names such as General Motors, Nissan means that his business is successful from the get go. Californian EV charger firm FreeWire is also a client. Spiers plans to extend the firm’s operations to Fremont in California and an as-yet undecided location on the US east coast. “Essentially our services, business model and data algorithms are something we can duplicate across the US and we’ll be looking at doing something in Europe and Asia in the

next few years,” he says. “We have a huge amount of experience, we have testing equipment and procedures so that analysing any type of battery pack can be made routine. When Batteries International conducted a site visit in May it was clear that the initial 25,000 square foot facility in Oklahoma City will shortly be too small. Spiers plans to acquire a further 15,000 square foot facility nearby that will process second life NiMH batteries and the growing business of dealing with lithium ion battery packs will stay in the original larger place. “The art in this business is creating value-added — and the only way to do this is by being able to make an accurate diagnosis of the problem within a battery as quickly as possible, be efficient and safe”. He anticipates winning other major automotive battery contracts for dealing with second life EV batteries this summer.

Just part of a formidable gang: (Left to right) Brandon Carter (technician), Luke Cruz, John Junger (R&D), Bryan Schultz (engineering director), Tyler Helps, Dirk Spiers, Chris, Dave LaRue, Brian Enis (operations), Dave Howell, Steve Wilson (technician).

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Batteries International • Spring 2015 • 11

PEOPLE NEWS

Digatron appoints Sobotka as new China manager Digatron Power Electronics, the testing and electronics firm, appointed Karl Sobotka as general manager for Digatron Qingdao China in May. Digatron said the appointment would consolidate its growth in the China market. Kevin Campbell, Digatron’s

chief executive officer, said: “During Karl’s 33 years with Digatron, Karl has spent more than 10 years working within China, and from 2006-2008, Karl lived permanently in Qingdao for Digatron. “Karl’s knowledge of Chinese culture (especially

sales culture), his extensive networking with clients throughout China, coupled with his previous production and quality management experience within Digatron Aachen provide the Digatron Qingdao China operation a fantastic platform for business growth.”

Skeleton picks Dudek as CTO following appointment of Schenk to COO slot Skeleton Technologies, a manufacturer of high-performance ultracapacitors, appointed Volker Dudek as chief technology officer in June. Dudek will be responsible for technology and product development as well as quality control. Dudek was previously CTO at Telefunken Semiconductors in Heilbronn and CTO at the cleantech company Clifton, based in Estonia and Germany. Here he was responsible for technological development, strategic business development, patent management and the development of the product roadmap. Until 2008, Dudek was director of technology development at Atmel Corporation. which designs and manufactures microcontrollers and supporting equipment. The appointment of Dudek is part of a general ramp-up of the start-up firm as it prepares for larger scale manufacturing of its ultracapacitors. The firm announced in June that its SkelCap 4500 series had achieved an industry record level of 4500 farads and that the firm aimed to double capacitance by 2017. Separately, the firm appointed Hermann Schenk as chief operating officer in February. Schenk will be re-

12 • Batteries International • Spring 2015

sponsible for the company’s day-to-day activities, including overseeing the development of Skeleton Technologies’ manufacturing facility in Saxony, Germany. Schenk has over 20 years’ experience in the high-tech sector, combining a background in research with over a decade in executive positions. He has a track record of scaling high-yield manufacturing in the chemical and semiconductor industries. As founder and chief executive of Covion Organic

Semiconductors he led the company to a successful exit to industrial conglomerate Merck. He was previously CEO of Freiberger Compound Materials. Schenk was also director of new business development at Merck OLED Materials. Oliver Ahlberg, one of the founders of Skeleton Technologies and who was previously chief operating officer becomes general manager and will be in charge of the company’s operations in Estonia.

Hermann Schenk joined as chief operating officer in February

Midtronics promotes four to VP positions Midtronics, the US battery testing and management firm, promoted four people to vice president positions in early May. Jason Ruban becomes vice president for global sales of the transportation division. Ruban assumed responsibility for overall transportation division sales in 2014. “With 17 years of increasing contributions in sales and business development at Midtronics, Ruban has demonstrated successful growth and sales team leadership, establishing

enduring customer relationships throughout the industry,” said the firm. Will Sampson becomes vice president, business leader for the transportation division. Sampson manages the company’s marketing and product development efforts and assumed responsibility for the European subsidiary, earlier this year. Todd Stukenberg becomes vice president as well as general manager for the division looking after stationary power. Stukenberg joined the company 15 years ago, took over as general

manager for the division in 2014. Walter Yonkaitis was promoted to vice president, chief financial officer. Yonkaitis has managed the Midtronics global finance and administration group for the past 16 years and led several initiatives that have been key to the company’s growth, says the firm. He is heading up the company’s deployment of a new ERP system and renovation and expansion of the company’s headquarters in Willowbrook, Illinois.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Julie McClure appointed new EVP for MAC Engineering Julie McClure was appointed the new executive vice president for MAC Engineering, the well known supplier of lead acid battery manufacturing equipment, in June. She has a background in management, teaching and estate planning. She has been a member of the board of directors of MAC since 1992 and so has a long association with the family-run firm. She is the daughter of Bob McClure, the chairman of MAC, and Thuet joins Entek as VP business development Christophe Thuet joined Entek as vice president for business development in the Asia Pacific region in June. Entek says he “brings extensive commercial and management experience from various industrial companies, including companies in the lead acid battery industry. His diverse background in technology driven companies, and his international experience acquired over the last decade living and leading business ventures in Asia, positions him well to lead Entek’s growth strategy in Asia Pacific.” EnerSys appoints Tufano to board of directors For the record, Paul Tufano joined the board of directors of EnerSys in April. He was CFO of the Alcatel-Lucent Group from 2008 to 2013 and also COO from September 2012. Tufano was previously executive vice president, CFO and interim CEO at Solectron Corporation from January 2006 to October 2007. From 1996 to 2004 he worked as initially as CFO but later as EVP, COO and CEO at Maxtor Corporation.

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is being groomed to take over from him once he retires. “For me the big change is moving from an understanding of how the firm runs, to doing the business of running it,” she says. “In any event, this is simply an anticipatory move — my father has no timetable for retirement as yet.” McClure’s brief in the newly created position will be working directly with sales and operations, both in the US and internationally. Her appointment comes at a fortuitous time for

MAC as it coincides with the recent release of the firm’s Inline AGM cast-onstrap machine — widely

regarded as a breakthrough in battery manufacturing technology. “These are exciting times to be in the battery business,” McClure told Batteries International. “The whole industry is going through a process of change. “I see a host of opportunities arising in the years ahead and not just from the lead acid business — though we are constantly looking to develop and improve new products in this our core business — but also in different market sectors.”

Exide hires Koelsch as new chief executive Exide Technologies has appointed Vic Koelsch as its president and chief executive officer. The appointment became effective on June 22 and follows the acceptance of the restructuring plan for the company as it moved out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. Koelsch, who joins the board of directors, takes over from Robert Caruso, who has been president and CEO since August 2013 and was brought in as a managing director from Alvarez & Marsal who has been in charge of the restructuring. Caruso was a managing director for Alvarez & Marsal in Chicago Koelsch joins from tire manufacturer Michelin Groupe where he most recently was executive vice president of Michelin North America and chief operating officer for Michelin Americas commercial tires. Keith Wandell, chairman of the board of directors, said: “The company’s se-

lection of Vic Koelsch as Exide’s next president and chief executive officer is yet another sign that the company is well-positioned for growth as it continues restructuring efforts that began two years ago. “Koelsch has a proven track record for profitably managing and growing sophisticated businesses. He possesses extensive experience in both the original equipment and aftermarket/retail channels in automotive as well as having

years of experience developing services and solutions for a broad array of industrial customers during his time in the IT industry.” Koelsch has more than 29 years of experience in a variety of global industrial and technology businesses. Koelsch joined Michelin in 2001 following various managerial positions with Boston Scientific (formerly SulzerMedica/Intermedics), Compaq Computer Corporation and IBM.

Batteries International • Spring 2015 • 13

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PEOPLE NEWS

Ghislain Lescuyer as new chair of Saft’s management board Ghislain Lescuyer was appointed chairman of the management board of French battery and energy storage systems supplier Saft Group in March and

started in May. He takes over from Bruno Dathis, group financial director, who has been chairman of the management board, since John Searle’s sudden

Lescuyer: started as chairman in May

death last September. Lescuyer has been a member of Saft’s supervisory board for the last 10 years and chairman of its strategy and technologies committee. He is also a senior vice president of Alstom Group in charge of information systems and technology. As part of this, MarieClaire Daveu joined the supervisory board in early May replacing Lescuyer. Daveu was recommended by Saft’s remuneration and appointments committee, during a meeting held this March. After a career as a senior civil servant in the field of agriculture and the environment, Daveu occupied the post of technical adviser to the cabinet of French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. She then became chief of staff to Serge Lepeltier, the minister of ecology and sustainable development in 2004. Since 2012, she has been

the chief sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs of the Kering group. The supervisory board now consists of five independent members: Yann Duchesne (chairman), JeanMarc Daillance (vice-chairman), Bruno Angles, Charlotte Garnier-Peugeot and Marie-Claire Daveu. Earlier this year, Saft’s management committee appointed Frédéric Hapiak as director of the committee’s energy storage unit. The management committee serves as a forum for discussing and for implementing Saft’s global strategy, says Saft Hapiak is the general manager for Saft America and based in Florida. His previous work at Saft included being deputy general manager of the company’s industrial battery group and a director of global sales and marketing.

New appointments for KPMG as Marshall, Petropoulos step forward Amy Marshall has joined KPMG as a director in the firm’s power and utilities practice. Marshall joined from Engage Consulting where she was a director of business development, working with Engage’s experts to advise clients in energy and utilities. Marshall’s remit at KPMG includes business development in new and emerging sub-sectors of the power and utilities sector, including smart meters and smart grid. Energy storage will also be in her remit. Storage, and the emerging trend toward smaller scale storage, such as community

16 • Batteries International • Spring 2015

energy, among other emerging business models, are seen as a key component and enabler of the smart grid. Before Engage, Marshall was director of smart utilities at Cable and Wireless, with responsibility for global smart grid and smart metering markets. Separately, KPMG has appointed Dimitrios Petropoulos as a principal adviser in the firm’s cyber security team. Petropoulos has over 20 years of cyber security experience and has worked with financial institutions, telecom organizations, energy and government agen-

cies in the EMEA. The cyber threats that are emerging as the smart energy sector de-

velops make his experience relevant for KPMG and its clients, says the firm.

Marshall: new director

Petropoulos: cyber security

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NEWS

GS Yuasa hits the acquisition trail: acquires Turkish battery firm and boosts stake in Yuasa in Malaysia Battery manufacturer GS Yuasa has made two further acquisitions in recent months. It acquired the remaining 50% of Turkish lead-acid battery manufacturer Inci Aku in June. It also bought a 40% stake in lead-acid battery manufacturer Yuasa Battery Malaysia at the end of May as it seeks to expand its market share. GS Yuasa International, a subsidiary of battery firm GS Yuasa, said the Turkey acquisition was part of its strategy to expand its business and enhance earning capacity. In its third mid-term business plan, the group said one of its important strategic challenges was “global expansion based on overseas growing markets as the pivots”.

The 32,000 sq m Inci starter battery plant in Manisa, Turkey which has a present capacity of 5 million batteries a year.

Inci, the manufacturer of lead-acid batteries for automotive, forklift and stationary applications, will be turned into one of GS Yuasa’s key centres in the

global strategy. GS Yuasa plans to change the trade name of Inci Aku to Inci GS Yuasa in August. GS Yuasa said: “We are

GS Yuasa powers on in Indonesia GS Yuasa unveiled plans in May to boost lead-acid storage battery production for automobiles and motorcycles at three of its Indonesian affiliates. The company has constructed a new plant and will boost production at the three affiliates by the end of the year. It said it was seeking to take advantage of continued economic growth in the region. Production capacity for automotive lead-acid storage batteries will increase to 9.6 million units from 8.9 million. Production capacity for motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries will rise to 30 million units from 27.7 million.

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GS Battery has bought 30,000 square metres of land in Semarang, about 500km east of central Jakarta, and invested ¥1.5 billion ($12 million) in the construction of a new plant for production automotive lead-acid storage batteries. With the new plant, production capacity will increase to 5.6 million units by the end of 2015. Separately, it has made a smaller investment in a 8,000 sq m facility in the Jakarta suburb of Karawang where it will increase its production of motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries. The investment will help boost capacity at this site to 16 million

units by the end of 2015. GS Yuasa has also made another company, Trimitra Baterai Prakasa, a full subsidiary and invested some ¥20 billion in increasing its production capacity of automotive lead-acid storage batteries. It said this will boost the production capacity of the subsidiary to 4 million units by the end of 2015. Yuasa Battery Indonesia, which makes motorcycle lead-acid storage batteries in Tangerang, will also add a new assembly line to its existing plant. With the new line, its production capacity will rise to 14 million units by the end of 2015.

aiming, as a target of our group, to realise our sales expansion domestically in Turkey, where there continues to be a steady increase in demand for lead-acid storage batteries. We are also further scaling up our existing exports to regions including Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. And as part of our global strategy, we are committed to pursuing large expansion of our lead-acid storage battery business in the above-mentioned regions, in which we have not been very competitive thus far.” The Malaysian stake was acquired through GS Yuasa’s subsidiary, Siam GS Battery. This boosts the firms’ ownership in Yuasa Battery Malaysia to 70%, and transfers its management rights to GS Yuasa. Its moves in Malaysia would also expand its market share in the Malaysian market. Founded in 1979, Yuasa Battery Malaysia manufactures lead-acid batteries for automobiles and motorcycles in Malaysia. “In recent years, the competition in the Malaysian market has intensified due to acquisitions by competing companies and new entries, but the group aims to expand its market share by using management resources and the expertise of SGS, which has a 50-year track record of manufacturing and selling the batteries in Thailand,” said GS Yuasa. The firm added that it has about 10% of market share in the automotive lead-acid battery market and plans to double sales volume by 2018.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 17

OPINION The sophistication, reliability and safety of automotive lithium ion batteries also makes them ideal for stationery energy storage. Dirk Spiers argues that second life for these batteries is going to be an increasingly useful way forward.

Creating first life storage from second life batteries Much has been written about the revolutionary impact of lithium-ion batteries on battery technology. But what is sometimes not so appreciated is the converse — the revolutionary impact the automobile has had on lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries were first sold by Sony for consumer applications in 1991. Since that time, tens of billions of small format lithium-ion battery cells have been manufactured and sold around the world. The design, quality and performance of those cells, however, vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and over time.

The real revolution in lithium-ion technology occurred when automotive manufacturers decided to put lithiumion batteries into electric and hybridelectric vehicles (xEVs). The quality, performance, safety and reliability demanded from lithium-ion batteries by automotive manufacturers is well beyond anything required by consumer electronics. As a result, the lithium-ion battery cells and packs that are now installed in xEVs by the major automotive OEMs are among the most sophisticated, most reliable and safest batteries in the world. This focus on sophistication, reliabil-

The best, safest, most reliable and most cost-efficient answer to the ESS market challenge simply lies under the hood of the closest xEV. (Above the Nissan Leaf.) www.batteriesinternational.com

ity and safety resulted in higher prices for automotive grade lithium-ion batteries — at least initially.

The price of quality

And, as a consequence, these high prices predictably depressed xEV sales. So the lithium-ion industry had to look for another market for large format lithium-ion batteries. And it has found it in energy storage-stationary (ESS), grid-connected lithium-ion batteries that balance variable renewable energy on the grid and otherwise firm the supply and quality of electricity. The size of the ESS market is still unclear. But in the mid-term it may be as large, if not substantially larger, than the market for xEV batteries. Tesla’s recent announcement of battery products for both the home and utility markets underlines how seriously the battery industry takes the new ESS market. A year ago I moderated a panel at The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan on the combination of ESS and distributed renewable energy generation. One of the questions debated by the panel was whether “batteries combined with distributed renewable power (principally solar PV) will do to traditional electric utilities what Federal Express and e-mail have done to the US Postal Service?” I believe that they will. For the first time since the grid was built, its business model is under severe pressure. Solar PV with batteries is for the first time giving consumers a choice of where they get their electricity from. With the prices of PV panels and batteries declining — and the cost of generating and transmitting electricity from large central generating plants going up — the momentum towards remaking the electricity grid to one based on a more distributed model of electricity generation is growing stronger by the day. Batteries that used to balance the

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 19

OPINION inherent variability of electricity generated by solar PV panels will play an important role in the new, distributioncentric electricity grid. But where will those batteries come from? Advanced battery manufacturers will make lithium-ion batteries specifically for ESS applications. The problem with manufacturing batteries specifically for ESS applications is that there is not just one ESS application for batteries, there are many of them, and there is also the cost factor.

EV batteries, the key

But what if an ESS solution were available today that used the most sophisticated, most reliable and safest large format lithium-ion batteries in the world? Would those batteries also have a high power density (a high power to size ratio) and energy density (high power to energy ratio) and could be located anywhere without consideration of safety or operational conditions? And what if those batteries were already being manufactured at scale, with prices dropping by as much as 15% per year? The best, safest, most reliable and most cost-efficient answer to the ESS market challenge simply lies under the hood of the closest xEV. The repurposing of lithium-ion automotive batteries for non-automotive use is often referred to as “second life”. This term is often mis-applied to mean the re-use of automotive batteries in the aftermarket for non-automotive applications. This is true, but only in part. Because large format lithium-ion batteries are expected to have as much as 80% of their energy and power density remaining after their removal from an xEV at the end of its useful life, it is quite possible that this remaining capacity can be repurposed for ESS applications. Second life also describes the more general repurposing of automotive lithium-ion batteries, whether new or used, for non-automotive energy storage applications. Second life takes advantage of the huge investments in engineering and manufacturing already made by the automotive industry in lithium-ion technology.

Can batteries combined with distributed renewable power do to traditional electric utilities what Federal Express and e-mail have done to the US Postal Service? Volumes of mail have declined each year for a decade at around 3% a year. This technology will, I believe, provide the best, safest and most reliable solution for many ESS applications in the future. For all its promise, second life is not for the faint of heart. Automotive lithium-ion batteries are designed for use in xEVs, not for ESS applications. Repurposing automotive batteries for second life use requires a detailed understanding of the applications and the expertise to make the necessary modifications efficiently. Working with automotive batteries coming out of actual vehicle use adds further complexity. Making it worthwhile, requires significant investments in equipment, processes and knowledge. Advanced grading algorithms, allowing for rapid characterization of returned automotive packs and modules, are key to finding the right application for its second life and also give the buyer valuable data and ease of mind. Safe and efficient disassembly processes are needed to make second life cost-efficient. Furthermore, legal hurdles — especially in the US about liability issues need to be resolved with the OEMs.

The challenge

Then there are technical and volume issues. One challenge with utilizing these battery packs is the varying voltages, chemistries, and lifetimes associated with the different remaining battery modules. Some of the electric vehicle packs come with modules that are at 24V while others could be in the range of several hundred volts. Researchers at the Oakridge National Laboratory in partnership with SNT, funded by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Energy Storage Program, have been investigating how to merge these different modules with low-cost power electronics to

The quality, performance, safety and reliability demanded from lithium-ion batteries by automotive manufacturers is well beyond anything required by consumer electronics. www.batteriesinternational.com

provide a single grid scale energy storage solution. The preliminary design is focused on a 100kW unit composed of a mix of PHEV/PEV battery modules.

Second life advantages

But if properly managed, second life use of automotive lithium-ion batteries in ESS applications offers a number of advantages. Second life use will allow automotive OEMs greater control over their battery pack inventories and contribute to higher volumes that could help bring down xEV prices. Second life also promises users of ESS applications access to a technology that is already developed and proven in the field and that is already manufactured to quality specifications that custom-built ESS batteries are unlikely to see for some time. This is an exciting time to be entering the ESS market. But to find the inside track for where change can come from look no further than the automotive manufacturers pushing forward with second life lithium-ion batteries.

DIRK SPIERS Dirk Spiers is the founder and chief executive of Spiers New Technologies, based in Oklahoma City in the US.

This article first appeared in the summer issue of EES. With thanks to the publishers and Dirk Spiers for permission to reproduce this.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 21

NEWS

ARENA backs lithium-lead trials for next generation energy storage A lack of understanding about the operational characteristics and constraints of lithium-ion for large scale energy storage led the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to back a three-year trial of the chemistry, Ivor Frischknecht, chief executive officer of ARENA has told Batteries International. IT Power, a specialist renewable energy consulting company, kick-started a three-year trial in early May in Canberra, Australia, designed to compare the energy storage performance of six well known lithiumion batteries with lead-acid battery technologies. ARENA has pumped A$450,000 ($359,000) into the project, which will compare lead acid against lithium-ion batteries in their ability to enhance electricity grids and increase the use of renewable energy. The trial should end in June 2018. Frischknecht, said the lack of understanding creates uncertainty about the right system size and a reluctance to adopt new battery technologies that could allow a more effective and cost efficient deployment of renewable energy. “If the battery trial demonstrates that lithium-ion or advanced lead-acid technology is reliable — and cost-effective — compared to traditional lead-acid batteries then there will be a range of opportunities for increased uptake of the technology both off and ongrid,” he said. Lithium-ion batteries are being tested for on-grid energy storage applications, he said. “Storage is important for allowing more renewable energy to be used both on-grid and offgrid by smoothing energy supply,” he said. “Storage unlocks greater value from renewable energy, poten-

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tially making it more cost competitive and enabling more renewable energy to be used in Australian grids.” The results will be of interest to a range of international stakeholders with an interest in energy storage technologies. The project that ARENA is funding will analyse the performance of six major lithium-ion battery brands, comparing them to existing and advanced leadacid battery technologies to demonstrate how they could operate in large and small electricity grids. The project aims to create public knowledge for future energy storage investors. All information gathered, including raw battery performance data and analysed data will be available on the project’s website. Detailed analysis of the data will be published every six months over the three years of the test. The detailed analysis reports will address: the technical performance and cost-effectiveness of each battery type/brand compared to each other and the conventional lead-acid batteries; how actual performance compares to the manufacturers’ claims; why some batteries may be performing better or worse than expected and whether this may be expected in real world applications; lessons that can be drawn about the hypothetical investment for a range of on-grid and off-grid applications. The shortlisted battery types cover a spectrum of prices and battery chemistry variants within the lithium-ion family. These batteries will be compared against a gel lead-acid battery, and the test facility will also be specifically designed to accommodate the addition of an

Ivor Frischknecht: “If the battery trial demonstrates that lithium-ion or advanced lead-acid technology is reliable — and cost-effective — compared to traditional lead-acid batteries then there will be a range of opportunities for increased uptake of the technology both off and on-grid”

advanced lead-acid battery. The battery trial will test batteries by varying the ambient temperature in the battery testing room on a daily basis and throughout the year. This will include submitting the batteries to “summer” and “winter” temperature regimes. In summer months they will undergo two cycles at the monthly high temperature, and in the winter the batteries will undergo two cycles at the monthly low temperature. On the last day of the month, the batteries will undergo three cycles at 25°C, as this is the reference temperature at which manufacturers provide the capacity of their batteries. The decrease in storage capacity over time for each battery will be measured. The cycle life of a battery is generally defined as the number of charge/discharge cycles that it undergoes until its maximum storage capacity is 80% of its original value. The capacity of a conventional lead-acid battery decreases rapidly once it falls below 80% of its original capacity. The decrease forlithium-ion batteries over time is linear rather than

exponential, however battery standards were built around lead-acid technologies so the definition of cycle life remains. The lithium-ion batteries will be discharged to a 20% state of charge (ie 80% of the rate capacity used), while the lead acid batteries will be discharged to a 70% state of charge (ie 30% of the rated capacity used). This is in keeping with manufacturers’ recommendations and should lead to long cycle lives for the batteries. Lead acid batteries have limitations on how quickly they can be discharged while maintaining their capacity. As such, when conducting battery testing it is important not to unnecessarily stress them by discharging them too quickly. With this in mind, a load-profile which involves charging over several hours will be used, mimicking daytime charging from the PV. This will be followed by a short rest period, then discharge over a few hours, mimicking the late afternoon, early evening period, followed by another short rest period. In total there will be three charge/discharge cycles per day.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 23

NEWS

ALABC publishes results of three-year programme The Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) has published a factsheet on the benefits to the lead-acid industry of a three-year research programme the body carried out. This says its programme, which ran between 2013 and 2015, has produced ground-breaking results related to advanced leadacid battery technology. The ALABC is set for a change in direction in the next 2016 to 2018 programme of research where the emphasis will move away from high-profile demonstration projects and to further research on improving the performance

of lead acid batteries. The organization itself is about to be restructured and further details will be announced at the ABC meetings in Bangkok in September as well as preliminary announcements in August. Within the factsheet, the ALABC discussed the three most important achievements of the programme. The first was the development of a new understanding of carbon additives for lead batteries. “The information is highly valuable for researchers and engineers developing advanced lead batteries and alleviates the need for further studies in

this area,” said the consortium. Second, the programme has introduced cost-effective hybrid electric vehicle solutions for car manufacturers, with the most efficient automotive battery demonstration project of the ALABC being the development of a 48V micro/ mild hybrid vehicle with downsized engine with optimised performance using lead-carbon batteries. Its third achievement has been the improvement and life extension of batteries for photovoltaic systems used in renewable energy, it said. Separately ALABC announced that the recent

C&D Technologies’ CEO plans to boost lead acid battery output in revamp Pennsylvania headquartered battery manufacturer C&D Technologies plans to increase its lead-acid battery output and restore its reputation for technical quality as part of plans to revitalise the company, Armand Lauzon, the company’s new chief executive told Batteries International this spring. “This company enjoyed a very strong technical reputation in the 1990s and up until around five years ago,” he says. “There are

some fundamental things we will be doing differently to take us back to where we belong.” Lauzon plans to focus heavily on improving the company’s technology and technical ability. He has formed a technical advisory committee that will include leading technological representatives from a number of its facilities worldwide. “We’ll be meeting once a month and forming a technical agenda that will impact our factories, our

research and development and the types of projects we’re going to be working on. We will be keeping a keen eye on the marketplace,” he says. “There are a lot of very bright, long-term employees here, both technically and operationally and I’m going to leverage the technical synergy that exists in this company.” Armand’s restructuring will focus on getting back to basics, he says. He will be drawing on his

Saft reveals lead-acid drop-in battery replacement Battery manufacturer Saft released a lithiumion drop-in replacement of lead-acid batteries for powering military vehicles in May. The Xcelion 6T battery is the conclusion of a two year industrialization programme. During this,

Saft reduced the cost of the Xcelion 6T to increase its commercialization and create a versatile off-the-shelf product. Saft said that the battery leverages lithium-ion technology to offer benefits over lead-acid, such as longer life, higher energy density, and lower total cost of ownership. Thomas Alcide, president of Saft America and general manager of Saft’s Spe-

24 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

cialty Battery Group, said: “Saft developed a competitively priced Li-ion version of the traditional leadacid 6T battery found in nearly all military vehicles worldwide. By reducing the cost and time to build the Xcelion 6T battery, Saft is ready to offer this product to replace lead-acid batteries, not only on all military vehicles worldwide, but also for many commercial applications.”

additions of Chinese battery producers Chaowei Power and Tianneng Power and US carbon nanomaterial producer Black Diamond Structures have given the ALABC its largest membership in its 23 years of operation. Chaowei (which produces the brand name Chilwee Batteries) and Tianneng are two of China’s leading producers of lead-acid batteries for electric vehicles (including e-bikes) and motive power applications. Black Diamond Structures specializes in the production of a breakthrough form of modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs), called Molecular Rebar. background in the highly regulated world of aircraft engine components and aircraft engines to achieve what he describes as an uncompromising attitude to quality. “My background is in a world that’s highly regulated in terms of process control and process integrity. There’s no compromise — you’ve got to do it right every time,” he says. “Following the recipes, procedures, the discipline around process control, is a difference in many respects between winning and losing.” He said that he will enhance the emphasis with inthe organization on procedure compliance, process control and the throughput side of the business. “I’ve got a shopping list of things I want to correct but it’s a matter of ‘first things first’, he says. “I’ve got to get the factories running how I want them to be running and put a lot of focus on our manufacturing excellence; then I will start to focus on the technology agenda and our sales. “Those three areas will be my priorities over the next couple of months.”

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NEWS

PowerGenix nickel zinc battery passes 12V stop-start testing Battery supplier PowerGenix revealed in June that its nickel-zinc battery has passed critical tests for 12V automotive use. The batteries were subjected to a product evaluation at the Institute of Automotive Mechatronics GmbH (IAM), part of the Institute of Automotive Technologies Dresden (IAD), at the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD). The PowerGenix’s batteries meets all the requirements of a 12V auxiliary power unit for plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) and all-electric vehicles (EVs), as well as a 12V starter battery for stop-start applications, the tests found.

Bernard Bäker, managing director at IAD, said: “The unique cost and performance advantages of NiZn over other advanced chemistries make it an extremely promising alternative for 12V lead-acid batteries in electric vehicles and stopstart applications. “This independent technology assessment is a key step towards endorsing NiZn battery performance gains for use in PHEV and EV applications, as well as future stop-start models, for major automotive OEMs.” PowerGenix customers said the testing would be positive for their business. Blue Earth, which calls itself an alternative/renewable

energy and energy efficiency services company, announced that its UPStealth nickel zinc intelligent digital battery backup system for signalized intersections, provided additional validation for its products for signalized traffic intersections And, according to an official, “for our ongoing development programme for an UPStealth product targeted to replace lead acid batteries, as a back up power source for data centers.” Blue Earth owns an equity interest in PowerGenix, which has an extensive portfolio of issued and pending patents pertaining to the NiZn based technology. Salil Soman, vice-pres-

ident of product marketing for PowerGenix, said: “European auto-makers are pushing the entire industry towards greater electrification. “Furthermore, the use of lead-acid batteries in Europe, which is under temporary exemption from an EU mandate looking to ban completely the use of lead in automobiles, will likely be regulated in the future. “NiZn is the only viable alternative once this legislation comes into effect, and we look forward to working with customers to meet the demand for better- performing, cost-effective, non-toxic batteries in this sector.” ■

Duke Energy storage project in Ohio to use nickel manganese cobalt blends A new battery-based energy storage system in Beckjord, Ohio being built through a three-way partnership between Duke Energy, the largest US electric power holding company in the US, LG Chem, a lithiumion battery manufacturer, and Greensmith, an energy storage software company. It will use the same nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry used in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Peter Gibson, director of sales, LG Chem – Energy Storage Systems, said NMC has been the chemistry most frequently selected by automotive manufacturers following exhaustive due diligence. It is also the company’s preferred chemistry. “LG Chem is, at heart, a chemical company and one of our core capabilities is understanding material science,” said Gibson. “Unlike the majority of other

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lithium-ion battery vendors, LG Chem produces cells based on a wide range of chemistries.” He said as well as NMC on its own these include NMC blended with lithium manganese oxide, NMC with lithium titanate and lithium iron phosphate. “This enables LG Chem to evaluate the best chemistry for specific applications based on first-hand experience — all chemistries have specific pros and cons, so our objective is to identify the chemistry that delivers the best overall blend of cycle life, useable SOC range, degradation profile, energy density (by weight & volume), safety, cost, and potential for future improvements,” Gibson said. He said NMC has been the chemistry most frequently selected because of a number of performance and cost factors all of

which apply equally to automotive and stationary ESS applications. “Our view is that NMC chemistry is the preferred solution for projects such as Beckjord 2,” he said. Gibson also stressed the importance of such installations to the future reliability and stability of the grid. “Batteries with long life and high cycle capabilities are ideal fits for frequency regulation applications, where fast response is required to match the constantly changing requirements of the electric system (due to constantly changing differences between generation and load),” he said. “Conventional fossil-fired generators have been used for regulation services, but they are unable to vary output as quickly as a lithium-ion battery and are unable to operate as a

load. Batteries can provide regulation service at higher efficiency levels — and without producing any carbon emissions.” The new 2MW storage project in Ohio will assist in regulating electric grid frequency for PJM, the transmission organization that powers much of the eastern US. The system will be built at Duke Energy’s retired WC Beckjord coal-fired power plant in New Richmond, Ohio, and should be operational by late 2015. LG Chem will deliver the Ohio project’s integrated operating system, consisting of advanced lithium-ion batteries. Greensmith will provide intelligent energy storage control and analytics software, and system integration services. Parker Hannifin will provide a 2MW power conversion inverter. ■

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 27

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NEWS

Saft wins Siemens regen Qatar tram system project in mix with ultracap twist Battery manufacturer Saft has won a lithium-ion regenerative traction battery series project for Siemens’ sustainable tram system in Qatar. The Doha tram system should enter service in autumn 2016. Saft’s new generation IonOnBoard Regen Li-ion battery system will be deployed

on 10 out of the 19 Avenio trams destined for Doha. Its battery system will be integrated with Siemen’s Sitras Hybrid Energy Storage (HES) system. The rail system business at Siemens is constructing the new tram system as a turnkey project, comprising 19 double-articulated tram

units running over 11.5 km of track and serving 25 stations and stops at Doha’s Education City university campus. “The Sitras HES system on the Doha trams will combine Saft’s new generation Ion-OnBoard Regen traction batteries with a double-layer capacitor sys-

tem to ensure the optimum energy balance,” said Saft. “This approach provides rapid charging during the short stay at each tram stop, together with effective regenerative braking to reduce energy consumption by around 30%, enabling the trams to operate continuously on their daily shift.”

Leclanché to supply world’s largest battery operated ferryboat Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché has been chosen to supply the world’s largest battery operated ferryboat. The ferry will be built by Danish shipbuilder Søby Shipyard and will begin service in June 2017 using a 4.2MWh battery system. The ferry, which will be the world’s largest in terms of battery capacity, will be used to transport vehicles and passengers between is-

land Ærø and the mainland in Denmark. Leclanché is a joint partner in the project and will deliver a full-electric drive train to the ferry with its partner Visedo. The initiative is part of the Danish Natura project, which guarantees local people green transportation in these areas, and is one of the top five projects in the EU Horizon 2020 initiative,

a programme with a total budget of €21 million. Anil Srivastava, chief executive officer of Leclanché, said: “This new contract, following the confirmation of the large order for the Project Graciosa, gives also further validation of Leclanché’s strong execution of its business plan and growth strategy.” Martti Ukkonen, executive vice president of mo-

bile storage systems at Leclanché, said: “This project is a break-through in the recently introduced mobile storage business. “The novel combination of a lithium-ion battery storage system and an electric drive train provided by Leclanché and Visedo has proven to be a true asset in the mobile system market, and not only in marine segment.”

Project Helios launched by Oxis Solar Centre Oxis Solar Centre for Autonomous Research (OSCAR) launched Project Helios to demonstrate its lithium-sulphur batterybased solar energy technology in June. Project Helios, described by the company as a launch-pad for cheaper commercial solar energy across the world, will be demonstrated in collaboration with photovoltaic integrator Proinso. The demonstration comprises a 3.8kWp solar PV power generation system which is fully integrated with a 3kWh Oxis lithium sulphur battery. It has 16 PV panels connected in series to produce 600V DC. This feeds into the SMA Sunny Boy Inverter to generate a 240V, 50Hz

mains ready output. The inverter includes Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) to ensure that the panels operate at maximum efficiency under all conditions of sunlight and temperature. The mains output from the Sunny Boy inverter powers the charger for the driverless vehicle, the Meridian Navya, and the SMA Sunny Island Battery inverter which in turn charges the Oxis lithium sulphur battery, storing the unused excess energy generated during daylight for use after dark. The Sunny Island and Sunny Boy inverters are configured to off-grid mode. When power is unavailable from either the PV panels or the battery, the

system switches to mains operation and takes energy from the grid to ensure the loads remain powered. “This configuration allows us to manage the loads connected to the system so that we can evaluate the performance of the Oxis battery under controlled conditions,” said Oxis. “The system can easily be reconfigured for grid — connected operation where the battery is used to increase self-consumption.” The single lithium sulphur battery can be expanded to a total of four batteries, which is suitable for most domestic installations in Europe. Huw Hampson-Jones, chief executive officer of Oxis, said: “The significance of this technology is

at this stage understated. In the continent of Africa for example, this is a breakthrough as profound as the introduction of the mobile phone, allowing for the rapid commercialization of their economies, using solar energy storage systems. “For Europe, this technology brings a safe, cheap source of electricity for its citizens in a manner that allows its economies to reduce their dependency on oil and gas.” Stuart Macfarlane, Proinso head of Asia-Pacific and storage, said: “The realization of the Oxis storage solution is perfectly timed as we continue to move into emerging markets that have a high demand for safe, reliable and cost-effective energy storage solutions.”

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Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 29

NEWS

Beacon to supply flywheels to Alaska, announces collaboration in Europe’s first hybrid storage plant Energy storage systems manufacturer Beacon Power announced in May it will supply flywheels for hybrid energy storage in Anchorage, Alaska. In addition the firm announced details of its March contract win in Ireland to provide the first hybrid-flywheel energy storage facility in Europe. As part of its agreement with Alaska’s Chugach Electric Association, the systems will be installed at a substation next to Chugach headquarters and should go into operation later this year. Beacon’s flywheel technology will be used with an existing lower duty-cycle conventional electro-chemical battery when additional energy is needed. This is the third utility installation of Beacon’s modular 160kW flywheel energy storage system, which is the next generation of the 100kW flywheels in commercial operation at 20 MW plants in New York and Pennsylvania. The companies will test the 320kW system to determine if there is a possibility of scaling up in the future. This would enable increasing amounts of renewables to interconnect with remote system utilities along the Alaskan region known as the Railbelt. Chugach has received funding support for this new project from the Alaska Energy Authority’s Emerging Energy Technology Fund. Beacon is also collaborating on this project with Spirae, which is providing the overall control system to manage output, both of flywheels and batteries. It will also manage each sys-

tem’s state-of-charge. Paul Risse, Chugach’s senior vice president for power supply, said this could provide future opportunities for the technology in the region: “This hybrid flywheel-battery project is an opportunity to bring proven next-generation technologies that have strong track records elsewhere to our state — and combine them in an innovative way.” Barry Brits, Beacon president and chief executive officer, said: “Our new modular system is ideal for hybrid energy storage opportunities, enabling our flywheels to work together with different storage technologies to realise the widest range of power system benefits.

Ireland too

For the record Europe’s first grid connected Hybrid flywheel system service facility was officially announced by Ged Nash, Ireland’s minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation on March 26. Irish company Schwungrad Energie is behind the initiative which will be based in Rhode, in the county of Offaly about 50 miles west of Dublin. It is being developed in collaboration with the Department of Physics & Energy at the University of Limerick. Beacon Power will provide the flywheel, Schwungrad received the first phase of up to €2.55 million European Commission Horizon 2020 funding to assist the project in December 2014. It aimed at developing a hybrid system security and reliability technology, to overcome technical barriers and enable the

30 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

From left to right: Robert Lynch (University of Limerick); Dave Nickerson (Beacon Power); Nigel Reams (RR Projects); Lea Collins (RR Projects); Jake Bracken (Schwungrad Energie); Frank Burke (Schwungrad Energie); Ged Nash (minister of state for business and employment), Colm Staunton (Schwungrad Energie); Peter Duffy (Schwungrad Energie); and Mervyn Keegan (Schwungrad Energie).

establishment of low carbon and efficient energy systems. Additional investment has been received from RR Projects, a company based in the Irish county of Offaly and the European Commission, to facilitate development of Europe’s first hybrid flywheel system service facility. The Irish transmission system Operator. EirGrid, selected this project as a potential demonstration project under its Smart Grid Programme. This initiative promotes and supports the development, trialling and proofing of new concepts, solutions and technologies. It focuses on projects that demonstrate specific smart grid concepts in an Irish power system context, particularly system services. Schwungrad and EirGrid are investigating possible collaboration on how best to operate the plant to provide rapid frequency re-

sponse and voltage control, which contribute to system stabilization A team at the Department of Physics & Energy at University of Limerick, led by Noel Buckley, a professor, and Robert Lynch, are looking at electrochemical batteries for large- scale energy storage and grid stabilization. These technologies are becoming critically important as an increasing fraction of electricity is derived from renewable sources such as wind. The work will include research and modelling. The governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland have set ambitious renewable electricity targets. Driven by a combination of legal and policy requirements to increase energy security, enhance energy sustainability and reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector, Ireland and Northern Ireland have adopted 40% renewable electricity targets to be achieved by 2020.

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NEWS

Electrovaya receives $1m order from China for ceramic separator Canadian battery manufacturer Electrovaya received an order potentially worth more than $1 million from a Chinese battery company for its ceramic separator in June. Electrovaya’s Separion ceramic separator is a value-added membrane in a lithium-ion battery that separates the positive and negative electrodes. Previously, Separion was

exclusive to a German automotive company for its electric vehicle production. Although it is no longer exclusive, the German company remains a major customer. The unnamed Chinese lithium-ion battery company has qualified the ceramic separator after intense testing for use in its electric vehicle programme. “This customer’s require-

ment is expected to be greater than $1 million in 2015 and growing to larger amounts in 2016,” said Electrovaya. “China is moving into electric vehicles with higher energy density chemistry and Separion gives the needed safety. We estimate that China alone can absorb over $15 million of Separion in 2016.” The firm said several ma-

Flow batteries Alps test could lead to bigger things says Imergy A recent project where two vanadium-based flow batteries installed to help store and manager power at a restaurant in the Slovenian Alps could become the catalyst for many more similar deals if success, according to Imergy Power Systems, the developer of the batteries. The two ESP4 series vanadium-based flow batH&V expands Massachusetts plant with expansion for AGM batteries Battery separator manufacturer Hollingsworth & Vose is to expand its production capability at its facility in Massachusetts, US, to support growing demand, the company announced in late May. The new absorbent glass mat battery separator production, is expected to begin operation by mid-2016. The expansion will also free up existing capacity to support the further growth of H&V’s filtration media products, the company said. Mitch Bregman, division president of energy and industrial specialties at H&V, said: “By adding East Walpole to our global AGM separator manufacturing network, H&V will be able

teries were installed at a restaurant called Trojane by Metronik Energija. The project was sponsored by the Slovenian Utility Elektro Ljubljana and supported by the Business Support Center Kranj. The project was part of the European AlpStore programme, with partners from seven countries tasked with

developing a long-term energy storage strategy for the Alpine regions. It will be evaluated to establish how energy storage systems incorporating vanadiumbased flow batteries manage the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources. The vanadium-based flow batteries will manage multiple applications, such as

to further align with our in early 2008, the comcustomer base to help ser- pany has claimed that vice the growing market.” the Mount Peake Project could be one of the largest TNG partners vanadium deposits in the with VRB battery world. manufacturer TNG said that the memTNG, an Australian com- orandum includes vanapany exploring the de- dium off-take, installation velopment of what could of a vanadium redox-flow be the largest vanadium battery unit at the Mount resource in the world, Peake mine site, product signed a memorandum development and marketof understanding in early ing cooperation. May with an unnamed The installation of the vanadium redox-flow bat- VRB unit could potentially tery manufacturer. slash the operation’s power TNG is investigating costs and become a showa number of sites in the case project for the use of Northern Territory and VRBs in remote areas. Western Australia. SpecifiIt also offers the option cally, it owns the so-called of a strategic cooperation Mount Peake Vanadium- for vanadium product deTitanium-Iron Project, lo- velopment and, subject to cated in the Arunta Geo- satisfactory discussions, logical Province close to TNG may enter into bindAlice Springs in Austral- ing agreements to sell vaia’s Northern Territory. nadium product from its Discovered by TNG plant.

32 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

jor battery companies are expressing great interest and have begun qualification processes for its product. Rajshekar Das Gupta, vice president technology, Electrovaya, said: “Because of Separion’s unique combination of safety, high temperature performance and amazing increase in cycle life, our objective is to make this separator the industry standard. We are now assessing joint ventures and other means to increase capacity to meet increasing demand.” renewable energy system integration, peak demand reduction, backup power and EV charging. Energy storage systems that can support multiple applications deliver a higher return on investment than systems only used for a single application. But the potential is much greater. More projects could be funded by a €200 million German fund dedicated to encouraging energy storage,” an Imergy spokesperson said. “There is no other battery technology that can cycle as often in a day, continuously, in an outdoor environment without temperature controls, and at such deep cycles. With the Imergy Vanadium Flow battery you can take it all the way to zero, recharge it fast, take it all the way to zero, recharge it fast, and keep going that way. This particular environment needed three to four cycles per day.” The company will also target many other sectors including commercial and industrial where, the company says, customers are seeking ways of managing the ever-increasing cost of that energy; utilities, where grid-scale energy storage is transforming the world’s electricity systems; telecoms; and residential, where customers can store electricity when rates are low, and use that electricity to reduce peak-usage charges. ■

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NEWS

Trojan Battery opens Ireland R&D centre Deep-cycle battery manufacturer Trojan Battery has opened a new research and development centre in Ireland in May. Trojan Battery Ireland, based on the campus of the Institute of Technology, Sligo, will focus on the R&D of advanced material additives, fundamental electrochemistry and other innovative technologies. The company said it hopes the materials centre will enable Trojan to introduce ground-breaking advancements in deep-cycle battery technology to mar-

ket faster. Trojan has appointed two research scientists to manage various projects at the new facility. Cormac O’Keeffe will act as the supervisor of advance materials and will manage the overall research and development efforts at the centre. Anita Hamilton will serve as Trojan’s lab research chemist. Gordon Beckley, senior vice president of engineering and quality assurance for Trojan Battery, said: “Establishing the Sligo facility is a key step in expanding Trojan’s R&D ac-

tivities, and will strengthen our ability to remain on the cutting edge of battery technology research. “By having a research facility separate from any of Trojan’s manufacturing plants, allows the Sligo engineering team to remain focused on true research and advanced development, while not being pulled into manufacturing continuous improvement projects. “This independence is important as technology innovation plays a larger role in our long term success.”

Johnson Controls unveils new advanced battery test centre

search projects and teaming them with LTU faculty and Johnson Controls technical experts. “These partnerships provide a strong talent pipeline for scientists and engineers interested in careers that will shape the way we drive our vehicles and use natural resources,” Wright said. Virinder Moudgil, president of Lawrence Technological University, added: “The partnership with Johnson Controls is part of a broader effort by Lawrence Tech to respond proactively with innovative academic research programs to the needs of our corporate partners and students. We are helping these corporate partners develop market-based solutions while providing students with real-world experiences and skills.”

Johnson Controls and Lawrence Technological University unveiled the new Johnson Controls Vehicle Engineering Systems Lab on May 8, a new facility that will be used to test and develop advanced battery systems in vehicles. The facility will include a dynamometer, which is used to test vehicles in different controlled driving environments and accelerates understanding of how best to manage battery energy and power transfer in vehicles. “The work we are doing with LTU is important because we can develop, optimize and validate battery systems inside the complete vehicle environment

to meet our customers’ future needs,” said MaryAnn Wright, vice president of engineering and product development for Johnson Controls Power Solutions. Johnson Controls will use the lab to test its recently announced 12-volt lithiumion battery in its prototype Advanced Start-Stop vehicle. The technology can improve fuel economy and emissions by up to 8%, the company claims. Its 48-volt Micro Hybrid system, which gets up to 15% fuel economy, is also part of the research and development with LTU. The partnership, which began in 2014, also focuses on developing the next generation of engineers by involving them in the re-

Invenergy kick-starts new energy storage operations Clean energy company Invenergy started the commercial operation of its 31.5 MW Grand Ridge Energy Storage project in La Salle County, Illinois, on May 14. The project uses lithium-ion iron-phosphate batteries. The project is located about 80 miles southwest of Chicago at Invenergy’s

Grand Ridge Energy Center, consisting of a 210 MW wind farm; a 20 MW solar project; and an existing 1.5 MW energy storage unit. Grand Ridge Energy Storage provides fast-response regulation service to the PJM market. Invenergy also plans to launch a 31.5 MW Beech Ridge Energy Storage pro-

34 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

ject in West Virginia this year. Both Beech Ridge Energy Storage and Grand Ridge Energy Storage are utilizing BYD America’s Containerized Energy Storage System. Invenergy has more than 100 MW of energy storage projects in operation, in construction, and in development in the US.

Younicos launches US technology centre In mid-May, renewable energy integration firm Younicos expanded its North American headquarters and began building a technology centre. The company has signed a long-term lease for a 32,500 square foot new and expanded North American headquarters facility in Austin, Texas. The technology centre, which is being built to provide a wider range of energy system testing capabilities, will house state-ofthe-art hardware, including various battery technologies, inverters and power controls, as well as power lines and transmission interconnections. Crown Battery wins energy efficient award Crown Battery Manufacturing Company, Energy Management Solutions and Greene Solutions were recognized with the first sustained excellence award for their energy efficiency efforts over many years at an awards ceremony held on April 28. The awards were given by AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power, which had rated the energy efficiency achievements of 22 businesses, individuals and schools from across the state of Ohio. AllCell & LG partner to develop lithium-ion battery Chicago-based lithium-ion battery pack manufacturer AllCell Technologies and lithium-ion manufacturer LG Chem unveiled a partnership in May to offer a high-performance lithiumion battery for material handling applications. The battery is designed as a drop-in replacement for lead-acid batteries and a base model with CAN bus communication, has been recently certified for air shipment.

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NEWS

Siemens launches rent-a-storage system Siemens and Ads-tec have launched a containerized battery for utilities to rent, to de-risk storage deployment. Containerized products are already becoming a de facto standard for energy storage but a financial model based on a rental product signals an increasingly sophisticated business model, Initially StoRent will be rolled out in Germany, Austria and possibly Switzerland, where the two companies have strong sales and distribution channels. Utilities, as well as endusers in commercial and industrial sectors, have the option to rent the system, extend or change the rental

period and eventually buy the system outright. “It allows grid operators, for example, to rent storage, start testing and evaluating and make the full investment later at a price equal to its residual value. During the rental period, they do not show any assets on their books, giving them more financial flexibility,” says Uwe Fuchs, a project manager in active power and storage sales at Siemens. StoRent can be supplied in different sizes and can provide different grid functions, including ancillary services and peak shaving. The systems are designed for easy relocation around the grid.

StoRent uses lithium ion batteries as these can fit into 20 or 40 foot containers. Lithium ion cells are declared as dangerous goods and need to be transported with special care, usually in separate boxes. But Ads-tec’s battery module designs overcome this as the modules are certified to be transported safely in fixed mounted battery racks and can stay inside the container, during road journeys, with commissioning done quickly at the destination. Siemens and Ads-tec are members of the Storegio association, whose activities include developing business models for energy storage systems on

the grid. The association’s members develop pilots to demonstrate profitability, security and other issues. Siemens has already had some limited commercial success with a lithium ion battery-based energy storage container product that it launched a few years ago. The core technology at the heart of StoRent containers, such as inverters, batteries and controls, are the same as those in Siestorage. However, the StoRent containers have been developed for multiple use cases, making them slightly more expensive than the tailor-made Siestorage system. ■

Saft supplies energy storage for Arctic Circle microgrid French battery maker Saft is supplying its energy storage technology that will be used to integrate solar into a remote microgrid in the Arctic Circle. The 200kW/230kWh system is being supplied to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, which manages the microgrid for a small community of 150 inhabitants in the far north of Canada. The system will be installed at the Colville Lake Power Station this June and will provide the residents

with a stable supply of solar power, cutting diesel fuel consumption and the cost of electricity. It will also help to reduce power outages. Saft designed the lithium ion based energy storage system to withstand temperatures that can drop to -50°C in winter. The system includes 200kW power conditioning equipment supplied by ABB. When installed the energy storage system will become the heart of the hybrid microgrid that is part of a larger

solar and diesel upgrade to the existing power plant. The battery bank will enable the solar panels to generate about 30% of the community’s electricity. Without energy storage, the penetration of intermittent renewables, such as solar and wind in hybrid microgrids is usually limited to under 20%. In addition to enabling higher renewables penetration at the expense of diesel or other fossil fuels, energy storage systems provide power quality and stabilize the microgrid.

Divide to form for lithium ion batteries between EV users and stationary ones The cost of stationary storage is set to stay high even though the price of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles will fall, according to Lux Research. In its latest report “Crossing the Line: Li-ion Battery Cost Reduction and Its Effect on Vehicles and Stationary Storage” it forecasts that prices set by the top lithium ion manufactur-

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ers could fall to as little as $172/kWh by 2025. The stationary storage market, however, will continue to see higher prices. The report predicts a price of $655/kWh for residential applications and $498/ kWh for grid applications. Unlike EVs where batteries are a complicated but relatively simple addition to the car, stationary bat-

teries require construction of specific buildings and systems to be integrated. The report also predicts a rising gap between best-inclass manufacturers and the rest with a pricing divide opening up of as much as $100/kwH for EV batteries. “The estimate is based on a new bottom-up cost model built by Lux Research,”said the firm.” ■

Following several years of development, three years ago Saft started commercializing energy storage systems and has installed over 50 containers installed worldwide. Several of the company’s more recent deals include supplying remote or island grid projects, in Hawaii, South America, Japan as well as Canada. In most cases the business case for using battery-based storage is to support the integration of more solar into these remote grids. “Globally, projects for renewables integration in island, weak or remote grids are key to our energy storage pipeline right now,” says Michael Lippert, marketing and business development manager of energy storage systems at Saft. In its 2014 annual report, within Saft’s industrial battery group markets for batteries for stationary backup power, which mainly used nickel chemistry, and energy storage applications, which mainly use lithium ion, reached €243 million. This represented a 10% growth in revenue. ■

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 35

NEWS

Cellstrom supplies vanadium battery for University of New South Wales microgrid The University of New South Wales — birthplace of the vanadium redox flow battery (see our profile of Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, the driving figure in its creation, at the end of this magazine) — has ordered its own commercial system from Gildemeister subsidiary Cellstrom. The 30 kW/120kWh vanadium redox battery will be installed in the new UNSW Tyree Energy Technologies building that also features a 120kW solar array on the roof and has been designed to showcase a range of energy technologies developed by the university.

The system will be connected to the building grid and will be used to demonstrate its performance in a range of applications including renewable energy storage, load shifting and power arbitrage. The system should be fully tested and commissioned by mid-July. “UNSW invited tenders from several companies that are producing commercial VRB systems based on the original UNSW technology, and selected Gildemeister because they have developed a proven product for the market and they were also prepared to custom-make a system

that could be installed in the basement of the Tyree building,” says professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos at the School of Chemical Engineering. Skyllas-Kazacos has dedicated most of her research and career to developing a vanadium redox flow battery suitable for mass commercialization. The core technology that she and her team, which includes her husband Michael Kazacos, developed is being used in vanadium battery storage systems around the world — including China, Europe and the US — for renewables integration and also microgrids.

In Australia energy storage systems based on longduration/energy-intensive batteries such as vanadium redox flow have a huge potential to reduce electricity costs for users and consumers. The state of New South Wales time of usage tariffs can vary from around AS$0.15/kWh during offpeak times, to just under AS$0.60/kWh during peak times on weekdays. By charging a battery using cheap off-peak electricity at night and discharging it to power appliances during the peak period, significant cost savings can be achieved using energy storage. ■

Fraunhofer microgrid to deploy flow battery A flow battery is being built as part of a microgrid project on Fraunhofer ICT’s campus in Germany. The project is investigating developing an industrial-scale redox battery, demonstrating how this form of energy storage can be used to integrate renewables into the grid and will also gather experience about suitable power electronics and conversion for this type of application. Installation of the

2MW/20MWh battery will start from mid-2015 with the battery expected to be fully operational by the end of 2016. Construction of the battery’s housing is almost complete. However, tests will occur before then, as each module is installed. Each module has a capacity of about 250kW of power. The battery will be operated in addition to a 2MW wind turbine, which will be installed inf 2017. Together

the turbine and battery will provide the campus’ electricity needs. The project will cost about €16 million in total with some of the funding coming from the German research ministry (BMBF). Industrial firm Schmalz, a supplier of automation technology, handling and clamping tools and technology is working on the stack design, which was originally developed by Fraunhofer ICT, to be mass produced.

GE enters into lithium-ion first with Con Edison General Electric will supply Con Edison Development, the renewable and energy infrastructure project developer, with an 8MWh battery energy storage system based in Central Valley, California. The project should be completed by year-end. This is GE’s first foray into lithium-ion batteries and Con Edison’s first energy storage project. GE said it is seeking to expand its energy storage portfolio. The storage product,

which will utilise GE’s Mark VIe-based plant control system, Brilliance MW Inverters, and packaged lithium ion battery modules, will provide 2MW of power over a four-hour period. The deal will also deliver a complete energy storage system with associated longterm service agreements. Jeff Wyatt, general manager of GE’s solar and energy storage units, said: “The recent addition of lithium ion technology comple-

36 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

ments our Durathon battery offering and gives customers more flexibility in meeting their specific site application needs.” That said, this January, GE cut production of its Durathon battery which used molten sodium at the core of its product. Press reports later suggested that some 400 workers were reassigned from its manufacturing plant Schenectady, New York leaving just 50 behind. ■

The company is also building a production line. ■

Methode secures independent certification for UPS Active Energy Solutions, a division of Methode Electronics, received certification for its lithium-ion uninterruptible power supply from UL, an independent safety science company, in April. The company said its AC6000, designed for use by data centres, is the first lithium-ion, high density UPS available at this power level. It also supplements the AC grid during peak energy consumption. “UL certification is a key milestone as it verifies the quality and integrity of the product. The AC6000’s certifications prove this new lithium solution delivers a safe, proven and reliable solution over the life of the battery,” said Emilie Stone, general manager of Methode Electronics’ Active Energy Solutions. ■

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NEWS

Electrovaya completes acquisition of Evonik Litarion Electrovaya, a developer of lithium-ion super polymer batteries, completed its acquisition of Evonik Litarion in April in a deal that means it secures the licensing and intellectual property of Separion, a unique ceramic composite separator. Electrovaya described the deal as a transformational move for it partly because it includes one of the most advanced and automated production plants for lithium-ion electrodes and ceramic composite separators in the world. Separion is a ceramic

composite separator for ultra-safe lithium ion battery applications. The acquisition includes an exclusive licence to distribute as well as the ability to sub-license, form joint ventures, expand production within Germany, and establish additional plants in Asia and elsewhere. Litarion owns numerous patents concerning chemical cell components for lithium ion batteries. The portfolio contains more than 70 protective rights. Collectively, this portfolio of intellectual property and patents accompanies the

purchase of Litarion. Sankar Das Gupta, CEO of Electrovaya, said: “Conventional manufacturing of lithium ion employs a toxic NMP (n-methyl-pyrrolidone) process, which is prohibitively expensive and energy intensive. Regulations are becoming more stringent in Japan, Europe and North America. Electrovaya’s unique non-toxic manufacturing technology will enable this best-in-class plant to become one of the lowest cost producers and one of the largest manufacturers globally. We are delighted to be working

with an exceptional team at Litarion. “We also intend to make the ceramic composite separator available to all producers of lithium ion batteries and make it an industry standard. All lithium ion applications where safety is important such as energy storage, electric vehicles, aerospace and utilities, should, in our opinion, utilise this separator which gives vastly improved safety performance to lithium ion batteries and cells. Electrovaya’s proprietary green process provides low cost lithium ion batteries and this ceramic composite separator affords the highest safety, two critical challenges in the energy storage industry.” ■

Reliance Jio places €7m battery order with Saft High-tech battery manufacturer Saft received a €7 million order in April from Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm to support the next phase of India’s 4G/LTE (long term evolution) roll-out programme. Saft will supply its Evolion lithium-ion battery

systems to Reliance, building on past orders in 2013 and 2014, which amounted to €50 million. The batteries have been rolled out in more than 16,000 4G/LTE base transceiver station sites across India, providing backup power in case of interruption of the main power sup-

ply. In addition, Saft is also providing a dedicated service for Reliance for life cycle support across the entire installed base. Deliveries are scheduled to take place during the second quarter of 2015. Xavier Delacroix, general manager of Saft’s industrial

battery group, said: “Our backup battery systems play a key role in guaranteeing the reliability of telecom networks at all times, which is crucial to the successful expansion of 4G/ LTE services.” RJIL is currently the only Pan-Indian 4G/LTE operator. ■

ViZn supplies advanced flow battery to US college Randolph-Macon College, an arts and sciences college in Richmond, Virginia, installed an advanced flow battery system supplied by ViZn Energy Systems, a provider of energy storage for microgrid and utilityscale applications, to test utility integration with renewable generation in April. Randolph-Macon College is working in partnership on a solar energy project with Dominion Resources, an East Coast utility provider and one of the largest producers and transporters of energy in the US. The Z20 redox flow battery uses a non-toxic, nonflammable and low cost zinc and iron chemistry.

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It has been designed with a water-based, two-phase flow system that consists of a zinc electrode and an iron redox counter electrode, a design that aids steady and safe operation.

“We are thrilled to work with Dominion and Randolph-Macon College to have our zinc-iron redox battery as one of the two battery technologies included in the project to assess

battery performance for both power and energy services,” said Ron Van Dell, president and CEO of ViZn Energy Systems. (See CEO interview earlier in this issue.) ■

SunEdison invests in vanadium for India Renewable energy development company SunEdison is set to purchase up to 1,000 vanadium flow batteries from Imergy Power Systems to bring electricity to villagers in rural India. (See cover story for larger coverage of flow battery work in India.) The vanadium flow batteries will be used to store

solar-generated electricity for SunEdison’s rural electrification and solar powered minigrid projects in India. SunEdison will also increase its equity investment in the stationary energy storage solutions provider. “Energy storage is the perfect complement to solar powered minigrids

because it enables us to provide dependable, 24/7 electricity,” said Ahmad Chatila, president and chief executive officer of SunEdison. “And Imergy’s technology is a great fit for rural electrification because their systems are high performance, low cost, ultradurable and need very little maintenance.” ■

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 39

NEWS

Younicos and Leclanché partner on Graciosa project Leclanché, the Swiss based battery manufacturing firm, is supplying an energy storage system for a project on the island of Graciosa in the Portuguese Azores. The system is part of a project led by Younicos for Azorean utility EDA, which will enable the 4,500 inhabitants of Graciosa to use electricity that is mainly supplied by renewable sources on the island. Leclanché will supply the 2.8MW battery energy storage system, which will be controlled by Younicos’ energy management software. “For the project we

have decided to use our lithium titanate batteries due to the timeline in which we have to realize the project. It is a wellestablished and proven technology,” says Joep Thomassen, vice president, distributed power generation, at Leclanché. Leclanche announced in March that it has also developed lithium graphite batteries and these are going through the final stages of the release process for mass production. An affiliate of Recharge, which is one of Leclanché’s largest shareholders,

will lend €3.5 million in convertible debt financing to the project’s company, Graciolica, which is a subsidiary of Younicos. By stabilizing the grid without the rotating mass of a conventional thermal engine, the system will enable the grid to be fully powered by wind and solar photovoltaic energy. The energy storage system will incorporate 4.5MW of wind capacity and 1MW of solar photovoltaics capacity as well as inverters. The renewable energy-powered island grid will boost the island’s

annual share of renewable energy generation, from a previous limit of 15% to as much as 65%, reducing the island’s dependence on fuel imports. Leclanché’s battery energy storage system will be integrated into the intelligent energy management system developed by Younicos. The system should start to go online by the end of 2015. “Strategically speaking, this project, and Leclanché’s solution, starts to address the big unfulfilled promise of energy storage enabling greater integration of renewable energy sources that are intermittent,” says Joep Thomassen, VP distributed power generation at the company. ■

Aquion Energy declares Ideal Power PCS compatible Aquion Energy has validated Ideal Power’s patented transformerless power conversion systems (PCS) for compatibility with Aquion’s aqueous hybrid ion batteries (AHI). Ideal Power’s PCS underwent testing and validation in Aquion Energy’s labs to verify the compatibility of

the two companies’ products under typical operating conditions. Ideal Power said that the results demonstrated that its PCS is a good fit for Aquion Energy’s battery products, delivering exceptional efficiency and reliability. AHI batteries are based

around saltwater electrolyte battery technology. They are designed for storing solar energy for residential, off-grid and microgrid applications. “After testing Ideal Power’s systems, we’ve determined that the performance and flexibility of their PCS is a great match for our bat-

teries,” said Ted Wiley, cofounder and vice president of product and corporate strategy at Aquion Energy. Ryan O’Keefe, senior vice president of business development at Ideal Power, said that: “these batteries would prove to be a perfect match for our new microgridforming products.” ■

Drexel develops next gen lithium-sulphur component A new high performance cathode material for use in lithium-sulphur batteries has been developed by researchers from Drexel University and Aix-Marseille University in France.

Lithium-sulphur batteries have an energy density around four times higher than lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones. According to Drexel, one of the challenges for the

practical application of lithium-sulphur batteries is to find cathode materials that demonstrate longterm stability. The team has created a two-dimensional carbon/sulphur na-

Boston-Power and Darfon team up for solar Lithium-ion battery maker Boston-Power and Darfon Electronics Corp, a precision components company and part of the BenQ Group, revealed at the end of April they had entered a three-year supply agreement to target the global residential solar storage market. The companies have initially committed to sup-

plying 150 MWh of energy products. They will target the Australian and the UK residential markets with a 5kWh capacity product. By using Boston-Power’s lithium-ion cell technology, Darfon is able to offer solutions, which will benefit both homeowners and installers, said the companies. Rick Chamberlain, Boston-Power’s chief

40 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

technology officer, said: “Boston-Power’s development of long-life, highenergy density lithium-ion technology, combined with our commitment to expand high-volume production which leverages improving industry costs, enables us to deliver high-quality solutions with a clear value proposition for the residential storage market.” ■

nolaminate that could be a viable candidate for use as a lithium-sulphur cathode. The international research collaboration team was led by Drexel’s Yury Gogotsi, chair professor in the College of Engineering and director of its nanomaterials research group. “The researchers say that carbon/sulphur nanolaminates have a covalent bonding between carbon and sulphur in an extremely uniform distribution of sulfur between the atomically thin carbon layers. “This structure is key to their potential for being used as electrode materials for lithium-sulphur batteries,” said Drexel. ■

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NEWS

Cheaper batteries to boost energy storage tech revenues Global revenues from energy storage technologies will exceed $21 billion by 2024, compared with just $605 million in 2015 driven partly by the falling cost of the batteries used by such technology, a report by Navigant Research estimates. Although battery prices have fallen anywhere from

40% to 60% in the past 18 months driven by manufacturing innovations and volumes, energy storage systems still vary wildly in terms of price. “Now that battery prices have responded to cost pressures, the associated technologies including energy storage enabling technologies (ESET) are start-

ing to follow suit,” said Anissa Dehamna, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. “Still, the ESET portion of the value chain will average more than the total system cost across all applications over the next 10 years.” Navigant said that once this happens more transparency in the price of ESS

is expected, allowing the industry to grow further. Some of the technologies associated with energy storage systems include power conversion (primarily focused on inverters), systemlevel software and controls, and systems integration services. “Forming a critical component of the energy storage value chain, these technologies face intensive scrutiny, as vendors come under pressure to deliver more consistent pricing,” said the report. ■

Sumitomo buys stake in Willey, orders Toshiba batteries Japanese firm Sumitomo Corporation has invested in a battery energy storage system for a power frequency regulation project in Hamilton, Ohio. The project should start this December. Recently, through its US subsidiary Perennial Power, Sumitomo acquired an interest in Willey Battery Util-

ity from Renewable Energy Systems Americas (RES), part of the RES Group, the US renewable energy developer and constructor. This is the first time Sumitomo has invested in a large-scale stand-alone battery storage facility in the US. Willey will own the battery power storage system,

which will be supplied by Toshiba in November 2015. The system, which integrates an array of 6MW-2MWh SCiB lithium-ion batteries, will start operations in December. Toshiba said its battery is distinguished by its longlife and excellent performance; it charges and discharges efficiently in a wide

range of temperatures. “It has a lifetime of over 10,000 charge-discharge cycles, and operates with a high level of reliability and safety, including high resistance to external shock. The SCiB has found numerous applications, such as the power source for electric and hybrid vehicles,” said the firm. ■

VCs invest $69m in battery companies in first quarter Venture capital investors put $69 million in battery and energy storage companies in the first quarter of 2015, a leap from the $47 million raised in the same period a year earlier, according to Mercom Capital Group, a clean energy consulting firm. One of the biggest deals completed in the first quarter was by Boston Power, a manufacturer of lithiumion batteries for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage, which raised $20 million. Sakti3, a developer of solid-state rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology, also raised $20 million. Eos Energy Storage, a developer and manufacturer of zinc hybrid cathode energy storage solutions for electric utilities, raised $15 million. TAS Energy, an energy storage solutions provider that combines turbine chilling with thermal energy

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storage tanks, raised $10 million. ZAF Energy Systems, a developer of nickelzinc and zinc-air battery technologies, raised $2.2 million. There was only one debt

and public market financing deal announced for the battery and storage sector in the quarter: $130 million, which was raised by Bloom Energy, a manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cell

technology products. There were also five M&A transactions in the battery and storage category. Only two disclosed funding amounts totalling $2.3 billion. ■

Umicore sued for lithium-ion patent infringement For the record, German chemical firm BASF has sued Umicore, a Belgian materials technology company, for infringing patents related to its lithium-ion batteries. They were filed with the US International Trade Commission and a Delaware district court in February. The filing said Umicore is being sued for infringement of BASF’s patents related to the chemical compositions of cathode active materials used in lithium-ion batteries. It is also suing Makita, a company that imports and sells

products that incorporate Umicore’s cathode active materials. The case alleged that patent infringement was just one example of the unlawful conduct that Umicore has used to maintain its position as a primary supplier of cathode active materials in the industry — at the expense of BASF. “Thus, this case is about Umicore’s willful and knowing infringement of patents as well as the anticompetitive, tortious, and deceptive conduct Umicore has used for its benefit and BASF’s detriment,” said the

filing. It also alleged that Umicore threatened a potential customer of BASF, which the chemical firm had been in negotiations with. “According to the potential customer’s representative, after Umicore learned that the potential customer was considering BASF as a supplier of NCM materials, Umicore made clear that if the potential consumer bought NCM materials from BASF, they would face legal action, suggesting a threat of suit based on the 3M patents,” said the filing. ■

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 41

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PRODUCT NEWS

Skeleton launches 4500 farad ultracap, aims to challenge lead acid energy density by 2017 Skeleton Technologies, the ultracapacitor start up firm, has launched a new range of ultracapacitors that it says offers the highest level of energy density on the market. Through the use of patented graphene material, the new series boasts a capacitance of 4500 farads. “By contrast, the closest competitor product has a capacitance of only 3400 farads,” Taavi Madiberk, the chief executive told Batteries International. “This is the single biggest increase in energy density for ultracapacitors in the past 15 years. “We’ve actually reached 5,000 farads already,” he says. “But for commercial purposes it’s better to show a consistently achievable figure even though it’s lower.” Energy density is a key development challenge for the ultracapacitor market and is fundamental if the technology is to eventually replace battery storage. Madiberk says the firm, which was set up in 2009, is aiming to double its capacitance by 2017. “This would give us an energy density approaching that of lead acid batteries,” he says. The energy density achieved by the SkelCap 4500 series will allow Skeleton Technologies, it says, to maximize opportunities in the heavy transportation and industrial markets where weight and space are at a premium. Skeleton Technologies’ ultracapacitors have already been chosen by the European Space Agency, where their use should lead to cost savings by reducing the volume of heavy batteries required for energy storage. This summer the company will be announcing the first ultracapacitor product for the hybrid truck market. “Graphene has long been heralded as a wonder material for a range of applications, including energy storage. However, a mass-market, graphene-based product has been slow to materialize. Our ultracapacitors will be that market breakthrough,” says Madiberk. “We are harnessing the power of graphene to make the most significant

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advances in ultracapacitor performance seen for years. “Elon Musk has predicted that ultracapacitors will be the future for electric vehicles, replacing batteries in the longer term. We will fulfill that prediction.” The new range has been designed for mass-market applications and the needs of systems engineers. The format has been developed to meet the industry standard of a 60 mm diameter cylindrical cell. Skeleton Technologies had previously offered prismatic cells, which are more compact in modular arrangements but more expensive to produce. Skeleton Technologies has also achieved one of the lowest ESR (equivalent series resistance) levels on the market at 0.095 mΩ. This factor greatly increases the efficiency of the cells by reducing the amount of energy that is lost as heat. For example, if a 3900A current is run through the SkelCap 4500 cell, it will lose only 0.30 joules per farad, whereas competing products can lose as much as 1.00 joules per farad, the firm says. “The ultracapacitor market is dominated by organic precursor carbon from coconut shell. It is the successful development of a graphene-based carbon that is allowing us to set new records for product performance,” says Volker Dudek, the newly appointed chief technology officer at Skeleton Technologies. “We have set ourselves an ambitious technology development target of 20 Wh/kg by which is comparable with battery level energy density. With the launch of the SkelCap 4500 range we are al-

ready half way towards that goal.” In June, Skeleton Technologies announced it had secured €9.8 million ($10.7 million) in a series B financing from a consortium led by Harju Elekter Group, which owns electrical equipment manufacturing plants in the Nordic-Baltic markets, and UP Invest, one of the largest investment firms in the Baltic region. The financing should allow Skeleton to ramp up the deployment of its graphene ultracapacitors. Andrus Allikmäe, chief executive of the said: “We are convinced that ultracapacitor-based solutions will increasingly be used in electrotechnical and manufacturing automation applications for energy storage, control and high-power fast switching. Our participation in this field gives us the ability to cooperate in potential future applications and also creates a synergy in participating in the development of ultracapacitor modules.” Skeleton is already working on incorporating ultracapacitors into smart grids and is involved in the EU funded Artemis Joint Undertaking Project. As part of this ultracaps are being installed at the electricity grid company NTE in Norway. Skeleton is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia where it conducts research and development as well as pilot production. It has opened up a plant in Saxony, Germany, where it has plans for mass manufacturing. Skeleton Technologies raised €3.9 million in July 2014 in a Series A financing.

Batteries International • Spring 2015 • 43

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Innovations for a better world.

POINTS OF VIEW Elon Musk’s not-so-surprise announcement of the Powerwall goes beyond merely publicizing a potentially good idea. As Isidor Buchmann, chairman of Cadex International, points out, this may indeed be a game changer for the energy storage industry as well as the way we think about renewables.

Tesla’s iPhone moment: what the Powerwall will spark off in the future The Tesla battery that the company’s founder Elon Musk announced at the end of April has received much media attention — and rightly so. The Powerwall, as the Tesla battery is called, can store energy from renewable sources from solar panels and wind turbines to supplement energy needs and reduce the electrical bill. “Our goal,” said Musk, “is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy.” This is a noble endeavour at a time when humanity draws more resources than the planet can give. The Tesla battery stores energy during peak production when output is in over-supply to bridge the gap when free energy goes to rest. The Powerwall also softens peak consumption when the AC grid is stressed to the breaking point. Environmentally conscious Germany, Japan and other countries have been using solar panels for many years to reduce and diversify energy costs. In parts of Africa where the AC grid is not sufficiently developed to support all household activities, solar panels with battery backup are mandatory. Installing a solar system in energyrich North America builds an image of being energy savvy rather than doing it for purely economic and environmental reasons. This is evident when spotting a fleet of gas-guzzling cars in the driveway, each with an engine producing 150kW of power to drive to the store and to work. Renewable energy makes economic sense, but it is expensive. The Western world is served with cheap and reliable electricity from the

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AC grid with a per kilowatt-hour cost as low as $0.06 in parts of Canada, to $0.15 in many cities and up to $0.40 in some European countries. Meanwhile, electricity produced by a solar panel comes at about $0.20 per kWh. That said, when including peripheral expenses, solar power is more expensive than buying electricity from the utilities in most parts of the world.

Cost efficiencies to come

In spite of the apparent higher cost of renewable energy, putting solar panels on houses is becoming fashionable. The cost of the hardware has fallen, so has the installation. The most common photovoltaic solar cells are the crystalline silicon type with an efficiency of about 20%. In comparison, flexible panels have an efficiency of only about 10%. The hardware cost to generate one watt of

“Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy.” – Elon Musk

electricity with solid panels is $2.00– 2.50 with trend to go lower. In solar-rich states and countries such as California, Arizona, Hawaii, Japan, as well as in Germany where electricity is expensive and solar subsidized, energy from solar panels is being fed back to the AC grid. This can cause the electrical meter to spin backwards, offsetting previously consumed energy, but it can also induce a problem. The amount of power generated cannot exceed consumption. Dumping more energy into the grid than consumed makes the system unstable, resulting in voltage fluctuations which can overload the circuit and lead to brownouts. Renewable energy has friends and foes. On one side, governments hand out subsidies to install renewable energy systems while utilities on the other side desperately try to stem the move of home electricity generation by reducing incentives, adding fees or pushing home solar companies out of business. Solar companies fight back through regulators, lawmakers and the courts. The utilities argue that spurious energy production by homeowners complicates control and cuts into the revenue stream. They see it as creating glut or famine by means of excess supply during times of plenty and a failing grade when renewable contributions nose-dive while demand is high. The conflict is understandable because utility companies are responsible for providing a stable energy supply when renewable resources are absent. Nor are independent energy

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 45

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POINTS OF VIEW producers able provide a dependable solution to an aging grid that moans during peak demand. Producing clean energy from a renewable resource should never be curtailed, especially if the resource can be stored.

Finding the right storage

Storing electrical energy is not new but no system has emerged that is fully satisfactory. One of the most effective storage media for large hydroelectric power stations is to pump water back up to the reservoir during low electrical demand and make it available during peak times. With an efficiency factor of 70%–85%, pumped hydro is easier to manage than adjusting the genera-

tors to satisfy fluctuating power need. Flywheels also serve as energy storage. Large electric motors spin oneton flywheels when excess energy is available to fill brief energy deficiencies stabilizing the grid. Pumping compressed air into large underground cavities is another way to store energy but for small to medium installations, batteries work best. Storage batteries have mostly been lead acid and users complain about their short life span. This is in part caused by excessive cycling as the battery charges during the day and discharges at night. Lead acid is illsuited for deep-cycling and this causes excessive wear and a short service life. Another problem is sulfation that

builds up when lead acid is not fully charged periodically. A fully saturated charge takes up to 16 hours and no solar system can deliver energy for this long. In addition, electrical consumption tends to increase with time while the solar panels reduce their output due to dirt build-up and aging. This often leaves lead acid with insufficient charge.

Partial charge, the key

The Tesla battery solves this in part by using lithium-ion batteries that are more resistant to cycling than lead acid. In addition, Li-ion does not need to be fully charged; in fact a partial charge is better as it relieves stress. However, Li-ion is more expensive than lead acid and Elon Musk offers

FACE TO FACE WITH THE POWERWALL

Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve. Tesla says the battery can provide a number of different benefits to the customer including: • Load shifting – The battery can provide financial savings to its owner by charging during low rate periods when demand for electricity is lower and discharging during more expensive rate periods when electricity demand is higher • Increasing self-consumption of solar power generation – The battery can store surplus solar energy

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not used at the time it is generated and use that energy later when the sun is not shining • Back-up power – Assures power in the event of an outage Powerwall increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption, while also offering backup functionality during grid outages. Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can be connected with solar or grid and both can provide backup power. The 10kWh Powerwall is optimized to provide backup when the grid goes down, providing power when needed the most. When paired with solar power, the 7kWh Powerwall can be used in daily cycling to extend the environmental and cost benefits of solar into the night when sunlight is unavailable. Source: Tesla

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 47

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POINTS OF VIEW THE POWERWALL — ONLY PART OF A SOLUTION The purpose of the Tesla battery is to make mother earth a bit greener but other forms of energy conservations must also be addressed. In terms of energy usage, private cars are one of the least efficient modes of transportation. The internal combustion engine utilizes less than 25% of the net calorific value from the fuel for propulsion. Such inefficiency becomes outright disturbing when taking into account the weight of the vehicle with a single passenger, the driver. By accelerating a 1.5-ton vehicle, less than 2% of the energy moves the 75kg (165lb) driver, his briefcase the possibility of cracking this with a mass-market solution by offering a modular household product that suits a broad user base. The Tesla battery stores 7kWh or 10kWh of energy, enough to keep a home lit and entertainment served for several hours a day. The battery’s power limit of 2kW is sufficient to simultaneously run a fridge, brown toast and perhaps iron the shirts — but not enough to cook a meal on an electric stove, run the dryer or keep the air conditioner going.

Seamless kick-in

Any of these high-energy appliances consumes many times the 2kW limit that the Tesla battery provides. During peak household activity, the AC grid will kick in seamlessly to fill the gap. The Tesla system with solar panels capable of filling the battery during the day is said to reduce the electrical bill by one third to one half. Most PV systems have no battery backup. With lower subsidies and less pay-out for energy delivered back to the grid, owners of solar systems seek ways to keep the extra resource generated and store it in batteries. This will increase the cost as a solar system with a Li-ion battery will be substantially higher. To fully charge the Tesla battery during the five hours of optimal sunshine per day will require a solar system that delivers 5,000W–12,000W. At an estimated cost of $2 per watt, a 10,000W solar hardware alone will come out at $20,000. Installation and the DC-AC converter to convert the solar DC to compatible AC power and synchro-

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and lunch bag; 98% goes to heat, friction and kinetic energy that is mostly lost. The Tesla battery moves us in the right direction without sacrificing comfort and demanding a change in lifestyle. Adding the Powerwall to Tesla’s portfolio of products provides an opportunity for adding a new economy of scale to the battery industry which will drive technological improvements and promote cost reduction. Storing energy for later use will further benefit the battery industry, of which Tesla is increasingly assuming dominance. nize it with the grid might double the cost. The battery will be extra. Another hidden expense when calculating the cost of solar system that is often overlooked is the end-of-life. Solar panels have a life span of 25 years and Tesla guarantees the battery for 10 years. Only time will tell how enduring the Li-ion battery will be in a solar application and how much capacity they will retain after 10 years of continuous service. By all expectations, the Tesla battery will use the same technology that works so well with the Tesla EVs. These electric powertrain batteries use the NCA cells (nickel-cobaltaluminium) that carry high specific energy and are well suited for deep cycling. Besides limiting the discharge power on the Powerwall to 2kW, another means of adding longevity is a partial charge. Electric vehicles make use of this reduced output range by charging a new battery to only about 80% and discharging to roughly 30%. As the battery ages and the capacity drops, the battery management system gradually widens the bandwidth and the net effect is an energy delivery system that stays stable not only when the battery is new but even after 10 years of service. Once the full bandwidth must be used to get the full energy with each cycle, the pampering stops and the capacity will begin to fade more quickly because of the added stress. In terms of performance characteristics, the Powerwall will behave more like a hybrid car than an EV. While the EV depends fully on the battery for propulsion, the hybrid still drives

with an empty battery but only loses electric assist. In this respect, the hybrid battery is more forgiving. Tests revealed that a hybrid battery with 40% capacity had only marginally increased fuel consumption compared to a battery one with 100%. In a similar way, the Powerwall will not leave the dweller in the dark and still deliver energy with a partial capacity, albeit the system will become less efficient.

Longevity issues

Although the purchasing price of Liion is higher than lead acid, the cost per cycle is lower due to enhanced longevity and immunity to partial charge. Li-ion is also one of the most efficient batteries in terms of losses during charge and discharge. Lithium ion batteries first became popular with mobile phones, laptops, power tools and medical devices are now making inroads into stationary applications but the trusted lead acid will keep its market share for installations in which deep discharges are only required occasionally, such as UPS. That said, modern micro-grids supporting renewable resources will mostly be run on Li-ion.

Isidor Buchmann is the founder and CEO of Cadex Electronics. For three decades, he has studied the behaviour of rechargeable batteries in practical, everyday applications, has written award-winning articles including the best-selling book Batteries in a Portable World, now in its third edition. He is also the founder of the Battery University, a free resource opening up energy storage to users at all learning levels. See www.batteryuniversity. com

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 49

COVER STORY: NIMH NiMH has been around the block a few times, but recent developments in the industry are enabling the technology to prove itself as a costeffective, reliable choice for a number of markets. Sara Verbruggen reports.

Nickel still another cog in the energy storage armoury They said it was all over for nickel. And they were mostly right. The glory days — just a decade ago — when nickel batteries were at the forefront of electric vehicle development were never to last. Toyota, whose car the Prius spearheaded the use of NiMH batteries in 1997 — by the 2010s had switched tack and lithium ion packs were supplanting the nickel ones. Now the car firm is talking about fuel cells being the power source for cars of the future. Honda and Nissan are working with Toyota on what they call “the hydrogen society of the future”. The ground that NiMH has lost to alternative energy sources is unlikely to be regained. A look at the corporate world paints, at first glance anyway, a similar theme. The melancholy, long,

50 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

withdrawing roar of a dying battery chemistry. The acquisition of Ovonic Battery Company by Germany’s BASF Corporation three years ago and the sell-off by French battery maker Saft of its Small Nickel Battery business (though Saft continues to manufacture nickel batteries), suggest key proponents of these types of

technologies had struggled hard in the past to make further inroads into the advanced industrial and transportation battery segments. Just over two years ago Bosch pulled out of manufacturing nickel batteries saying that instead it was going to concentrate on lithium ion manufacturing and research. But that picture is changing.

“The sheer size of the global stationary energy storage market will mean that even if NiMH accounts for a relatively limited share, it will still be significant”

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COVER STORY: NIMH

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COVER STORY: NIMH The fortunes for nickel metal hydride batteries are looking brighter, with providers of the technology opening up new markets in sectors ranging from marine, to automotive, to telecoms. In the automotive sector the advent of microhybrid cars and all of its variations, from basic start-stop vehicles, to mild hybrids, is providing new opportunities for NiMH. Start-stop cars — where the engine switches off when the vehicle stops but quickly restarts when the accelerator is touched — reduce emissions but put heavy demands on the battery. The trend has given rise to advances in lead acid battery technology. Conventional batteries are not up to

the job but a new generation of deep cycle AGM (absorbent glass mat) and EFB (enhanced/extended flooded cell battery) products are proving their worth. That said manufacturers are looking to alternative ways of enhancing lead acid car batteries cost-effectively for start-stop and microhybrid applications. “The micro-hybrid vehicle market is comparable to the wild west. You have lead acid variants, lithium ion, ultracapacitors and NiMH competing in this space,” says Michael Fetcenko, managing director of BASF Battery Materials. “All are compelling technologies in their own right, but cost is a key driver. One promising approach for

One promising approach for 12V start-stop vehicles is to take a conventional lead acid battery and combine it with a small NiMH battery, here under the hood of a Nissan Dayz Roox

The design of the Movitz ferry enables rapid-charging in a short space of time, so the battery can be recharged while moored during disembarking/ embarking stops. This also ensures the ferry can operate to its strict timetable. It also allows the boat to use a smaller battery.

54 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

12V start-stop vehicles is to take a conventional lead acid battery and combine it with a small NiMH battery, as it is a more competitive alternative to using advanced lead acid batteries.” This is already happening in Japan. Last year small stop-start small car models, introduced by Japanese joint venture NMKV in 2014 — the Nissan Dayz Roox and the Mitsubishi eK Space — are using Panasonic’s 12V NiMH energy recovery system. NMKV is a joint venture between the two carmakers. The energy recovery system is connected in parallel with the main lead acid battery, using several D-size NiMH battery cells. Lead-acid batteries are often placed in the engine compartments’ of cars, so Panasonic designed the recovery system to be installed in the same place, to simplify the overall system’s wiring. Using technology originally designed for HEV batteries, Panasonic developed NiMH cells to overcome the engine compartment’s high temperatures. Fetcenko thinks that eventually the market for NiMH batteries for start-stop/idle microhybrids could be bigger in terms of megawatt hours than personal care, which is a key market for rechargeable small NiMH batteries which are replacing primary alkaline double AAs.

Marine life

Policy and legislation, rising fuel costs as well as advances in electric and hybrid propulsion systems are also driving demand for advanced batteries in the marine industry. Nilar, founded in 2000, has supplied Green City Ferries in Stockholm with a NiMH battery and management system for an electrically powered ferry. Just as city councils and municipalities have introduced measures to cutting carbon dioxide emissions, created by road traffic, city waterways are following suit. Places such as Amsterdam have introduced regulations banning diesel emissions on the city’s canals by 2020. Instead of a 250kW diesel engine, pushing out over 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide as well as nitrogen oxide and particulates into the air every year, using two 125kW electric motors installed outside the hull as well as Nilar’s 180kWh NiMH battery system, Green City Ferries’ passenger craft can fast-charge in 10 minutes

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COVER STORY: NIMH and run for an hour taking commuters and tourists around Stockholm’s ports and waterways. The boat needs around 90kW to cruise at 9 knots. Green City Ferries’ sister company Echandia Marine developed the electric drive line, which has been retrofitted to the 100-passenger capacity craft, named Movitz. Nilar’s chief executive Peter Lagesson says the company expects the marine market to become established in the short to mid-term. “The marine/hybrid market is certainly a sweet spot market for us. We see growing demand for NiMH for its robustness and its ability to cycle. And compared with lithium ion, NiMH batteries are more costeffective and are also safer to use.”

Durability

In marine applications such as this, the battery is designed to last between five and seven years. “A key aspect of supplying the advanced battery market,” says Lagesson, “is also development of the battery management system (BMS) and control electronics side, as this enables the battery’s performance to be optimized and to help ensure it operates for the maximum lifetime. It is not sufficient to simply build a battery, you need the controls to ensure efficient operation.” From discussions with other potential customers in the marine industry different applications may require different approaches. “You can have a big battery pack, which would last for more years before replacing. But an alternative approach is to use smaller and therefore lighter battery packs, but charge up the batteries more frequently,” he says. The design of the Movitz ferry enables rapid-charging in a short space of time, so the battery can be recharged while moored during disembarking/embarking stops, which also ensures the ferry can operate to its strict timetable. It also allows the boat to use a smaller battery. Since the project with Green City Ferries Nilar has picked up interest from other potential customers in the marine industry, in Scandinavia as well as the Netherlands and even Turkey. The company expects to announce several new projects in the autumn of 2015, which will also include marine applications. Nilar was set up to commercialize a simplified battery design for NiMH chemistry, based on a bi-polar

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This July Saft, the French manufacturer of high-tech industrial batteries, announced it had been awarded a contract worth over €1 million by Alstom to supply nickelbased SRM onboard power backup batteries for metro trains on the London Underground Northern Line. This replacement contract follows the performance and reliability demonstrated by the original timeserved onboard batteries first

supplied by Saft in the 1990s. Saft supplied the original batteries for the Northern Line’s ‘1995 Stock’ trains (pictured aborve), which entered service in 1998. The batteries provide backup power for essential safety and passenger comfort systems in case of an interruption to the main power supply. These include the radio, train control, passenger announcement and CCTV systems.

Eventually the market for NiMH batteries for startstop/idle microhybrids could be bigger in terms of megawatt hours than personal care, which is a key market for rechargeable small NiMH construct. The result is a smaller and lighter battery, compared with cylindrical and prismatic cells. The bi-polar battery design enables a common, or shared, current collector, which results in uniform current flow across the cell, so the battery performs well for high rate discharge applications. There is no volumetric overhead compared with cylindrical and prismatic technologies, providing space to squeeze in more volumetric density. Uniform current and resistance paths also allow for more uniform temperature generation, which reduces the electrochemical aging of the cells. This translates into longer cell life. The company is going after high voltage as well as low voltage applications. Its low voltage battery systems span 12V to 48V and other suitable applications include wheelchairs, automatic guided vehicles, cleaning equipment, solar applica-

tions as well as boat drive trains. Nilar has also developed higher voltage energy storage systems based on its bi-polar NiMH technology, ranging from 60V up to 720V, for markets such as wind and solar PV integration. These come with communication interfaces with charge settings, alarm signals and pack status indicators for large format energy storage systems.

Opportunities in stationary storage

The 12V energy modules are the building blocks in Nilar’s different energy storage products as these can be connected to produce compact batteries for use in other types of hybrid transportation applications, such as trucks and heavy goods vehicles, but also some fairly substantial stationary storage applications, which have been dominated by lead acid. One of these is telecoms, though Nilar’s NiMH battery is also suited

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 55

COVER STORY: NIMH BATTERIES EVERYWHERE Having acquired Saft’s small nickel battery business French firm Arts Energy is focused on expanding the applications for NiMH batteries beyond emergency lighting into related fields and markets, such as signage, which benefit from having a long-life, highly reliable power source which can operate for up to several years if necessary. Applications Arts Energy is targeting include: street lighting, road and city signalling, bollards, sensors, buoys,

“The marine/hybrid market is certainly a sweet spot market for us. We see growing demand for NiMH for its robustness and its ability to cycle. And compared with lithium ion, NiMH batteries are more costeffective and are also safer to use” — Peter Lagesson, Nilar

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home automation, cameras and CCTV systems, bus shelters and signage The company is also focusing on medical equipment applications, which can either use lithium ion or NiMH — as the company supplies both nickel and lithium based battery systems — including emergency equipment, diagnosis machines, therapeutics, patient monitoring and patient mobility. Other markets include power tools, some e-mobility applications and back-up/UPS. to smart grid and peak shaving to handle surges in supply and demand of electricity as intermittent renewables are added. “Telecoms operators are interested in our battery because it can help them meet environmental objectives,” says Marcus Wigren, Nilar’s sales and marketing manager. “There is real momentum to find alternatives to lead acid in the telecoms industry, so we are seeing a lot of interest in our battery as a greener alternative,” Long operational lifetimes, good cycling ability and low service costs are important features that such NiMH battery systems can offer telecoms applications. NiMH batteries really come into their own in applications that need a battery that can be left alone, requiring little maintenance. Compared with many other industrial battery technologies, such as lead acid, where high temperatures take their toll on lifetime, NiMH batteries are resilient by comparison making the technology a good candidate for the booming telecoms markets of Africa and India. However, for the meantime Nilar is focused on closing deals and projects closer to home. “We are working with a partner in the telecoms industry on a project in Scandinavia. But we see this type of market as longer term. Five years from now, we expect a lot of our business to be in telecoms because it is such a large market, worldwide,” says Wigren.

Fetcenko agrees that stationary energy storage — a wide-ranging market, spanning back-up to grid energy storage with various applications in between — is where NiMH is expected to do well. “Eventually it could be the biggest market, in terms of megawatt hours, for NiMH batteries but it is difficult to say in what sort of timeframe this will occur in,” he says. This could occur sooner if, for instance, more grid storage-friendly legislation is introduced in markets such as Europe and North America, where increasing amounts of renewables require some form of storage to balance the grid as more intermittent sources of wind and solar are added. “For certain end-user requirements NiMH batteries fit the bill,” says Fetcenko. “Whereas in automotive NiMH batteries are at a disadvantage due to their weight compared with lithium ion devices, for many stationary storage applications weight is less important compared with other more favourable characteristics that NiMH technology offers. It is a very rugged and resilient battery. A few of BASF’s licensing partners are focused on supplying the stationary energy storage markets with NiMH technology. They include Japanese firms FDK, part of Fujitsu, and — recently — Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). FDK, which began licensing Ovonic NiMH battery technology in 2012, is supplying telecoms, back-up and medical, much of the systems the company is supplying are for its domestic market. In the aftermath of the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, large-scale power outages severed communications networks across parts of the country, including vital ones used by police, paramedics and other emergency services. As a result, demand in the industrial battery sector in Japan has increased post-Fukushima to guarantee power back-up and NiMH is one of several technologies to have benefitted. KHI, which recently announced a licensing deal with BASF this May, has its sights on railway wayside storage systems as well as backup power markets. In the wayside storage applications NiMH battery banks can be used to store the energy from regenerative braking by the trains to power lights and air-conditioning, reducing fuel consumption by Japan’s rail network.

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COVER STORY: NIMH “We are seeing this sort of development occurring not only in Japan but in other parts of the world, so it has potential to be a global industry in the coming years,” says Fetcenko.

Different markets are key

The future growth prospects of NiMH batteries are more likely to rely on it being adopted by various different industries and sectors, rather than it finding an elusive killer application or colonizing a particular market, which lithium ion and, in the past, lead acid technologies have managed to do. Some NiMH companies, however, have excelled and finding an application that plays heavily to the strengths of the technology. Arts Energy is a young company but one with a pedigree. In June 2013 French battery maker Saft — a global supplier of advanced battery systems — sold its loss-making Small Nickel Battery business, based in Nersac, to Active’Invest a French investment firm set up by Gilles Roland, who has shareholdings in various investment companies in the areas of renewable energy, telecoms and power generation. Roland is also a shareholder in Arts Energy, which owns the Small Nickel Battery business following its spin out by Saft. At the Nersac site — about 100km north f Bordeaux — Saft continues to make large stationary storage batteries, such as the Sunica.plus product line, which uses NiCd technology. Saft continues to manage the production of the electrodes. These are used in its own nickel batteries and are also supplied to Arts Energy. Saft is also one of Arts Energy’s customers, for specialty products in the military and aviation sectors. As well as designing and producing its own nickel-based rechargeable cells, Arts Energy also provides battery modules using NiMH technology in 12V, 24V and 36V formats, with their own battery management system. Today the biggest market for Arts Energy’s nickel batteries is the emergency lighting market, which accounts for much of the company’s business. In addition to licensing BASF’s NiMH battery technology, Arts Energy also has access to the results of the German chemical firm’s R&D efforts in the chemistry. In the coming months Arts Energy will begin

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“The main benefit of Ni-MH for solar applications is their robustness at high temperatures and very long cycling life. Solar requires one cycle per day for the battery which is a severe use” — Stéphane Sényarich, Arts Energy. producing a battery with a 10 year lifetime, in addition to products that it sells with four and eight year lifetimes.

Safer than lithium

Increased lifetime is important for Arts Energy’s core biggest market emergency lighting, where NiMH batteries are able to withstand the heat generated by the luminaires they are used within, for buildings such as hospitals and universities. Extending the lifetime of batteries can reduce maintenance costs as batteries need to be changed less often. There is a trend within the emergency lighting market to switch to NiMH batteries instead of NiCd. NiMH batteries are also safe as they are not flammable, an important criteria in the emergency lighting market. For similar reasons, NiMH batteries are also gaining popularity in the airline industry, for various medical applications, including transportation of organs or sick patients, where the equipment used requires battery power and stricter regulations on lithium ion batteries are creating opportunities for alternatives. The second area of development by BASF that Arts Energy will benefit from is the extension of temperature range. High temperatures have a direct impact on battery lifetime. Though NiMH devices are more resilient to higher temperatures than other types of batteries, like lead

acid, further progress in this area will benefit Arts Energy, which is targeting the solar-powered street lighting market, where demand is growing in places such as the Middle East, Africa and India. In some cases, global luminaire and lighting brands, which produce emergency lighting units are also becoming increasingly active in the emerging solar street lighting market. “The main benefit of Ni-MH for

“Five years from now, we expect a lot of our business to be in telecoms because it is such a large market, worldwide” — Marcus Wigren, Nilar Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 59

COVER STORY: NIMH

“The micro-hybrid vehicle market is comparable to the wild west. You have lead acid variants, lithium ion, ultracapacitors and NiMH competing in this space” —Michael Fetcenko, BASF Battery Materials solar applications is their robustness at high temperatures and very long cycling life. Solar requires one cycle per day for the battery which is a severe use,” says Stéphane Sényarich, NiMH product and business development manager at Arts Energy. In hot countries in particular, the large amount of sun associated with high temperatures make NiMH a cost effective technology. “The battery size can be reduced and the lifetime duration will be much longer versus traditional battery technologies. The higher the temperature is, the bigger the difference of life duration will be,” says Sényarich. He also sees NiMH as being suitable for other emerging applications using bigger batteries. “Telecom stations seem a very promising market, because of the robustness of these batteries, air-conditioning can be removed from the station, reducing overall energy consumption and there are no constraints for air transportation. “Rules regarding transporting of lithium ion batteries by airfreight are more severe for bigger batteries.” Telecoms, back-up and emergency power, remote microgrids — a number of stationary energy storage markets need cost-effective robust, resilient batteries — and this could be one way that NiMH technology stays relevant in future. “You look at the global vehicle industry and there are at least three

60 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

or four different sub-segments creating demand for batteries, the energy storage market will be no different. Stationary energy storage has the potential to provide demand for a rich variety of storage technologies, from pumped hydro to various batteries — NiMH included — to ultracapacitors. The sheer size of the global stationary energy storage market will mean that even if NiMH accounts for a relatively limited share, it will still be significant,” says Fetcenko. But lithium ion, partly because the technology is widely available with an industry focused on driving down prices, is well positioned to be a dominant battery technology, especially in grid storage. The advantages associated with being an entrenched technology should not be underestimated. So does that make it a clear winner at the expense of other advanced battery technologies, such as NiMH?

And in the lead acid industry, leadcarbon based systems are proving the technology can handle deep discharge requirements. Knocking lead acid off of its perch will not be easy. “Many in the energy storage industry think that no single technology will satisfy the widely differing requirements of each market segment. However, regardless of chemistry or technology, innovation is a hugely important factor,” says Fetcenko. Focusing on applications and their specific requirements, will determine the battery technologies that are most suitable. “When you look at the market this way it becomes harder to say which will be winners and which will be losers,” he says. “Energy storage will be highly segmented yielding sweet spots that differ technologies lend themselves to fulfilling. In this market place, lead acid and lithium will be critical technologies, but NiMH will also flex its potential.”

NIMH VERSUS NICD The chemical reaction at the positive electrode of a NiMH battery is similar to that of the nickel-cadmium cell (NiCd), with both using nickel oxyhydroxide (NiOOH). However, the negative electrodes use a hydrogenabsorbing alloy instead of cadmium. A NiMH battery can have two to

three times the capacity of an equivalent size NiCd, and its energy density has the potential to approach that of a lithium-ion battery.

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COVER STORY: NIMH Extending the energy density and operating temperature range are important developments for the future of the battery chemistry. Sara Verbruggen reports on what BASF and Arts Energy have been researching.

Pushing the potential of NiMH In 2012 the Ovonic Battery Company — inventor and pioneer of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) technology — was acquired by chemical giant BASF. In the hands of any other

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buyer of such size and breadth, the technology may have risked becoming swallowed up, mothballed and forgotten. Over the past three years the Germany-headquartered company has continued to invest in NiMH, focusing on areas such as increasing en-

ergy density and lifetime forging partnerships with industrial firms and has 35 licensing deals with battery makers supplying NiMH devices. They span electronics as well as battery firms Panasonic, Samsung, Hyundai, Toshiba, Saft, Energizer, Gold Peak, Lexel Battery and Harding Energy. Most of the licensing agreements concern production of rechargeable batteries for replacing alkaline primary batteries in personal care products, such as shavers and electric toothbrushes. But newer licencing agreements, like one signed with Kawasaki Heavy Industries this May, are making NiMH batteries for industrial and related applications. In certain cases BASF works with its partners, such as Fujitsu’s FDK, to develop next generation NiMH technology for improved performance. Arts Energy’s licensing agreement with BASF for its NiMH technology, signed this April, also includes the companies’ cooperation to develop next-generation products with improved electrochemical specifications. “The main target for Arts Energy’s NiMH technology is the improvement of energy density, which can help reduce the cost/Wh and to continue to extend the life duration, which would reduce the total cost of ownership for customers,” says Stéphane Sényarich, NiMH product and business development manager at the company. “We’ve already made strides in expanding the operating temperatures for these batteries from 40°C to 50°C up to 70°C to 80°C and from -10°C down to -20°C and even -30°C. We’re now working on -40°C,” says Michael Fetcenko, managing director of BASF Battery Materials. The other area of improvement has been in terms of deep cycling, from 500 cycles at 100% DoD up to 10002000. “We’re now pushing 6000 cycles at 100% DoD, to further extend battery life. Another important area of R&D focus is the work BASF is putting into

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 63

COVER STORY: NIMH “We’ve already made strides in expanding the operating temperatures for these batteries from 40°C to 50°C up to 70°C and 80°C and from -10°C down to -20°C and 30°C. We’re now working on getting it down to -40°C!” improving energy density, with the view to doubling this within the coming years. “However, the industry is not buying roadmaps, so we are transparent in terms of what the batteries can achieve in the here and now.” Such efforts could benefit several industries. The automotive sector, for example, would benefit from reducing the space and weight required by batteries in hybrid vehicles. To make a NiMH battery for a hybrid vehicle, in the region of more than 200 D cells, would be required. By increasing energy density, smaller C cells could eventually replace D cells, with associated cost reductions, in such an application.

NiMH versus lead acid and lithium ion

NiMH batteries can offer advantages over lead-acid batteries — reduced weight, particularly critical in applications such as marine/hybrids, as well as longer cycle life capacity at high rates. This makes NiMH attractive if battery replacement becomes a significant cost. Applications, from marine offshore work to remote telecoms, all benefit from a battery technology that can be installed and left in the field to operate with minimal maintenance and checks. In many cases, a NiMH battery will outlast the life of the product. Compared with lithium ion: NiMH batteries are a more cost effective alternative for stationary storage applications, such as telecoms, as well as emerging transportation segments, like marine. But, a big advantage is their ability to provide high levels of performance without the safety and fire hazard issues associated with lithium ion. In industries, such as airlines and mass transportation, this edge over lithium ion is increasingly being studied.

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THE PROS AND CONS OF NIMH

PLUS

NEGATIVE

•

High self discharge rate.

•

Suffers from memory effect though not as pronounced as with NiCad batteries

•

Battery deteriorates during long time storage. This problem can be solved by charging and discharging the battery several times before reuse. This reconditioning also serves to overcome the problems of the memory effect.

•

High rate discharge not as good as NiCads

•

Less tolerant of overcharging than NiCads

•

As with NiCads the cells must incorporate safety vents to protect the cell in case of gas generation.

•

The coulombic efficiency of nickel metal hydride batteries could be up to 85% but is typically only around 65% and diminishes the faster the charge although this is projected to improve.

•

While the battery may have a high capacity it is not necessarily all available since it may only deliver full power down to 50% DOD depending on the application.

•

Cell voltage is only 1.2V which means that many cells are required to make up high voltage batteries. Competing lithium cells typically have three times the cell voltage (3.2V to 3.7V) and a much higher energy density.

•

Lower capacity and cell voltage than alkaline primary cells.

•

Limited supplies of rare earth element lanthanum. Mostly found in China with concomitant quota delivery problems.

High energy density (W/kg), about 50% better than NiCads, but only about 60% of lithium ion.

•

Low internal impedance though not as low as NiCads

•

Typical cycle life is 3000 cycles.

•

Can be deep cycled. (80% to 100% DOD)

•

Using NiMH batteries, more than 3000 cycles at 100% Depth of Discharge (DOD) have been demonstrated. At lower depths of discharge, for example at 4% DOD, more than 350.000 cycles can be expected.

•

Robust — NiMH batteries also tolerate over charge and over discharge conditions and this simplifies the battery management requirements.

•

Flat discharge characteristic (but falls off rapidly at the end of the cycle)

•

Wide operating temperature range

•

Rapid charge possible in 1 hour

•

Trickle charging cannot normally be used with NiMH batteries since overcharging can cause deterioration of the battery. Chargers should therefore incorporate a timer to prevent overcharging.

•

Because of potential pressure build up due to gassing they usually incorporate a re-sealable vent valve

•

Reconditioning is possible

•

Environmentally friendly (no cadmium, mercury or lead)

•

Much safer than lithium based cells in case of an accident or abuse due to the use of more benign active chemicals, a particularly important property in high power and automotive applications.

With thanks to Barrie Lawson, Electropaedia at www.mpoweruk.com

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FLOW BATTERIES

At the Energy Storage show in Düsseldorf this March, the highest profile battery technology in the exhibition hall was not lithium ion — as one might expect based on its popularity as the goto option for containerized storage systems for grid services. It wasn’t the all-rounder lead acid battery either. It was vanadium redox flow battery technology. That said it’s still too early to claim that this is a chemistry that has hit its stride commercially. However, more competitive technology, better production processes and economies of scale are starting to happen across this sector of the global energy storage industry. And that is what is needed to make these batteries competitive with other,

66 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

more prevalent, technologies. Four years ago a price of $1000 per kW was reckoned to be about standard but subsequently fell to around $500 per kWh. Last November Imergy Power Systems announced that it was ready to push it below $300 per kWh. However, economies of scale may > page 68

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FLOW BATTERIES

“

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“Redox flow batteries provide benefits that no other battery is able to. These are a lowest cost ability to store very large quantities of energy without having to install costly battery capacity … this is because it allows the user to add duration without having to add capacity. So one can have a one kilowatt one hour battery or a one kilowatt eight hour battery.”

”

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 67

FLOW BATTERIES

At the 100MW Beizhen wind farm in China, vanadium redox flow battery storage is being tested along with lithium ion energy storage systems to provide various grid functions and services

push the cost of materials further but because of their size, they may sometimes have to be custom-built on site. Some companies are in the process of scaling up, while others are still at the pilot stage. But, projects are growing in number and there is a sense that the redox flow battery — a technology that has been understood for some time but not reckoned to be commercial — may finally have found its market in energy storage. “Flow batteries are a very interesting technology because they can be easily made in the size and shape that we want,” says one developer. “Their electrical storage is limited only by the capacity of the tanks. “But they have two things working against them. One is their size, and the other is energy density and efficiency, which is comparable to lead acid batteries and nowhere near as high as lithium ion. They are also more complex, requiring pumps, sensors, control units and secondary containment vessels.”

Too much wind

Cookie-cutter approach: To reduce the costs associated with assembling and installing its redox flow battery systems, Rongke has developed containerized systems

A COOPERATIVE INVESTMENT MODEL

Bürger Speichern Energie, a cooperative established along the lines of those that have been the main form of investor in the majority of Germany’s wind farms. Bürger Speichern Energie, headquartered in Erfurt, is setting up a network of storage systems across Germany using Gildemeister’s CellCube redox flow battery storage systems. Citizens can become co-

68 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

owners in the cooperative by buying a share. The amount the members invest is between €500 ($560) and €3000. Projected dividends are steady, at about 5% a year. The storage systems owned by the cooperative do tasks such as shaving the peak loads of wind and solar farms and storing surplus electricity then selling it to the grid later for a decent price.

One promising area is the use of flow batteries with wind farms. As the installed base of wind power has grown, regional utilities and grid operators the world over are left scratching their heads over the same problem, of what to do when there is too much wind and the imbalance this causes the grid. The approach so far is one of curtailment, which means when the turbines are spinning the grid operator does not send the power into the grid. The producer, in other words, is paid not to dispatch power. If new wind and solar farms continue to be built curtailment makes less and less sense as a long term fix. It means that no matter how many more wind turbines are installed, the share of this type of renewable electricity in the generation mix remains limited. For some markets — take Ireland for example which wants to build enough wind capacity to supply 40% or more of electricity demand — other options are needed. One alternative is to expand the grid network. More high-voltage transmission lines would be able to transport excess wind. But such projects can come at immense cost to the taxpayer and usually take years to complete. With most major global economies still nowhere near back on their feet after the 2008 crisis, utilities are cashstrapped. The situation is similar in China where the economy continues to slow (even if the pace of growth ex-

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FLOW BATTERIES ceeds most of the developed Western world.) China has now beaten the US as the world’s largest wind market by installed capacity, proving, just as Germany has managed to do, that renewables can flourish under the right combination of regulations, policy and incentives. At the end of 2014, China boasted an installed capacity of over 100GW. But while this might be more than that of the US, wind accounts for a smaller share of China’s electricity supply compared to the US. Curtailment rather than network investment has been the strategy for China when there is too much wind electricity and not enough demand. Historically, most of China’s wind farms were built in the northern and western regions while the demand for electricity comes from the industrial zones and mega-cities mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the country. Getting the electricity across the vast country, from remote wind farms, to where the demand is remains a challenge. China’s National Energy Administration says that, in 2012 and 2013 wind curtailment rates were 17%. But these rates have been reduced thanks to several billion dollars spent by China’s State Grid and other utilities on building long distance power lines. However as China strives to hit future wind targets — including 200GW by the next decade — more costly transmission lines have to be approved by the state grid. At least five are in the works, running into billions of dollars each. So, is there an alternative? To help the Chinese power sector exploit more wind generated electricity, reducing curtailment and help ensure more of China’s electricity comes from renewable resources energy storage systems using vanadium redox flow batteries look promising.

Where flow batteries fit

Vanadium redox flow batteries have specific attributes that make them suitable for such a task. They work best as a long-duration storage tank, banking excess wind power and feeding it into the grid, smoothing and firming the supply, up to a few hours later. “In other words they enable wind farms to act like base load generation,” says Lars Möllenhoff, managing director of Cellstrom, an Austrian subsidiary of energy storage developer Gildemeister. Cellstrom has developed and

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INDIA GOES OFFGRID, TELECOMS

In March Imergy announced a deal where it is to supply 1,000 of its vanadium flow battery systems for rural electrification and solar microgrid projects that SunEdison is developing in India. SunEdison is positioning itself as a global renewable energy developer. The company’s main business is solar PV, however its expansion into wind and also energy storage completes the portfolio. Although SunEdison is technology agnostic it is an equity investor in several companies, one of which is Imergy and it recently bought smallscale solar and storage developer Solar Grid Storage. The solar storage systems will be rolled out over about four years, with the first one recently completed in February in Rajasthan. By the end of 2015, Imergy will expect to ship over 100 of its battery systems for the project. Imergy has already supplied its batteries in India, for a small number of evaluation projects and pilots where the batteries are used to provide power for mobile cell towers, instead of lead acid. Some have been running for two years. But the market is competitive. Even though the total cost of ownership is reduced with Imergy’s batteries, converting companies to flow batteries is challenging because the technology is newer and companies feel comfortable with lead acid. Imergy is also looking at cell tower opportunities in Africa where the

Special chemistry: Imergy is supplying 1000 of its vanadium redox flow batteries to SunEdison as part of a project to roll out these batteries with solar as the basis of microgrids to provide rural communities in India with electricity

market has good growth prospects. In India many of the batteries will be installed with cell towers, which will provide local communities with electricity, initially for lighting at night and also cell phone charging. In most cases for each project with SunEdison, Imergy will supply its battery systems in 15kW-20kW sizes, providing about eight to 10 hours of storage. Many of the projects will be in Rajasthan. Omnigrid Micropower Company (OMC) is the local partner on the ground installing the projects. Financing models will match the budgets and spending patterns the villages already use to buy fuel for lighting and cooking in the form of kerosene, with each village paying a central station to top its lighting and electricity. The idea is that as the communities gain wealth, due to having access to electricity, in future more batteries can be added to meet demand for additional appliances and even electric bikes.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 69

FLOW BATTERIES commercialized containerized energy storage systems using vanadium redox flow chemistry. This type of requirement is very different to using batteries for discharging power to meet grid signals for frequency control, for instance. Rongke Power, headquartered in the seaport city of Dalian, was set up in 2008 by Dalian Bolong Holding Group and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dalian Bolong Holding is an investor and strategic partner in several companies worldwide that are involved in commercializing vanadium redox flow technology and energy storage systems based on these batteries. They include UniEnergy Technologies (UET) in Washington, Vanadis Power in Nuremburg, Germany and Bolong New Materials, which supplies the chemicals for making electrolytes. Over the past seven years Rongke Power has been producing vanadium redox flow battery stacks and energy storage systems based on these kinds of batteries. Initial projects using the company’s batteries have been for smaller applications. These include several off-grid buildings, remote and microgrid projects as well as for solar photovoltaics integration. Customers include Ningxia Electric Power, Chinese wind turbine maker and project developer Goldwind as well as research institutes. More recent projects are proving how Rongke’s batteries are compatible with wind power generation. Rongke is trying to estimate the potential market size for flow battery-based energy storage to address wind curtailment in China. It could be in the hundreds of MW and MWh range. If this seems a lot, in 2011 wind curtailments in China prevented over 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from reaching the grid. But the timeline of market ramp-up is harder to estimate since it depends on political decisions about investments. These projects could end up being rolled out over many years to come. In 2013 the company installed its flow batteries at a wind farm owned by Longyuan Group, the largest wind power producer in China and also the rest of the Asia-Pacific. Rongke shared results of the project during the Energy Storage show in Düsseldorf.

Increasing wind farm capacity

Co-locating flow batteries increases the generating capacity of Longyuan’s 50MW Woniushi wind farm in Liaon-

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ing, a province bordering North Korea. It is the first demonstration of a vanadium redox flow battery with a wind farm in China. At 5MW/10MWh Woniushi is the largest operational vanadium redox flow energy storage installation, not just in China, but worldwide. According to Rongke’s sales director John Zhang the 5MW/10MWh flow battery storage system has continuously operated with a stable output and timely responses, since it began operations in May 2013. In 2012, before the battery was installed, Woniushi wind farm supplied about 71.5 million kWh of electricity to the grid. In 2013, with the battery, this amount increased to about 97.5 million kWh, translating to more than 500 hours more of effective generation time. The priority application has been to improve power quality for market trading — smoothing and firming. Storing wind, instead of curtailment, is also a key advantage. As well as Woniushi, Rongke has installed its redox flow systems at two other wind farms for output smoothing, power output optimization and to address curtailment. One is 3MW/6MWh. The other is a 2MW/4MWh system installed at the 100MW Beizhen wind farm in Jinzhou City at the end of 2014. In this project the flow battery is used with a 5MW/10MWh lithium ion battery. The hybrid energy storage system will be used for providing ancillary services in future. Both technologies will be tested side by side in terms of how they deliver all of these functions and services. Vanadis Power — Rongke’s strategic partner — has supplied

“Energy storage systems using vanadium redox flow batteries enable wind farms to act like base load generation” — Lars Möllenhoff, Cellstrom a similar project in Braderup, northern Germany. Since September 2014 a 0.3MWh/1MWh flow battery has been operating as part of a hybrid energy storage system, which also includes lithium ion batteries, to provide several functions and services. These include frequency regulation, storage of excess energy for loads of local homes by the wind farm, energy trading and also grid stabilization. Germany’s windswept north is where most of the country’s installed wind

“Redox flow batteries provide benefits that no other battery is able to. These are a lowest cost ability to store very large quantities of energy without having to install costly battery capacity” — Jack Stark, Imergy Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 71

FLOW BATTERIES power capacity is to be found, while most of the demand is further south. For Germany to maximize its use of installed wind power capacity while avoiding upsetting the grid, the alternative options to curtailment are investing in new transmission lines and grid network infrastructure or using more batteries. The Braderup project means network investments can be delayed.

Reducing costs

More recently Rongke’s efforts have focused on reducing the costs associated with its vanadium redox flow batteries and energy storage systems based on the experience of the projects that it has executed so far. A second generation flow battery energy storage system developed the by company is containerized, to shorten onsite works and lower labour costs as most of the assembly can be done in the factory rather than onsite. The containerized system can be transported in one go rather than as separate components. Andreas Luczak, managing director of Rongke’s sister company Vanadis Power says other areas are being addressed too: “We are working on reducing the cost for expensive materials required for the stack production, such as the membranes. In addition, we are further optimizing the design of the stacks to get more power out of them. Finally, we are constantly optimizing the design of the balance-of-plant, which is about 30% of the total costs.” In 2016 Rongke will expand stack production at its factory in China from 50MW to 300MW. These will supply global as well as domestic demand. “Obviously economies of scale with higher production volumes will also bring down the cost similar to that what we have seen happen in the PV industry,” he says. The company’s containerized second generation system, which incorporates full integration of stacks, electrolyte, balance-of-plant, battery management and support systems comes in two sizes, 60kW/400kWh and 125kW/650kWh. For large-scale longer duration applications, such as those for wind farms, Rongke has also developed a MWclass containerized energy storage system, which has been installed at the Beizhen wind farm. The system can be supplied with the electrolyte tanks on the outside. “This is because with bigger tanks it is often more economic to use standard tanks outside of the power containers

72 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

“Ireland is a promising market since it is targeting one of the highest penetrations of wind energy in a grid anywhere in Europe” — Andreas Luczak, Vanadis Power and they are more flexible to size the capacity exactly according to customer needs,” says Luczak. Vanadis Power’s sister company UET also recently launched a 500kWh fully containerized system. With 60kW and 125kW systems the company is targeting microgrids, the commercial and industrial market and also off-grid demand. The 60kW system will be launched in Europe by mid-2015, coinciding with installation for a specific project in Germany. “The application is the optimization of decentralized electricity generation by an industrial customer (increase of autarchy) and for providing grid support for the distribution grid operator,” says Luczak. The 125kW system is also available for similar applications. In Germany Vanadis is not the only company that has commercialized vanadium redox flow batteries. Gildemeister has supplied a number of customers in Germany and also the Benelux. Gildemeister is also supplying a wind farm project in northern Germany, which will be operational in September. Möllenhoff sees potential for the technology to be installed with every wind farm in future in Germany. Such a vision is a long way off and requires the technology to be more competitive. “It already is getting there. The more aggressive end of pricing for lithium ion batteries predicts about €200/kWh. Prices for vanadium redox flow batteries are already around €350/kWh,” says Möllenhoff. Unlike lithium ion batteries, which

require expensive high-tech production tools and lines, the tanks of electrolytes that are the heart of a vanadium redox flow battery are not so cost-intensive to make. “At the system level, that is where the focus needs to be on reducing costs. We have a plan over the next four to five years to reduce our system costs by over 50%,” he says.

Newer players

The flow battery market unfolding in Germany is attracting other industrial players too. As part of a microgrid project on Fraunhofer ICT’s campus a flow battery is being built and should be running by 2016. The main thrust of the project is to investigate the feasibility of an industrial-scale flow battery as well as suitable applications. Schmalz, a supplier of automation technology and handling tools, is working on the stack design, developed by Fraunhofer ICT, and will build a production line. Schmid Group, a German equipment manufacturer specializing in wet process systems for industries including photovoltaics, is building a production line for making redox flow batteries and energy storage systems. The company expects to start manufacturing in 2016. Schmid is mainly targeting resident opportunities where the batteries can be installed to enable the customer to use more of their selfgenerated solar photovoltaic electricity. Germany has the biggest installed capacity of photovoltaic systems of any country in Europe. Schmid has been testing one of its

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batterie füllungs systeme gmbh ing. klaus oschmann

bfs-sys t e m s t ru c t ure for b a t t e r y w a t e rin g 35 years of research, development and distribution of single point watering and degassing systems for lead acid batteries have given the company its unique profile. Plug IV and the new connection system - consisting of coupling, filter cartridge and flow indicator - won the iF-design award. synthesis of technology and design

batterie füllungs systeme gmbh · ing. klaus oschmann · mitterweg 9-11 · d-85232 bergkirchen / Germany phone: +49 8131 36400 · email: info@bfsgmbh.de · www.batteryfillingsystems.com · www.bfsgmbh.de

FLOW BATTERIES flow battery systems, at a residential home in Germany, since January 2014 in a joint project with local utility Stadtwerken Freudenstadt. The 24kW/120kWh system saves surplus electricity produced by a diesel generator on site, enabling savings. While Germany is obviously showing demand for the technology, Luczak says: “Ireland is a promising market since it is targeting one of the highest penetrations of wind energy in a grid anywhere in Europe.”

US developments

But outside of China, in the shorter term it is the US market that is moving along more quickly. “This is due partly to the 1.3GW storage mandate in California. The most important application in the state is grid support especially for the afternoon when in the future there will be a very steep ramp of generation demand increase with solar generation going down and electricity demand going up in the afternoon, known as the duck curve,” says Luczak. But he also sees other opportunities elsewhere in the US. “States like New York are also targeting black start capabilities potentially required during hurricanes.” Since 2014 UET has supplied four flow battery systems in the US together totalling 16MWh. The largest of these, which is 2MW/8MWh, is installed at a utility substation for providing grid support. Other installations are at industrial manufacturing sites for providing peak shaving and load shifting. UET produces large-scale energy storage systems for utility, micro-grid, commercial and industrial customers. Its premises near Seattle include a 67,000 sq ft factory which is being scaled up to produce 100MW annually. As well as a strategic partnership with Rongke Power to manufacture stacks, Rongke’s partner Bolong New Materials supplies UET with chemicals to make its electrolytes. While they are not as compact as lithium ion batteries or able to release power as rapidly, flow batteries make sense where there is the need to release power over several hours. The sweet spot for flow batteries is in the range of four to six or even eight hours. This is what is making them interesting for a wide range of applications and markets. The mining industry, for example would be able to make good use of this type of profile, where a flow battery can store power generated by some on-site solar panels and then inject this into

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the mining operation’s own microgrid power supply, helping to reduce heavy reliance on diesel power. Californian company Imergy, which supplies vanadium redox flow batteries and storage systems, is targeting offgrid and related applications in fields such as mining. The company’s recently launched 250kW system — a scalable containerized offering — was developed with large off-grid and microgrid uses in mind as well as for grid-tied utility markets. “Redox flow batteries provide benefits that no other battery is able to. These are a lowest cost ability to store very large quantities of energy without having to install costly battery capacity,” says Imergy’s chief financial officer Jack Stark. “This is because it allows the user to add duration without having to add capacity. So one can have a one kilowatt

one hour battery or a one kilowatt eight hour battery.” Unlike lithium ion and lead acid batteries flow batteries can be charged and then discharged to a level of 100% many times over. Most other battery technologies become damaged if discharged more than 50%-60%. One potential downside levelled at redox flow batteries is their size and weight compared with other batteries, dues to the big tanks of electrolytes, making them harder to transport. But Stark counters this. “Wherever there is a road, you can transport redox flow batteries and because of their size and weight they can are hard to steal, which can be an issue with other battery technologies, especially in remote locations.”

DC microgrids

In the US, Imergy has also been chosen to partner with Bosch to provide

HYBRID FLOW BATTERIES Similar to a conventional battery, the hybrid flow battery (where the electroactive component is deposited as a solid layer) is limited in energy to the amount of solid material that can be accommodated within the reactor. In practical terms this means that the discharge time of a redox flow battery at full power can be varied, as required, from several minutes to many days, whereas a hybrid flow battery may be typically varied from several minutes to a few hours. Types include: zinc bromide, zinccerium and lead acid flow. Zinc-bromine is a type of redox flow battery that uses zinc and bromine in solution to store energy as charged ions in tanks of electrolytes. As in vanadium redox systems, the Zn/Br battery is charged and discharged in a

reversible process as the electrolytes are pumped through a reactor vessel. In the early stages of field deployment and demonstration, these batteries are still developmentally immature. While field experience is currently limited, vendors claim estimated lifetimes of 20 years, long cycle lives, and operational AC-to-AC efficiencies of approximately 65% to 70%. Still in laboratory R&D stages, zincair batteries represent another next generation technology that offers high potential for higher energy densities and lower costs than even Li-ion. Zinc-air shares the same path to scale as lithium — with initial application in portable electronics, where cost is barely an issue. Volume production may bring costs down.

LIFETIME EXPECTATIONS

The lifespan of flow-type batteries is not strongly affected by cycling. Their energy density is low — about 40Wh per kilogram — though recent research indicates that a modified electrolyte solution can produce a 70% improvement in energy density. Suppliers of vanadium redox systems estimate that the lifespan

of the cell stacks to be 15 or more years, while the balance of plant and electrolyte can have life-times of over 25 years. System suppliers report achieving cycling capability of 10,000 or more cycles at 100% depth of discharge. The physical scale of vanadium redox systems tends to be large due to the large volumes of electrolyte required when sized for megawatthour utility-scale projects. Types include: vanadium redox flow, polysulfide bromide, uranium redox flow.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 75

FLOW BATTERIES its flow batteries for a $2.8 million DC renewables microgrid demonstration project funded by the California Energy Commission. Bosch’s microgrid platform enables buildings to use DC electronics and loads, such as lighting powered directly by on-site solar photovoltaic electricity generation, also DC augmented by Imergy’s batteries and ultracapacitors from Maxwell Technologies, which also produce electricity as direct current. The project will demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of a commercialscale DC building grid that integrates various advanced technologies to provide reliable power to the loads on the DC grid, resilience during grid outages, increased energy efficiencies and high renewable energy use. Once the project is installed and commissioned, performance data will be collected to validate cost savings in electricity, gains in energy efficiency, which should occur as the power does not need to be converted back and forth and the various capabilities of the microgrid’s energy management system. In the project the redox flow batteries will provide long duration and high power, whereas competing technologies are able to support high power and short duration. The Bosch microgrid will need long duration power, eight to 10 hours but also quick power. Imergy’s flow batteries are cost significantly less to produce because the company has developed a proprietary formulation that yields batteries with twice the density of other technologies. The company has also developed a method that allows it to reuse waste vanadium as the material does not need to have a 99.9% purity like other vanadium chemistries. These combined mean the company’s batteries use substantially less vanadium, so reducing the cost of the batteries. The batteries are also able to perform well in temperature extremes without the need for air cooling or warming equipment. Results from the batteries in India are showing good performance even in conditions above 40°C. The company’s latest series — 250kW modules — are part of Imergy’s aim to supply modules for large grid scale projects. Its portfolio is now complete, spanning small, for cell masts, medium, for commercial and industrial and also batteries for multi-MW projects. The company is in talks to supply projects

76 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

of up to 10MW in size, which would use multiple 250kW units strung together to work as one large bank. Imergy is also going after grid storage projects in the US and also Europe, competing with gas turbines and demand or load management in places such as Germany.

“There is no single incumbent battery or storage technology we are claiming to replace. It depends on application and location. In India and cell masts it is lead acid, but in the industrialized grids of the US and western Europe, it could be gas turbines or demand side management,” says Stark.

INCREDIBLE HULKS Spend time around people who work in the energy storage industry and an often repeated phrase can be heard. There is no one single electrochemical storage technology. It is a case of horses for courses, as the saying goes. Depending on what the system will be used for, as well as other factors, indicates what type of battery and size of battery will be needed for the asset to carry out its various tasks most cost-effectively over the system’s expected lifetime. A promising weapon in the energy storage industry’s armoury of battery hardware is vanadium redox flow chemistry. The technology is particularly useful for longduration storage requirements. It complements wind as well as solar, storing surplus amounts of excess energy for bridging the gap to feed into the grid several hours later when there is demand. Here are some of the technology’s benefits for energy storage:

• The electrochemical reaction takes place at normal pressure and temperatures. The battery is nonflammable • Independently rated energy and power capacity. This means better scalability and flexibility • Batteries can be cycled for up to 20 years and can be discharged up to 100% without degradation that occurs in other types of batteries • Real-time monitoring of the state of charge of flow batteries with active thermal management is possible • Flow battery electrolytes are recyclable, whereas lithium ion batteries are not. This makes the long-term economics more favourable • Flow battery benefits and value streams are stackable. For example a single installation can provide renewables Integration, ancillary services and other market revenue services, T&D system capacity and reliability support and isolated loads.

ESS Performance Planed capacity Real capacity

ESS operation start

At 2013, the generating capacity of WONIUSHI wind farm is much larger than that of 2012, with 97.435 million kWhs of 2013 and 71.569 million kWhs of 2012, about 500h+ extra effective generation time 1.

Priority market trade(improved power quality)

Wind storing while curtailment condition

The chart (on the right) shows how the battery installation at Woniushi wind farm in China has increased the generating capacity of the wind farm. This is because more power can be sent to the grid, as opposed to curtailed, prior to the battery being installed

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FLOW BATTERIES

The cost of EU grid integration Growing amounts of renewables — wind and solar — have exacerbated the need for investment in expanding the grid network all over Europe. In some countries the situation is more serious than others. In Sweden, for example, where wind accounts for about 8% of the country’s electricity generation supply, new wind power projects have been put on hold. This is partly because the country lacks the infrastructure to transport surplus wind energy from where the majority of wind farms are built to capture the resource in its abundance, to places where the demand is. Building new transmission lines is seen as one of the main options to overcome this bottleneck. Interconnectors are transmission cables for supplying electricity from one region or country to another. One country might be experiencing an oversupply of wind power but with an interconnector it could send the surplus to its neighbours. The European Commission wants to have many more of these crossborder transmission cables linking up the various 28 member states, effectively pooling Europe’s electricity supply. To achieve this a new EU target sets out that all member states must achieve interconnection of at least 10% of their installed electricity production capacity by 2020. While an admirable big-picture approach, the cost of dissolving Europe’s electricity borders by crisscrossing the continent with more long

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The cost of dissolving Europe’s electricity borders by criss-crossing the continent with more long distance power lines is expected to be in the region of €40 billion conservatively. Think how many storage systems that could buy with plenty of change left over. distance power lines is expected to be in the region of €40 billion ($44 billion) conservatively. Think how many storage systems that could be bought — with plenty of change left over — which could expand the capacities of grids and, if planned well, provide a raft of ancillary services and benefits too. An example of how expensive, as well as contentious, investments in new transmission lines can be is hap-

pening between France and Spain. The two countries already share an interconnector. France, heavily reliant on nuclear power-supplied electric heating, imports excess power from Spain in the winter and exports fairly cheap nuclear energy to Spain at other times. After a number of years of backand-forthing, the French and Spanish power grid operators have recently completed a second power line that will allow Spain to export some of its excess electricity generated from wind and solar to France rather than resort to building more thermal power stations to cover demand. When it goes live in June, the cable, which crosses the Pyrenees mountains, where the two countries border, will double French-Spanish interconnection capacity to just under 3GW. But to keep the Pyrenees unmarred by unsightly pylons the new DC interconnector, 65km in total, has had to be buried, at a cost of €700 million. It’s an extreme case but goes to show that preparing and constructing miles of transmission cables can be an extravagantly expensive way to integrate more renewables into the grid. Europe does need new interconnectors to help accommodate more wind and solar being built across the continent. But it raises the question of whether there should be a case made for an EU-wide policy that views energy storage as part of the bigger picture also.

Energy Batteries Storage International Journal • Summer 2015 • 77

ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS Energy storage lets island and other types of remote grids use more wind and solar, lowering electricity costs, while building a better understanding of the technology’s role within mainland grids

Reaping the benefits of replacing diesel generation with renewables The frozen wastes of the Arctic and the sun drenched archipelagos of the Pacific have one thing in common. The need for power. And, for communities in remote places with no or limited grid connection, diesel power generation has been the only — and expensive — way to produce electricity. According to Reiner Lemoine, a Berlin-based non-profit renewables research institute, diesel power units for providing primary power, situated over 100km from any form of transmission grid, can be found on almost every continent and on many islands. These range from under a megawatt in size up to 250MW. However, most

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are between 2.5MW to 45MW and are to be found mainly in eastern Africa, Chile, Peru, the Caribbean, Alaska, south-east Asia and western and central Australia. In 2012 the annual market for new generators for continuous services was 20GW and is predicted to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 21% until 2017. A sizeable portion of this market can be converted to solar photovoltaics. However, securing financing for these types of off-grid projects can be difficult. Often, investors lack the upfront capital to invest outright. OneShore, which was set up two

years ago by founders who had spent many years in the solar industry, works with local, mainly private, investors to convert part of their existing diesel generation capacity to solar photovoltaics. The company’s focus is in east Africa, where its potential customers are businesses and communities in tourism, agriculture and industry. OneShore’s transparent approach to customer load measurement and system design enables its clients to finance the system over the long term and benefit by paying less for electricity at a fixed rate, usually in the form of power purchase agreements. > page 80

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 79

ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS The company has produced data that shows how integrating solar into a diesel generation operation can reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The LCOE takes into account all costs associated with building a power plant, including construction and installation as well as operational expenditure such as fuel and maintenance. OneShore also shows how greater LCOE savings are possible when batteries are also integrated into the hybrid microgrid, optimizing the share of solar-generated electricity. This can be attractive once investors and financiers feel comfortable with providing financing for storage systems in remote locations. OneShore is adapting modelling methods commonplace in the solar industry to help de-risk investments in hybridizing diesel generation into microgrids using solar and, potentially, energy storage. In collaboration with GIZ, the German development agency, and VDE the German Association of Electrical Engineers which has established many relevant standards around the world, OneShore has co-developed an application guide. This allows investors and their developer partners for off-grid projects to validate input data used to simulate PV-diesel and also energy storage projects. (See case study box.) What is clear is that over the operational lifetime of a hybrid microgrid using diesel-solar-storage significant savings on the cost of electricity are possible, even when considering the downward trend in oil pricing. While this has had an impact on the cost of diesel, this is not as much as one might think. Crude oil is only part of the pricing picture. For remote communities, hundreds of kilometres from a mainland grid, once factors such as transportation costs are taken into account it all adds up. OneShore is adapting modelling methods commonplace in the solar industry to help de-risk investments in hybridizing diesel generation into microgrids using solar and, potentially, energy storage.

Storage keeps the grid stable

OneShore’s analysis shows the introduction of renewable resources into an island or remote grid reliant on diesel quickly creates savings on electricity. However there is a limit to how much renewables an island grid

80 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

can absorb with before the intermittent nature of solar or wind starts to destabilize the grid. Integrating energy storage has a critical part to play in increasing the renewables quotient in a remote grid application otherwise excess power is not sent to the grid. The opportunity is attracting some established players from the battery industry. Paris-headquartered Saft is one of these. The company has supplied its energy storage systems to remote and island grid projects in several regions and countries, including Hawaii, Spain and Bolivia, and has more projects in the pipeline, including a remote community in the Arctic Circle and an island off the coast of Japan. Saft’s lithium ion batteries, based on technology commercialized for over 15 years, are mainly used in the systems. Last year the company led a consortium to develop a 9MW solar farm and a 4.5MW/9MWh energy storage plant on La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Saft was awarded the contract by renewables developer Akuo Energy. Partners included Ingeteam, a Spanish supplier of power electronics and energy management systems. Co-

rex Solar built the solar farm and the energy storage facility. “While renewable energy represents about 30% of the island’s electricity, any further increase of solar power in La Réunion’s energy mix, without smoothing or curtailment, affects grid stability. The battery supports the integration of more solar,” says Michael Lippert, business development manager, energy storage systems, at Saft. As solar has become more competitive against the price of diesel, remote areas are using more solar to reduce diesel. But it is not a case of simply just coupling both together. “If you have, say, a 10MW diesel generation capacity then you can complement 50% of this with solar PV, or 5MW. But in this case solar only accounts for about 20% of the generation supply, because of the intermittent character of solar generation and the fact that the generator has to run at night,” L:ippert says. When storage is added solar penetration is increased. “In our case, a 10MW diesel generation capacity can accommodate 10MW or more of solar PV. The storage system isn’t only storing energy for use when the sun sets but also provides other criti-

Island grids can be viewed as microcosms of mainland grids. Knowledge gathered from them can be useful and relevant to prepare for the coming years when increasing amounts of renewables demand more flexible approaches to keeping those big extensive mainland grids in balance. Comparision between fuel savings and energy storage Fuel save concept

Energy storage concept

Energy consumption

450,936kWh/a

Solar installation size

100kWp

180kWp

Solar energy contribution

150,605kWh

269,191kwh/a

Solar energy share

33%

60%

Solar excess energy

11%

Generator runtime

8,760hrs/a

5,324hrs/a

Battery size

n/a

100kWh/200kWh

Overall investment cost

€240,000

€700,000

Annual savings

€91,991

€162,337

Payback in years

2.6

4.3

LCOE (diesel only: $0.60/kWh) $0.40/kWh

$0.24/kWh

Remote solar and energy storage projects developer OneShore shows LCOE savings of a solar-diesel (fuel save concept) and a solar-diesel-storage microgrid, compared with diesel-only systems.

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ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS Tiny Ventotene: a potential model for the huge island microgrid market

EU island grids: a still-untapped market opportunity In the coastal waters around EU member states, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, there are hundreds of islands, offering a huge market to the still small island grid market. The reason is simple: most of their electricity supply is generated from oil, which must be shipped in. As many of these islands are reliant on one type of economy – tourism – their electricity demand fluctuates with the peaks and the lows of the tourist season. One such island is Ventotene, part of the small Pontine archipelago, lying off the coast between Rome and Naples. Just a few kilometres long, Ventotene has about 750 residents, which swells to several thousand in the summer months. Siemens is supplying Italian utility Enel Group with a 0.3MW/0.6MWh lithium ion battery storage system. The installation should be operational in the summer. The energy storage system will allow the inhabitants of Ventotene to reduce fuel consumption and lower the risk of blackouts, while also increasing the security of supply and energy efficiency, as well as integrat-

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ing renewable energy into the local electricity grid. The battery system is installed next to the generators and will store electricity for use when there are peaks in demand. The system has several functions. • Modulating generators, to stabilize the entire distribution system • Makes electricity supply more secure; • Limits the island’s annual fossil fuel consumption by 25% • Cuts greenhouse gases emissions • Integrates already operational renewable energy power plants, so that the island’s inhabitants can install new ones without unbalancing the network Philip Hiersemenzel, at energy storage system integrator Younicos, sees many opportunities for such is-

lands throughout Europe. He sees the Greek islands as just one sort of example. They have plenty of natural resources and are heavily reliant on shipping in fuel for electricity, especially for peak tourism periods. With some renewables installed and a battery their reliance on fossil fuels can be significantly reduced. “Storage systems provide many other benefits too and they do not have to be that big in terms of capacity to achieve these,” he says. Endesa, Spain’s largest utility in which Enel holds a stake, has also invested in energy storage for the Canary islands, as part of the Store project, which also received funding from the Spanish government. The project includes a 1MW/3MWh lithium ion energy storage system supplied by Saft, installed on Gran Canaria used to test its capabilities to offer ancillary services in the same way as a conventional generation unit, to manage demand, provide inertia and active power to the system, regulate voltage and play a role in secondary voltage regulation.

The energy storage system will allow the inhabitants of Ventotene to reduce fuel consumption and lower the risk of blackouts, while also increasing the security of supply and energy efficiency, as well as integrating renewable energy into the local electricity grid. Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 81

ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS cal functions, such as smoothing the intermittency of solar and stabilizing the grid which allows to run the diesel at a stable, optimum power rate and even to shut off of the diesel generator for periods of time,” says Lippert. In South America, Saft has supplied its lithium ion battery systems for a hybrid solar and diesel microgrid project, which became operational at the end of 2014. Pando is in the remote tropical northern part of Bolivia in the Amazonian rain forest, on the border of Brazil and also Peru. It is not connected to the country’s national grid, so electricity coverage is 65%, with the 37GWh of demand met exclusively by diesel generation. Like other parts of central and South America, Bolivia has a high degree of solar irradiation. Isotron, part of Spain’s Isastur Group, built a hybrid power plant that uses both solar photovoltaics and diesel generation and includes an energy storage system from Saft. Germany’s SMA provided the power conversion equipment. The 2MW of battery capacity supplied by Saft enables the diesel-solarstorage plant to meet around half the energy demand in the Pando department’s capital city of Cobija and neighbouring towns, equal to a total peak load of around 9MW. With a total output of 21MW, the hybrid plant increases the overall production of electricity in the Pando department, bringing it in line with the rest of Bolivia, which has electricity coverage of 80%. Saft in Japan its supplying its energy storage system for a remote island microgrid project run by Takaoka Toko Company, a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on the island of NiiJima in the Philippine Sea. Niijima, south-east of Tokyo, takes over two hours to reach by jet boat. The microgrid will also include diesel generators, solar panels and wind power turbines. The 520 kWh/1MW battery will operate in combination with Takaoka-Toko’s intelligent control systems that enable large amounts of wind and other renewables to be integrated into diesel powered grids, ensuring system stability and smooth control of the gen-sets. The project will see how the energy storage system performs tasks such as ramping and frequency smoothing. Saft has been developing energy storage technology and systems for a number of years but it was in 2012

82 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

“The profile of wind generation is very demanding on battery energy storage systems, unlike photovoltaics which tends to be relatively simpler. Our system can accommodate two different load profiles simultaneously” — Anil Srivastava, Leclanché when the company started commercializing its containerized lithium ion energy storage system. The company has shipped and installed about 70 containers worldwide. While a number of installations are connected to mainland grids in Europe and North America, the company has supplied several island or remote grids. Lippert says such projects are a sig-

nificant part of the company’s energy storage pipeline at present.

Partnerships

Leclanché, another well established European battery firm, is also drawn to island and remote grid projects. The company is partnering with Younicos, a Berlin-based start-up that provides intelligent software controls that interface between energy storage

Solar at the top of the world: Northwest Territories Power Corporation has revamped the Colville Lake power station with what could be one of the most northerly microgrids in the world. The installation includes solar photovoltaics and an energy storage system integrated with diesel generation to create a hybrid microgrid that will deliver cleaner, more reliable and less expensive power to Colville Lake’s 150 residents living 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Canada.

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ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS “While renewable energy represents about 30% of the island’s electricity, any further increase of solar power in La Réunion’s energy mix, without smoothing or curtailment affects grid stability. The battery supports the integration of more solar” — Michael Lippert, Saft

systems and grids. Its customers are mainly utilities, small and large. The company’s core focus is software development and integration so Younicos works with some big, established global suppliers of batteries and other hardware, including Samsung and now Leclanché. The Swiss battery maker is building a battery energy storage system, based on its lithium titanate chemistry, for a microgrid project on the island of

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Graciosa, in the Azores, an archipelago about 1500km from the coast of Portugal. The Azorean utility Electricidade dos Açores (EDA) has wanted to make renewables the main source of electricity for Graciosa, harnessing a 4.5MW wind farm and a 1MW solar farm to increase the share of renewables to 65%. This would allow the island to save the diesel generators only for when the weather gets really bad. Without energy storage renewables penetration would remain at less than 20%, even if the wind and solar capacity was increased. The battery energy storage system developed by Leclanché can integrate wind and solar photovoltaics. “The

profile of wind generation is very demanding on battery energy storage systems, unlike photovoltaics which tends to be relatively simpler. Our system can accommodate two different load profiles simultaneously,” says Anil Srivastava, chief executive of Leclanché. Other island projects that Younicos has supplied include a 3MW storage system on Kodiak off the southern coast of Alaska to improve grid stability as local utility KEC expanded its wind farm. The storage system allows the island to use more wind-generated electricity at the expense of diesel, without making the grid unstable. Younicos has also installed a 3MW storage system to firm solar on Kauai one of the largest islands in the Ha-

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 83

ANALYSIS: ISLAND MICROGRIDS “One example of island grids providing learning curves for mainland grids is that you do not need long duration…It is about counteracting the intermittency and even small batteries can do that well — Philip Hiersemenzel, Younicos waiian archipelago and provides frequency response for Kaua’i’s 70MW grid. The company has further island projects in the pipeline. One of these will be used to replace thermal generation capacity on another island in the Atlantic, but can be used to integrate renewables should the island decide to build wind or solar capacity in future. Just as Saft is seeing, such projects are a substantial part of Younicos’ business at present, about 50%. Philip Hiersemenzel, spokesman for Younicos, says: “Our experience from these projects has told us that the storage capacity can be relatively small to enable significant reductions in diesel consumption on an island. As well as storing energy, the system can be used to provide grid services, instead of using the gen-set for these. “The main ones are for providing grid stability and enhance the grid’s resilience. Frequency regulation, or control, voltage control, black-start capability, short circuit power, functions such as these and more, all of which are required for a mainland grid installation, can all be condensed into an island system.”

Sayonara nuclear: The volcanic island of Niijima, in the Philippine Sea, two and a half hours by jet boat from the mainland has been chosen for a five year experimental project that will simulate the Japanese grid in 2030, when wind and solar will account for at

84 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

Learning curve

As such, island grids can be viewed as microcosms of mainland grids, knowledge gathered from doing them can be useful and relevant to prepare for the coming years when increasing amounts of renewables demand more flexible approaches to keeping those big extensive mainland grids in balance. “In 2020-2030, the challenge will be how we manage the residual load, which is the load minus renewable generation. Demand side management addresses some of this issue, but on the generation side storage is going to be key for providing flexibility, but systems will also need to perform many different functions such as grid ancillary services,” says Lippert. Niijima island has about three thousand inhabitants. It has been chosen as the perfect miniature model of Japan in anticipation of the grid in 2030. Having embarked on a programme to close down its nuclear plants after Fukushima, the Japanese government is pushing ahead with a goal to generate 13.5% of Japan’s electricity from renewables by 2020, rising to 20% by 2030. Running for five years, the Niijima project will highlight the technical

least 20% of the electricity mix as Japan scales back on nuclear and fossil fuel power generation. On the island, solar, wind, diesel and a 1MWh lithium ion battery system, provided by Saft, will provide the 3000 residents with electricity. The different sources

challenges that need addressing when renewable energies – especially wind generation – are fed into the grid and will see how tools such as energy storage can alleviate some of these challenges. Hiersemenzel says: “One example of island grids providing learning curves for mainland grids is that you do not need long duration. Day does not need to be pushed into night. “Nightfall is predictable so thermal generation can be programmed to cover it. It is about counteracting the intermittency and even small batteries can do that well.” In the short to mid-term, remote grids are not only a lucrative opportunity for companies supplying or integrating energy storage systems they are providing valuable lessons for the future.

will be managed and operated by an intelligent control system developed by local utility TakaokaToko, ensuring system stability and smooth control of the gen-sets and renewable sources. The batteries will perform tasks such as ramping and frequency smoothing.

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT

Welcome to a special section of our magazine, called Conference in Print. Our aim is a simple one. We want to offer you the readers a section where you can highlight your products, technology and skills to our broader audience — rather like going to a conference or an exhibition without the inconvenience of all the travel! We’re putting no restrictions on what you’d like to showcase — this is your section not ours — but hope that this will prove an invaluable and cost-effective way to reach our audience of subscribers and readers.

CONFERENCE IN PRINT Shouji Usuda, guest professor at the Osaka Electro-Communication University and his colleague, professor Isao Iyoda, have devised a a simple table-top testing machine that offers the potential to extend our understanding of the standard nail penetration test.

Lithium ion nail penetration tests open doors to further understanding of energy density The nail penetration test is one of the standard safety evaluation tests for lithium-ion batteries and can be relatively easily duplicated in the laboratory. The results shown from these tests highlight the mix between the size of impact and the energy density of the battery. Lithium-ion batteries have has a high cycle performance and excellent energy density and have been widely used for portable devices such as cellular music players, satnavs and smartphones. In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have started to be adopted in hybrid cars (HEVs) as well as electric vehicles (EVs). In addition, lithium ion batteries have been used for power storage systems that combine solar power and wind power, and backup power supply of communication equipment. Large capacity lithium-ion batteries have three requirements. They must: 1) Have a large battery capacity and long life 2) Be excellent in terms of cost performance 3) Have high reliability and safety is guaranteed When lithium-ion batteries are used, it is essential the safety of the battery has to be guaranteed, and the safety measures are applied to the battery itself. It is essential that smoke and fire does not happen in the battery, and any leakage of the organic electrolyte filled in the battery does not occur. Such lithium-ion batteries must have high safety battery with high reliability.

This test method can be tested by changing the conditions such as the diameter, the material, the insertion position, the depth of insertion of the nail to be inserted and the insertion rate. The nail penetration test is an indispensable test to know the nature basic of the batteries, not only to ensure the safety of the battery.

Manufacture of the nail penetration testing machine

The bench-top hand press was a commercially available hydraulic pump, maximum press capacity, 4000kg stroke: 120mm with a 250mm stroke length extension bar which was used as the fixing mechanism, the experimental element of the nail penetration tester was produced by using steel nails of three different diameters (Figure 2, high-temperature-resistant white steel, diameter: 3mmΦ, 5mmΦ, 8mmΦ, length: 100mm). a

Mechanism of the nail penetration test

The nail penetration test allows one to evaluate the internal short circuit resistance of the lithium ion battery. By penetrating the nail to the battery, an internal short circuit can be generated in a pseudo manner. Figure 1 shows the image of the nail penetration test.

Figure 1: Image of the nail penetration test 86 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

Figure 2 (a): Three types of nails (b): Nail experimental machine. (c): Battery fixed on to the experimental machine www.batteriesinternational.com

CONFERENCE IN PRINT For safety’s sake, the hand press can be remotely operated by a hydraulic pump installed separately away from the body. The nail insertion fixture of the stroke extension bar tip for fixing the nails with a screw was fabricated within the university.

The nail was inserted into the nail insertion tool, after the insertion position was adjusted, the nail is was with screws. It was found that nail insertion speed (penetration speed) is almost 0.7mm/s from the measured stroke distance and time by trying a hand pump at several times. The battery to be measured is placed on a press plate. After the battery has been fixed with tape, it is fixed with four horseshoe-shaped screw clamps. The terminals of the positive and negative of the battery are connected by clips, the output side of the clip is connected to the voltage waveform observation probe. The probe is connected to the voltage and current unit (8951) of a memory hicorder (Hioki EE Corporation, model 8855).

Actual nail penetration test Figure 3: changes over time of the 300mAh battery terminal voltage (the diameter of the nail was 5mmΦ

Figure 4: changes over time of the 800mAh battery terminal voltage (the diameter of the nail was 3mmΦ

Figure 5: changes over time of the 800mAh battery terminal voltage (the diameter of the nail was 5mmΦ

Three different types of laminate batteries with capacities of 2000mAh, 800mAh and 300mAh which had been fabricated in the laboratory were subjected to the test. The change over time of the battery terminal voltage and the surface temperature of the battery by thermography was measured. In addition, by naked eye observation, the appearance and shape change of the battery after the nail penetration were monitored. During testing, the testing machine body was covered around in the shielding plate, as playing material does not scatter. A fire extinguisher was kept near the testing machine for fire protection and as a safety measure.

Measurement of the voltage waveform

Various laminate type batteries were subjected to the test. A measurement example of a temporal change in the terminal voltage of the 2000mAh battery cell after nail penetration using nail diameter 5mmΦ is shown in Figure 3. Also a measurement example of the 800mAh battery cell when using the nail size 3mmΦ and 5mmΦ is shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. Including the above measurement results, it can be summarized as follows. • There are two voltage patterns. One is that the terminal voltage drops significantly in the nail sticking point and gradually becomes 0V. Another is that the terminal voltage is temporarily reduced, then, the terminal voltage varies greatly. • In the case that the variation pattern in which the terminal voltage varies greatly from the nail sticking point, the terminal voltage after 10 seconds to 20 seconds approximately drops nearly to 0V. • When compared with the case of using a thick nail in diameter in the same cell of the battery capacity, the voltage change in the battery terminal voltage is greater.

Measurement of the battery surface temperature

Figure 6: Battery surface temperature during the nail penetration test www.batteriesinternational.com

The change with the passage of time of the surface temperature of the laminated battery cell was measured by thermography after nail penetration. An example of measurement of temperature change in the case of nail diameter 5mmΦ of 2000mAh battery is shown in Figure 6. In addition, a measurement example of time-dependent change of the thermal image is shown in Figure 7. Also the state of measurement by thermography and appearance of the battery after the nail penetration test is Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 87

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT a

(a) Before the test

(b) after 50 seconds

(d) after 4600 seconds

Figure 7: Change with the passage of time on the thermal image of the battery surface temperature.

shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9. The temperature increases after the nail penetration using a 5mmΦ nail in the case of a 2000mAh battery, showed that it exceeded 200Φ with the flame. In the experiment with a 800mAh battery using a 3mmΦ nail, the flame phenomenon of battery was not observed. Using a 5mmΦ nail, the temperature of the battery rises significantly with flame. The nail penetration test was also performed by changing the diameter of the nail in some of battery samples. The pattern of change — the passage of time of temperature rise, the similar trend to that of Figure 6 was observed. Also, as the maximum temperature, the measurement results of 100Φ less were also obtained.

Figure 8: Measurement of battery surface temperature by thermography (a) Before the test (b) After nail penetration

Summary

Although our testing is at the laboratory level, it was possible to carry out the nail penetration test using the experimental machine. Also it was possible to measure the battery terminal voltage after the nail penetration and the temperature change using thermography. In the future, it is planned to carry out the forced internal short-circuit test using the nail that was processed tip to round.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the research donations from several companies in Japan. The authors would like to thank Taisuke Kanno, Jumpei Nishimoto and Yuya Yamaguchi of Osaka Electro-Communication University for their cooperation of our experimental implementation.

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Figure 9: Battery samples after nail penetration (a) After inserting the nail (5mmΦ) (b) Battery sample after nailing 800mAh, 5mmΦ 80mAh 3mmΦ 200mAh 5mmΦ Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 89

EVENT PREVIEW: 16ABC The 16th Asian Battery Conference will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. Wyn Jenkins spoke to conference organizer and chair of the event, Mark Stevenson for a flavour of the meetings.

The four pillars of conference thinking: inform, educate, entertain ... and network too ABC chair Mark Stevenson — speaking to Batteries International in late June — said attendance was already looking good for the 16th Asian Battery Conference. More than 500 delegates are already registered with almost three months to go. “They are good numbers and I believe it will be extremely well attended,” he says. Some 122 booths have already been sold — a statistic illustrating the popularity of the event. “Singapore two years ago was a fantastic event — a real outstanding success — but every year we aim to get better and surprise delegates with what we offer,” he says. “The numbers are going well again this year. It is not about breaking records for us because that is just one measurement of a good event but we are certainly delighted with the way things are shaping up so far this year.” Stevenson, who is technical manager for Asia for Ecobat Technologies, the world’s largest producer and recycler of lead, believes the growing popularity of the event is largely due to efforts made by the organizing committee in recent years to revitalise and reinvent the event. “It has always been a must-attend for many executives but we have also looked at how we can break the mould and keep pushing out the boundaries of what people can expect. This has had a great deal to do with our continued success and growth,” Stevenson says. Delegates will notice a big difference this year in the way the exhibi-

Conference chair Mark Stevenson: veteran of all ABC meetings

tion space operates and the way it looks. “The exhibition will not just be straight up and down — we hope to inject a few things including more colour and the way it is ordered. We want people to engage with it differently — it is a much bigger room and that allows us to do a number of things we have not done before.” More investment has gone on the staging and design of the platforms and the room where presentations will be made. Stevenson says: “Instead of simply having a stage and little else we are looking at things like better lighting and maybe ways of bringing a differ-

“It is not about breaking records for us because that is just one measurement of a good event but we are certainly delighted with the way things are shaping up so far this year.” 90 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

ent approach to that element of the conference — we would like to make it more interactive.” Another strand of this approach and desire to invigorate the event has involved efforts to get more young people involved in the event — or the new generation of battery entrepreneurs as Stevenson describes them. A team of 10-12 young students from an Australian university will attend the conference showcasing some of the work around energy management and storage they have done in relation to the World Solar Challenge — a competition in Australia whereby teams race from Darwin to Adelaide, a 3000km drive, using nothing but solar powered vehicles. Stevenson admits that the perception of many young people is that lithium-ion is the more exciting end of the battery world and they want to work in this space. One of his ambitions is to try and change this perception and showcase the many exciting developments in the lead-acid battery world in recent years. Stevenson says that despite the name of the event, and the fact it is always held in Asia, the conference is effectively a world event with executives from many countries attending. “It just happens to be in Asia,” he says. “Most of the presentations and issues are global in their nature. “A big part of its success is driven by the fact that we aim to always improve the programme, get better speakers in, make sure we have good entertainment and try and work with the best people wherever possible. “It used to be more of a dry, very technical conference but it has evolved a lot since its early days. It is now a rounded conference for the whole of the lead-acid battery world. We try to cater for everything, whether you are a sales person, technical engineer or

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EVENT PREVIEW: 16ABC “It has always been a must-attend for many executives but we have also looked at how we can break the mould and keep pushing out the boundaries of what people can expect” just want to meet and greet.” The first ABC was held in 1987 through an organization called the Zinc and Lead Asian Service, which was a collection of Australian and other Asian-based companies involved in smelting and related industries. Their main objective, he says, was to promote learning and education around the use of lead. The conference was launched in its current format in 1997. Many things have changed since them, Stevenson says. “The event back then was very technical,” he says. “It has changed a lot. Although there are still many very technical papers, we try to ensure these are mixed in with more commercial themes and networking. “People want more of a blend from an event such as this. Some papers are very sector specific and highly technical and super scientific — others are not. That works well for us and delegates seem to like it.” He says that many delegates use the event to improve their knowledge and brush up their skills and understanding in certain sectors. They also use it to maintain and establish personal contact with industry peers and to touch base with suppliers and customers in one event. One of the reasons the event is proving so popular is because of the quality of speakers and papers already lined up. It is the strongest for a long time, he says, there is also a waiting list of speakers. “People come for the presentations but also to have a yak and do business,” he says. “Some 20 years ago, the event was far more sedate. Now, people have a good time and they also learn and often understand certain things better as a result of some of the presentations. It is particularly satisfying to me when people come and say ‘wow, I learned so much from that presentation. I had forgotten some of the technical detail around something but now I get

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PERTINENT PRESENTATIONS AND THEMES Some 75 speakers will present at ABC. Stevenson says one major theme running through several presentations will look how lead-acid batteries can be used to store renewable energy. A number of presentations at the year’s event will focus on this theme. Anand Bhatt, research scientist and team leader at CSIRO Energy Flagship where he leads the Advanced Energy Storage Technologies research team will explain how CSIRO has a facility designed to evaluate systems that have interconnections. The link between liquid-gas generation (LPG, biomass, ethanol and the like), renewables generation (solar PV), hydrogen technologies and energystorage technologies (such as lead-acid batteries). The presentation with describe how studies can be conducted on systems in which either all or some of these technologies are interconnected. In a separate presentation, Bhatt will look at how the

lifetime assessment of energy-storage devices connected to solar photovoltaic systems is complicated by the lack of international agreement on evaluation methods. He will discuss a method that uses a charging profile developed from an analysis of PV electricity generation data obtained from Australian consumers. Jun Furukawa, senior fellow and general manager of the UltraBattery commercialization department at The Furukawa Battery Co, will discuss energy storage in the context of motor vehicles, specifically the capabilities of its UltraBattery, a combined lead–acid and supercapacitor hybrid energy-storage device. KD Merz, vice president technology at Abertax Technologies, will examine the feasibility of making installed gridconnected photovoltaic systems run independent of the grid if and when required. The concept is based on the use of a ‘smart’ battery, a batterymanagement unit, and a converter.

Anand Bhatt: linking energy storage with other generating technologies

Jun Furukawa: one of the key figures in the development of the lead acid UltraBattery

KD Merz: freeing up PV/energy storage from reliance on the grid

ENTER THE PLEASURE DOME … Stevenson says the EXPO Pavilion at 16ABC will be an integral feature of the event. The Expo Pavilion will be themed with networking areas and interactive elements all designed to enhance buyer and exhibitor experience. As part of this an interactive themed so-called “garden café” will be held in the centre of the

exhibition area. “Sponsors and exhibitors will be able to conduct meetings and host clients in this space,” say the organizers. “There will also be our fun Side Show Alley area within the EXPO hall. The area will include arcade style games. “Start practising your Atari Skills and your muscle man swings! — great prizes to be won.”

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 91

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EVENT PREVIEW: 16ABC it again.’ To me, that is the mark of a good presentation and a good conference.” The ABC follows the 4th International Secondary Lead Conference, which is being held on September 7-8. This event targets lead producers, technical and environmental experts, equipment producers and suppliers in this part of the lead industry specifically. That conference will be opened by Andy Bush from the International Lead Association who will deliver the welcome address and keynote speech, launching another 27 speakers talking on a wide range of subjects covering the whole spectrum of the secondary lead world. “There is a wider picture here with the events being back to back — they complement each other in their subject matters and it will work well for many delegates,” Stevenson says. In terms of what delegates to the ABC will be looking forward to, he describes it as a mixed bag. “Some use it to launch a new product or idea, others just want networking, some do their marketing here, others use it as a bit of a working holiday.”

STEADY GROWTH — AND THIS YEAR? • In 2013, the 15th Asian Battery Conference held in Singapore, attracted a record attendance of 771 participants and over 128 exhibitors. • In 2011, the 14th Asian Battery Conference held in Hyderabad, India attracted a record attendance of over 600 participants and over 100 exhibitors.

Singapore 2013

• In 2009, the 13th Asian Battery Conference held in Macau attracted 548 participants from 57 different countries along with 83 exhibitors and 38 programmed technical and practitioner focused presentations.

Hyderabad 2011

• In 2007, the 12th Asian battery Conference held in Shanghai attracted 524 participants from 49 different countries along with 72 exhibitors and 33 programmed technical and practitioner focused presentations.

Macau 2009

Shanghai 2007

THE WAY WE WERE: MEMORIES OF SINGAPORE 2013 AND HYDERABAD 2011

Happy times in Singapore for Källström’s well known duo, Anders and Bo; an important message from a certain magazine; a group shot of Sorfin’s best and finest; and a lingering look at a deeply impressive hotel.

A touch of exoticism from the heart of India: elegant dancing in styles that date back hundreds of years; perhaps the most impressive selection of food ever presented in an opening reception; and ABC award winner and luminaries.

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Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 95

EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT, ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND FORUM EUROBAT, annual general assembly and forum June 11-12, Brussels

Onward and upward EUROBAT’s annual general meeting and forum was again held this year in Brussels. The meetings, as ever, were widely seen as a positive chance for Europe’s battery manufacturers to network as well as discuss the challenges the industry faces. The good news for the delegates came from EUROBAT executive director, Alfons Westgeest who said he anticipated “a positive outcome” in the discussions with the European Commission over two vital issues: the end of life vehicle directive and the REACH Regulation. The end of life directive aims to make the recycling of vehicles environmentally friendly by ensuring that auto-manufacturers make cars that don’t contain lead, mercury or cadmium. Clearly manufacturing a car without a lead acid battery is impossible. The already existing exemption allowing lead batteries looks set to continue. The REACH Regulation — Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals — aims to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks posed by chemicals. An exemption from REACH authorization requirements for various lead chemicals, necessary for battery manufacturing, looks likely. One question very much at the forefront of delegates’ thinking at

Westgeest: “more opportunities”

96 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

the 2014 meeting was what political changes would be seen in the European Commission for the year ahead. Last year’s European Parliamentary elections showed a clear swing to the political right, often amid hostility to European institutions, and speculation was that widespread reform would be on the cards.

Different EC approach

In the event some changes have happened and certainly last October’s appointment of Frans Timmermans as European Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights has been a key figure for change. “This is definitely a positive appointment for our members,” says Westgeest. “There are two themes going on. First is the simple matter of regulations where the emphasis is on fewer rules but doing them better. So there’s a move to have less overlapping regulation and that will create more opportunities for business. “Perhaps more importantly, however, there is the understanding that the European Union needs economic growth rather than further rule making — the Commission has made it clear that it wants the energy storage industry to thrive. This is very good news.” This was confirmed in the keynote address at the forum by Carlo Pettinelli, director for consumer, environmental and health technologies at the European Commission’s DirectorateGeneral for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs He explained the aims of the European Commission to improve the competitiveness of the EU industries, among others objectives to simplify and streamline REACH authorization,

the relations with occupational exposure limits and possible exemptions from REACH authorization. The European Commission’s renewed focus on decarbonization will also be positive for energy storage and EUROBAT has been asked by the EC to sit on a high level committee to focus on this. “Effectively the Commission is asking Europe’s battery manufacturers what they as an industry want and increasingly wants to encourage the industry at all levels — from making cells right up to large scale stationary and industrial storage,” says Westgeest. A few days after the forum EUROBAT participated in a high level meeting with EC officials on decarbonization of road transport and Westgeest told Batteries International that “our recent publication on the R&D Roadmap for batteries in e-mobility applications was well received”.

Forum discussions

The sessions as ever covered much of the groundwork of EUROBAT’s work. The forum’s first session addressed sustainability aspects of automotive batteries and, perhaps unsurprisingly, reconfirmed that all battery technologies have their competitive advantages and roles. Johannes Gediga, a vice president for mining, metals and manufacturing at Thinkstep, demonstrated the contribution of lead-based batteries to CO2 savings. Martin Seban, project manager at the consultancy IHS, presented the re-

Pettinelli: the EC viewpoint

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EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT, ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND FORUM

Archer: fleet electrification

Amiel: showing the latest report

Arnberger: end-of-life thinking

sults of a study proving that lead-based batteries in automotive applications operate in a closed-loop with a 99% collection and recycling rate.

highlighted how the EC is working to overcome the barriers to energy storage and self-consumption and their importance for Europe. The energy union package aims to ensure affordable, secure and sustainable energy for Europe and its citizens. The EU is currently the largest energy importer in the world, importing 53% of all the energy it consumes at an annual cost of around €400 billion. Rainer Bussar, a director at Exide Technologies and chair of EUROBAT’s Energy Storage Working Group, showed that battery energy storage is an increasingly attractive and costcompetitive solution to integrate renewables at every level of the grid (generation, transmission, distribution and consumption). There are real market opportunities for batteries, but regulatory barriers need to be overcome in Europe, notably the lack of a definition of “energy storage”,” he said. Roland Roesch, a senior programme officer for IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency), presented a new study showing the high potential of storage for remote locations, islands and off-grid applications. Antonella Battaglini, the founder and executive director of the Renewables Grid Initiative, said energy storage is a game changer for the energy world, and distributed storage and self-consumption will lead to a redesigning of grid tariffs and reward mechanisms.

as global standardizations for issues as diverse as labelling and blood lead levels,” says Westgeest. “At this year’s AGM we also had representatives from the ILA, Recharge, the International Cadmium Association among others.” As ever the presentation of the annual statistics provided useful signals on the direction of the core European battery industry sales as well as their market penetration. Perhaps the most surprising figure was the estimation that around 70% of new automotive batteries sold last year were adapted for start-stop cars. The increase in sales of batteries for electric vehicles continued to rise, however, from a low base. Next year attention is focused on stationery and industrial storage batteries where volumes of storage are forecast to grow at a rapid rate as European states start to follow the German, Italian and British lead into incorporating storage as part of their national grids. During the EUROBAT annual general assembly, held the day before the forum, association members also reelected EUROBAT board members and reconfirmed Johann-Friedrich Dempwolff (Johnson Controls International) as president and Andreas Bawart (Banner) and Xavier Delacroix (Saft) as vice-presidents. Nicolò Gasparin will replace Nicolà Cosciani (both FIAMM) as a board member and Filippo Girardi from Italy’s Midac was elected as a new member. The other continuing board members are Michael Ostermann (Exide Technologies), Mark Zoellner (Hoppecke Batterien), Charles-Louis Ackermann (Accumalux), Marcus Ulrich (Entek International) and Todd Sechrist (EnerSys EMEA).

End-of-life considerations

Astrid Arnberger, chair of waste utilization technology at Montanuniversität Leoben, and Karsten Kurz, Exide Technologies’ director for environmental affairs and also chair of EUROBAT’s Committee on Environmental Matters, showed in their presentations that the battery industry is further developing end-of-life treatment processes and infrastructure for battery technologies and applying measures to ensure the safety of installations and workers during the collection, sorting and recycling stages. The second session focused on research and development trends in the e-mobility batteries field. It was opened by Saft’s business development manager Olivier Amiel, who is also chair of EUROBAT’s E-Mobility work. Amiel presented a new report which outlines the European battery industry’s vision of which technical improvements should be prioritized for e-mobility batteries, from now until 2030. EUROBAT’s report indicates that advanced lead-based, sodium as well as lithium batteries will all play a role across all applications in e-mobility — from start-stop to full electric vehicles. Greg Archer, a programme manager in the policy team from Transport & Environment underlined that more efforts by policy makers and industries are needed towards the electrification of the European vehicle fleet. BMW’s Christian Luther highlighted the progress made and plans to increase energy density and decrease costs of battery packs. In a panel discussion during the third session, Henrik Dam, representing the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy, discussed the importance of the Energy Union package to achieve sustainable energy production and consumption, and

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EUROBAT housekeeping

Geographically, EUROBAT is seeing further growth in the bigger Europe as well as adjacent Middle East and Africa. As of the June meeting it had two members from Russia, one from the Middle East, two from Africa, including one from South Africa and two from Turkey. . “We’re also continuing to forge closer links with sister organizations and groupings farther afield such as the China Battery Industry Association, the Battery Association of Japan and Battery Council International in advancing with various initiatives such

LOOKING FORWARD The next EUROBAT AGM and Forum will be held on June 16-17, 2017 in Berlin.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 97

EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT, ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND FORUM Pb2015, the 19th International Lead Conference Lisbon, Portugal • April 22-24

Time to ‘thrive’ as communicating the message of lead rises in importance

Eco-Bat Technologies’ Ray Kubis highlighted the need to enhance communications on the positive recycling and sustainability story around lead batteries, targeting the key people and groups that shape the industry.

Yang Chun Ming: highlighted developments in management of lead and in innovation in secondary lead technology in China.

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Communicating the message of lead as an economic driver is a difficult proposition. For those of us within the industry, the issues are clear — and very understandable. (How many conferences have we heard that lead is the most recycled metal on the planet?) We also know that lead is clearly cost-effective and does the job at a price point that other chemistries don’t deliver. Moreover, most of us understand that lead’s bad image is a legacy issue, of days almost a generation ago when blood levels from everything from petrol to paint were a reasonable course for concern, The problem of course is getting that message to those outside the industry. This was one of the themes of the 19th International Lead Conference held in Lisbon, Portugal towards the end of April. More than 150 delegates from 30 different countries also heard from a range of speakers on key topics for the industry ranging from market prospects and sustainability to the regulatory environment and communications. The organizers of the conference — the International Lead Association —

and its managing director Andy Bush, said the meetings would help create the conditions needed for lead producing companies to thrive in the future. Pb2015 provided an overview of issues affecting the global lead industry. Bush said: “The ILA is the organization that’s best placed to provide the leadership needed to bring the entire industry together under one single, programme of action that will help deliver the future we want for our industry.” The new story for lead is that of an essential, sustainable and innovative material, he said. Bush identified three conditions that he regarded were critical to increase opportunities for lead producers to thrive: • Regulation that is more proportionate to the actual risks and takes into account the socio-economic benefits of lead-based products. • Unlocking the technical potential for lead batteries to be the future technology of choice in automotive and energy storage applications. • Communicating the significant potential of lead-based products to meet future market needs and to be part of the solution to a sustainable future.

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EVENT REVIEW: EUROBAT, ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND FORUM ILA chairman, Florian von Steinkeller, executive general manager of Britannia Refined Metals at Glencore, urged the lead industry to support this strategic direction. “The challenges the industry faces are too big for one company, we need a strong, focused ILA that is supported by a broader base of lead producers,” he said. Meanwhile in his keynote address Ray Kubis, managing director of EcoBat Technologies issued a call to action for the industry. Kubis said there were plenty of opportunities for lead batteries, but that the sector’s historical market dominance was under threat and challenged by diverse lithium-based solutions across multiple applications. He highlighted five areas where he felt the industry needs to drive accelerated improvement. Three of these related to improving lead-based battery performance and the fourth was continued improvement in stewardship. Finally he highlighted the need to enhance communications on the positive recycling and sustainability story around lead batteries, targeting the key people and groups that shape the industry. “Lead batteries today are more sustainable and a lot safer than lithium batteries,” he said in the perhaps predictable mantra suitable for these occasions. In the market prospects session Farid Ahmed, principal analyst lead markets for Wood Mackenzie, looked at the demand for lead in its main application — automotive lead batteries, concluding that there was a great future still for the metal. Start-stop batteries which are growing in popularity not only need more lead per battery, but demand higher quality lead. Meanwhile Huw Roberts, a director of CHR Metals, said that lead output was likely to be 16% higher in 2015 than in 2010 chiefly from growth in Chinese mine production, but that there would be little need for expansion in primary production in the next five years. In the sustainability session the ILA’s Alistair Davidson, echoed many of the points raised in the conference keynote address. He cited lead’s low environmental footprint, including its high rates of recyclability (99%) in Europe and North America (just in case we hadn’t heard the 99% before); the essential uses of lead batteries in conventional vehicles, as emergency back-up power and in renewable energy; and its contribution

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International message: BCI head Mark Thorsby and ILA counterpart Andy Bush

Start-stop batteries which are growing in popularity not only need more lead per battery, but demand higher quality lead to economic growth — users of leadbased batteries include the automobile industry that employs 12.7 million people representing 5.3% of the EU employed population. The conference also heard how lead producers and miners have taken action to protect workers by introducing voluntary targets to reduce occupational exposure to lead that go beyond current international regulations. The initiative by ILA member companies is an agreement to reduce blood lead levels for all employees to below 30 microgrammes per decilitre (µg/dl) by the end of 2016 and in a global initiative with other organizations will cover over 7,000 workers in the lead industry in Europe, North America and Australia. Delegates also heard from Brian Wilson, programme manager for the International Lead Management Center, on the ILA’s contribution to managing used lead-acid batteries in the developing world. Professor Yeo Lin, director of the International Research Center of Zhejiang University and Yang Chun Ming, chairman of the Chunxing Group, also highlighted developments in management of lead and in innovation in secondary lead technology in China. In the communications session delegates heard how ILA is leading industry initiatives to fill the current ‘communications gap’ on lead. Among the speakers were Tammy Stankey, senior

communications liaison of The Doe Run Company, who spoke on reputation management and James Stevens, of public relations firm FleishmanHillard, who outlined the important priorities for communications on lead batteries. In the final session on the regulatory environment delegates heard of the crucial role that the ILA — not forgetting other organizations — are playing in the submission from the lead, battery and automobile industries to the continuing review of the EU End-ofLife Vehicles Directive to ensure that the current exemption of lead based batteries from the ban on use of lead is maintained. The audience also heard from Karsten Kurz, Exide Technologies’ director for environmental affairs, about actions that the industry is taking to mitigate risks to property and workers resulting from a new trend of look-alike lithiumion batteries causing fires or explosions at lead recycling facilities.

LOOKING FORWARD The next ILA conference in the series, Pb2016 will be held in the spring of 2016 in a destination yet to be announced. In the interim sister meetings for the ILA, the 16th Asian Battery Conference, will be held in Bangkok this September 8-11.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 99

EVENT REVIEW: INTERSOLAR/EES Intersolar Europe/EES Europe Munich Conference Centre, Germany • June 10-12

Crowd pleaser Big isn’t the word for it. Huge gets closer to a feel for the event. Perhaps it’s extravagant but the term enormous probably best characterizes Intersolar’s annual European trade fair this June. The organizers’ claim that this is the largest solar exhibition in Europe is well founded — this year, seven vast hangars contained some 1,000 exhibitors and apparently close to 40,000 visitors poured through the gates of the Munich Conference Centre. Around 50% of visitors came from outside of Germany, marking yet another increase in the exhibition’s international diversity. The majority of exhibitors at Intersolar Europe in Munich came from Germany, China, Austria, France and Italy. Numerous delegations from countries such as Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey, as well as shared booths from

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China, France, South Korea, Taiwan and many other regions, also underlined the international nature of the exhibition, according to the organizers. The Intersolar tag on its own is, in part, a misnomer. Running in conjunction to Intersolar was the annual Electrical Energy Storage conference and exhibition sharing the same halls. Now in its second year, the EES has fast gained a reputation among the renewable industry and had a prominent presence throughout the exhibition. With each hangar/hall being divided into specific areas of the industry focusing on photovoltaics, PV production technologies to energy storage and renewable heating, both Intersolar and EES enabled businesses to showcase their areas of expertise. Perhaps one of the most interesting features when compared to last year’s meeting was the change of focus —

solar energy was rightly enough at the centre of a congress dedicated to the role of solar energy but energy storage is now clearly the potenial trigger that will fire off a renewable revolution. “Energy storage is the crucial middle step between the generation of green electrons to their use in the grids of the future,” another exhibitor said. “It’s going to be the crucial factor in any kind of assimilation process between the old and the new — between, say, burning coal, and harvesting the power of the sun.” Although the distinction between green electrons and any other kind of electron is mostly lost to this commentator, the point about energy storage is well made. The battle for the future of renewables is going to be won or lost — at least for many forms of business — by businesses’ ability to be incorporated into the grids of the future. The development of microgrids, for example, offers an alternative to any kind of buying/selling electricity to national grids. But at the heart of this

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EVENT REVIEW: INTERSOLAR/EES is working out how much electricity provision should cost and how to deal withthe problem of intermittency. Perhaps the most important sign of the health of the business is that issues such as load levelling are now being seriously tackled by a new generation of businesses — also a major theme underpinning the vast meeting halls at the conference centre. “The International Congress Center provided a playground where both the experts and the retailers combined their knowledge to put on a show that was informative and visually creative,” said one attendee. “Frankly I was impressed.” In a sense it was hard not to be impressed. The platforms on which leading brands such as Tesla, Mitsubishi, Mercedes and BMWi used to showcase their next generation of hybrid powered vehicles could only be seen as impressive. The genius, if that be the word, of the first electric vehicles coming from Tesla Motors is now being duplicated across the automotive world. The chronic issues of the first generation of electric vehicles do still remain — think range anxiety for one — but there is now light at the end of the tunnel, believe some market commentators. “From the flash cars that don’t make any noise to the solar inverters and pioneering solutions developers and manufacturers are creating — there was something there for everyone,” said another attendee. The conference and exhibition also usefully showed a shift of emphasis in the solar industry. For years, the world of photovoltaics orbited around electricity generation itself. Nowadays, however, the focus is on integrating photovoltaics into the power grids of the future as well as intelligent management solutions for solar power. As such, efficient energy and battery storage systems are also gaining in importance, as they not only balance out peaks in demand and increase the availability of solar energy, but also play a key role in grid integration. The increasing relevance of storage technology was also highlighted at Intersolar Europe/EES Europe, which took place at the same time — the total number of exhibitors in these areas rose from around 250 in 2014 to 330 this year. Price reductions are also driving forward the market. Solar domestic

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storage systems with capacities of up to 10 kilowatt hours (kWh) are now 26% less expensive than they were last year, according to the current price index of the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar) and Intersolar Europe, which was presented at the exhibition on June 10. In addition to electricity storage systems, heat storage tanks are also playing an increasingly important role in complex connected supply systems.

Swarm storage

Power supplies are becoming intelligent — and not just in smart homes. Modern energy management systems connect small and large generators to create virtual power plants, which combine the outputs of individual installations and sell the collective yields. Battery and energy storage devices are also being increasingly connected in this way to maximize their potential as “swarm storage systems”. These and many other new concepts have given rise to a range of business models that are drawing in higher numbers of international investors and companies again. As shown at the exhibition — for example by the new collaborative project between SMA Solar and Siemens, who intend to realize large solar parks together in future — large-scale PV plants are also driving forward the market. “It is no coincidence that the industry is shifting its focus towards intelligent systems, grid integration and energy storage,” said one of the organizers. “The PV industry is experiencing enormous rates of growth worldwide. According to industry association SolarPower Europe (formerly EPIA), 40

gigawatts of new PV capacity were added worldwide last year to reach a total global capacity of 177 GW. “This is hardly surprising if we consider that, in two years’ time, generating electricity with PV is expected to be cheaper than power supplied by utilities in 80% of countries worldwide,” said a commentator. In Germany, low costs have made on-site consumption an attractive method for residential homes and industry alike for some time now. Significant growth in solar power is making it all the more important for energy professionals to ask themselves how these quantities of renewable, decentralized and fluctuating energy can be integrated into the currently centralized power supply system. Exhibitors presented a range of innovative solutions in this area, including storage technologies, new energy management solutions, intelligent electricity meters and systems technology that combines and controls the different generators and consumers of heat and electricity in private households as well as commerce and industry. Numerous companies from the classic energy industry also exhibited their concepts at the exhibition.

LOOKING FORWARD The next Intersolar Europe/EES exhibition will be held at the Munich Conference Centre on June 22-24, 2016. As per this year a conference will be held the day before the exhibition starts and runs on to finish on the first day of the exhibition.

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 103

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 Batteries, Super Capacitors, Fuel Cells & EV`s Seminar Lansing, Michigan, USA July 6-8 Shmuel De-Leon and Doron Aurbach in partnership with XG Sciences invite you to join a unique Batteries, Super Capacitors, Fuel Cells & EV`s seminar. The seminar program focuses on present and future needs of portable and stationary electrochemical energy sources and highlights the latest technological developments designed to satisfy application requirements. Primary, rechargeable, reserve batteries, fuel cells, ultra-capacitors systems and their accessories are covered. Contact Shmuel De-Leon Energy, Ltd shmuel@sdle.co.il

EES – co-located with Intersolar North America San Francisco July 13-16 Intersolar North America takes place annually in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Since its establishment in 2008, the exhibition and conference have developed into the premier platform for the solar industry in North America.

The exhibition focuses on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies. It is co-located with SEMICON West and, since its founding, has become the international industry’s meeting point for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners of the solar industry. In total, 576 exhibitors and 17,881 trade visitors participated in 2013. The conference featured more than 50 sessions with over 200 speakers and catered to about 1,600 conference attendees. This year, Intersolar will be presenting the Intersolar AWARD for the eighth time running in honour of especially innovative solutions in the photovoltaic industry. Contact Dorothea Eisenhardt Tel: +49 7231 58598-174 Fax: +49 7213 58598-28

Best practices in utility storage solutions July 30-31 Anaheim California Energy storage in North America has moved into the power industry limelight. The penetration of renewable energy on grids, especially at the distribution level,

ECS Conference on Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage Glasgow, Scotland • July 26-31

continues to increase throughout the US and Canada. This, in turn, stimulates broad interest in finding storage solutions that can bring better balance to legacy systems not originally designed to operate optimally with variable and intermittent energy resources. As with other system resources in the power industry, storage technology innovation and adoption — absent federal subsidies and incentives — has endured a relatively slow acceptance rate. That picture, however, is changing. Some utilities, independent power producers, merchant transmission providers and regional system operators have placed energy storage systems in use. Clearly, justifying the investment in storage technology requires different metrics when evaluated by vertically integrated utilities, distribution utilities in wholesale power markets, project developers and system operators. This conference will bring together a spectrum of utilities (VIEUs and munis), load-serving entities (LSEs), independent power producers (IPPs), project developers, regulators, storage technology providers and project financiers to define the realistic opportunities and boundaries of energy storage in utility, power system and grid applications. This conference will address the distinct manner in which each of these different utility and grid entities must evaluate and convert the promise of storage into implementation. Contact Tel: +1 303.770.8800 Fa:+1 303.741.0849 E-mail: questions@euci.com

Battery Power 2015 Denver, Colorado, USA August 5-6 The ECS Conference on Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage with SOFC-XIV is an international conference convening in Glasgow, this summer and is devoted to the following areas. Section A: Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XIV), All aspects of research, development, and engineering of solid oxide fuel cells. The lead organizer is Subhash C Singhal, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Section B: Batteries — A wide range of topics related to battery technologies. The lead organizer is Peter G Bruce, University of Oxford Section C: Low Temperature Fuel Cells–Low-temperature fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow cells, the lead organizer is: Hubert A. Gasteiger, Technische Universität München, Germany This is the first of a series of planned

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biennial conferences in Europe by the Electrochemical Society on electrochemical energy conversion/storage materials, concepts, and systems, with the intent to bring together scientists and engineers to discuss both fundamental advances and engineering innovations. This major international conference will be held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow and will serve as a major forum for the discussion of interdisciplinary research from around the world through a variety of formats, such as invited and keynote oral presentations, poster sessions, short courses, guest and award winning lecturers, a dynamic technical exhibit, and much more. Contact meetings@electrochem.org

Battery Power 2015 is an international conference highlighting the latest developments impacting mobile and portable battery systems for consumer and commercial products, including the Internet of Everything, power tools, smart phones, tablets, laptops and medical devices. The 13th annual event will be held August 5-6 in Denver, Colorado. Conference topics will include new battery designs, improving power management, predicting battery life, regulations and standards, safety and transportation, battery authentication, charging technology, emerging chemistries and market trends. Join hundreds of OEM design engineers and system engineers involved in battery powered products and systems and discover what is driving innovation, capabilities and features, application trends and performance improvements. The interactive exhibit hall will feature the latest battery technology and power management capabilities. Network with

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 FENIBAT – 2nd National and International Lead Batteries Fair and Conference

Battery Osaka — 2nd International Rechargeable Battery Expo Osaka, Japan • September 2-4

Londrina, Brazil August 24-25

FENIBAT will gather all managerial and technical personnel of Brazilian and Latin American industry of lead acid batteries and lead recycling. Its goal is to promote new products, services and technologies for national and international battery manufacturers and lead recyclers. For the second time, and already established as one of the largest in the world, the country will have a technical-commercial fair in the sector and your company is invited to participate. If your company is a supplier of the industry, you may participate as an exhibitor and also presenting a lecture on the FENIBAT Commercial Forum about your products and services for this industry. FENIBAT is for people involved with the lead-acid battery and lead recycling industries, involving the entire supply and administrative chain. The aim of the FENIBAT is to strengthen these industries, bringing updated information and stimulating business nationally and internationally. Free admission to all concerned, subject to prior registration though the web site (recommended) or on-site registration. The FENIBAT Expo will feature nearly 100 stands for companies providing products and services to the lead-acid battery and lead recycling industry. Both Brazilian and international manufacturers and distributors will be exhibiting. Contact Jayme Gusmão +55 43 9937 4911 gusmao@FENIBAT.com battery manufacturers, charger manufacturers, IC companies, materials and manufacturing equipment providers, testing services & systems providers, as well as an array of component and subsystem providers. The pre-conference workshops provide an in-depth education experience, providing valuable information for both the new and seasoned engineer. Contact www.batterypoweronline.com/conferences/ Contact-us/

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Battery Osaka is a specialised exhibition held in Osaka, Japan for manufacturing and R&D of rechargeable battery. All kinds of materials, manufacturing technologies, inspection/ analysis equipment services as well as the battery itself will be gathering. The event is organized by Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd and will be held at INTEX Osaka. Battery Osaka 2015 will be held along with the following concurrent expos: PV EXPO OSAKA — a specialised exhibition gathering all kinds of technologies, materials/devices,

equipment for manufacturing solar cell/module and solar cell/module itself PV SYSTEM EXPO OSAKA — a specialised exhibition gathering all kinds of products/technologies for PV system installation/integration 2nd INTERNATIONAL SMART GRID EXPO OSAKA — all kinds of technologies and services related to smart grid, power generation, transmission and distribution. Contact http://www.battery-kansai.jp/en/

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 105

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015

Montreux, home to ICBR 2015

6th International Conference, Advanced Batteries, Accumulators and Fuel Cells August 30-September 4 Brno, Czech Republic Similarly to previous years, it will be co-sponsored by The Electrochemical Society (USA) and also by the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). The main field of interest is the research and development of materials designated for modern electrochemical power sources, new investigation in the fields of materials, applied electrochemistry, corrosion, photovoltaic systems and application of new power sources. Two new topics will be included, that is, ionic liquids for power sources and the replacement of lithium by sodium in batteries. The conference will be located in the University of Technology, Brno, Antonínská 1.

20th International Congress for Battery Recycling — ICBR 2015 September 23-25 Montreux, Switzerland This top quality congress on battery recycling will focus on: • Update of battery legislation in EU and worldwide • Safety issues & transportation regulations • Recycling efficiency • The great future of LEV, EHV, PEHV and EV battery systems • The success of Li-Ion batteries technologies • Country reports on collection and recycling

• Best available technologies for battery recycling • The congress is a perfect platform to exchange the latest information, to meet your business partners and to get easy access to new potential clients. • Learn from the speakers and exhibitors of the congress • An exhibition and poster presentation area is integrated into the congress facility, where vendors meet their clients • A workshop about lithium batteries transport and safety issues will be organized. • Cocktail reception and a networking dinner create an excellent atmosphere to get in touch with your business partners, friends and competitors The congress is also organizing a plant tour to the battery recycling plant Batrec Industrie, Wimmis. myStromer AG will provide e-bike test drives during the congress, exclusively for the participants of ICBR 2015. Contact Tel: +41 62 785 10 00 Tel: +86 182176 28910 (China) Fax: +41 62 785 10 05 Email: info@icm.ch

The Battery Show Novi, Michigan, USA • September 15-17

Contact: Jirí Vondrák, chairman, vondrakj@feec.vutbr.cz +420 607 285 434 Marie Sedlaríková, vice chairperson sedlara@feec.vutbr.cz +420 776 279 055 Fa: +420 54114 6147

9th Energy Storage Forum Sydney, Australia September 14-17 Further details to come. Contact Tel : +65 6243 00 50 (Singapore GMT+8) Europe: +44 208 09 016 13

Sydney Harbour

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Taking place September 15-17, in Novi, Detroit, Michigan, The Battery Show 2015 is the premier showcase of the latest advanced battery technology. The exhibition hall offers a platform to launch new products, make new Contacts and maintain existing relationships. With more qualified buyers and decision makers than any other event in North America, The Battery Show 2015 is the key to unlocking your future business opportunities. The Battery Show is attended by technical leaders, scientists, engi-

neers, project leaders, buyers and senior executives concerned with advanced energy storage and will host the very latest advanced battery solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles, utility and renewable energy support, portable electronics, medical technology, military and telecommunications. Contact steve.bryan@smartershows.com mindy.emsley@smartershows.com Europe tel: +44 1273 916300 US toll free: +1 855 436 8683 Fax: +44 1273 774341

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The 16th Asian Battery Conference and Exhibition (16ABC) will be held from 8 to 11 September 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 BIT’s 5th New Energy Forum-2015 Xian, China BIT’s 5th New Energy Forum-2015 is a significant event for a new energy market, especially as it runs as a parallel conference to the Euro-Asia Economic Forum. The conference will provide a highly interactive platform for leading new energy enterprisers, experts and researchers to discuss recent advances in the technology of clean energy. The meeting also provides an excellent opportunity for experts to develop international cooperative relationships for mutual benefit and development within new energy field. Let’s make joint efforts for a clean, green, and sustainable planet. Highlights of NEF-2015 are scheduled to include. • Facing up to wider global energy markets with an Euro-Asia market background • Seven parallel forums include widest fields of the new energy industry • More than 200 international experts contributing to topics of new energy development • New energy facility and apparatus exhibition promoting international communication and cooperation of technological achievement Contact Ashley Wu Tel: + 86-411-84799609-845 Fax: +86-411-84799629 Email: ashley@lcesummit.com

Autorenew —Battery Technologies and Energy Storage Solutions Berlin, Germany September 28-30 With the growth of the electric vehicle market and the shift to cleaner energy, batteries have become the common denominator for the automotive and renewable industry. Safety and costs as well as the need to have profitable business cases for a long term are still some of the problematic aspects. Take the opportunity at Autorenew — Battery Technologies and Energy Storage Solutions to: • Experience a unique three-day-programme. Look at teal-world solutions to your real-world problems • Discuss about battery testing procedures to evaluate limits an properties • Meet leading solution providers and future business partners • Interact with energy storage experts and expand your network of peers Contact +49 30 20 91 32 74 Email: eq@iqpc.de

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16th Asian Battery Conference (16ABC) and Exhibition Bangkok, Thailand • September 8-11

Centara Hotel, downtown Bangkok

Over the years, the conference content and its drivers have changed over the years, from a very technical and scientific format to one that now also addresses the commercial and socio economic aspects of a growing, developing industry. At the time of the first ABC, back in 1988, the world lead tonnage consumed was 5.5 million tonnes with 65% entering the battery market, today we consume over 11 million tonnes with 85% being converted to batteries. The range and types of batteries we now produce have also changed during this period with VRLA a standard product and designs for stop–start vehicles becoming commonplace. It’s a far cry from 2ABC when the market was dominated by the use of antimonial alloys and when many Asian producers were only starting to think about converting the negative into a calcium alloy and producing their first ‘hybrid’ battery. So it is with this history and background that we have great pleasure in welcoming all delegates to the 16ABC in Bangkok, which aims to deliver an enhanced knowledge and a greater appreciation of our wonderful and growing industry. What’s new The EXPO of 16ABC will be sparked up with fresh show features and a

dynamic booth layout plan with a variety of different exhibition booths along with floor space only exhibition options. An interactive themed cafe in the centre of the EXPO. Sponsors and exhibitors will be able to conduct meetings and host clients in this space. The cafe will also house our barista’s making perfect coffees all day long and serving on demand snack items. Take a break in our fun Side Show Alley area within the EXPO Hall. The area will include arcade style games. Start practising your Atari skills and your muscle man swings! — great prizes to be won… 16ABC will see the introduction of scheduled appointments. Buyers will be able to review exhibitors profiles on line and request appointments through the Exhibitor Online Diary prior to the event. Stay tuned for heaps more program enhancements. Contact General/registration Lucy Cote e. events@conferenceworks.com.au Tel: +61 3 9870 2611 Sponsorship/exhibition Mark Richardson Cell: + 61 412 160 133 e. mark@conferenceworks.com.au

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 5th Lithium Battery Workshop — Outreach to Enhance Safety Montreal, Canada September 29-30 The event will bring together representatives from lithium battery manufacturers, freight forwarders, ground handling agents, airlines, training schools and regulators to share information and learn how best to apply the regulations for the transport of lithium batteries by air, making this an excellent opportunity to network across the entire supply chain. • Exclusive access to industry intelligence and latest developments • Unique business, networking and branding opportunities • Interactive approach, opening the floor for challenges and new ideas At the workshop you will meet representatives from airlines, lithium attery manufacturers, shippers, freight forwarders, training providers, test laboratories and regulators Contact lbworkshop@iata.org

ABAA-8 – 8th edition of the International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automobile Applications Bilbao, Spain September 30-October 2

We are pleased to welcome you to the 8th edition of the International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automobile Applications, ABAA-8.

This will take place in Bilbao (Basque region) hosted by CIC Energigune – Energy Storage Research Center. Starting in 2008, the ABAA conferences were conceived with the mission of enhancing global R&D of advanced lithium batteries for vehicles, accelerating the discussion and communication of R&D progress, as well as strengthening global collaboration in this field. Here, academia and battery and automotive industry will showcase the latest research and development in advanced lithium batteries focused on automotive applications, which are critical to achieve fuel-efficient automobiles. This event will feature talks and posters on materials research, electrochemistry and battery engineering delivered by international experts. Topics will include: • Development of novel materials: cathodes, anodes, electrolytes and electrolyte additives • Safety and degradation mechanisms of lithium ion batteries • System design including the latest market trends affecting the automotive industry • New chemistries for energy storage Contact Tel: +34 945 297 108 Email: abaa8@cicenergigune.com

66th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry Taipei, Taiwan 4-9 October The 66th Annual Meeting of the Inter-

Energy Storage North America San Diego, California • October 13-15

national Society of Electrochemistry to be held in Taipei will address batteries in Symposium 3 at this year’s event: Batteries for Tomorrow’s World — sponsored by: Division 3, Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage The performance of current electrical energy storage systems falls well short of requirements for using electrical energy efficiently in transportation, smart grid, commercial, and residential applications. Fundamental knowledge is needed to uncover the underlying principles that control the basic processes that determine and govern their function, operation, performance limitations and failure. With this underpinning knowledge, wholly new concepts in cell design and operation can be developed for a new class of electrical energy storage systems. A new paradigm is required to design new stable anodes, cathodes and electrolytes to provide electrochemical cells with high energy density, high power, long lifetime and adequate safety at a competitive manufacturing cost. The goal of this symposium is to review recent R&D efforts in this field to elucidate fundamental chemical, transport, electrical, and physical processes that can help improve the existing state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries and stimulate development of next generation rechargeable batteries e.g., Li-S, Metal-air batteries, Na-ion, redox flow and multi-valent systems etc. Topics will include: • Advanced materials, electrodes and electrolytes for rechargeable batteries • Novel rechargeable battery systems • Interfacial phenomena • Cell testing, performance evaluation, failure mechanisms • New computational and characterization tools • Safety Contact Robert Kostecki (coordinator), Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, E-mail: r_kostecki@lbl.gov) She-Huang Wu (co-coordinator), Tatung University E-mail: shwu@ttu.edu.tw http://annual66.ise-online.org/index.html

This is the largest grid energy storage event in North America. It will provide: • Critical insights into market developments and technology integration • 1500+ leading customers, technology providers, and partners • 40+ conference sessions, hands-on workshops, and site tours in the Silicon Valley

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Our 2014 programme focused on the convergence of transportation, distributed, and utility-scale applications. Contact Daniela Knoll – director, Messe Düsseldorf North America E-mail: dknoll@mdna.com Tel: +1 312 621-5838

Batteries Event — International Energy and Power Supply Conference and Exhibition Nice, France October 7-9 The Batteries Event remains today one of the world’s most attractive shows and the meeting place, for the past 17 years, of technologies (lead acid, NiMH, Li-ion and more), applications (from micro batteries to large format

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 109

INDIA’S LARGEST SOLAR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATIONS

NOV 18–20, 2015 MUMBAI INDIA

CHARGING THE FUTURE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

ENERGY STORAGE MEETS NORTH AMERICA'S MOST-ATTENDED SOLAR EVENT!

JUNE 22–24, 2016 MUNICH GERMANY JULY 12–14, 2016 SAN FRANCISCO USA

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SERIES FOR BATTERIES, ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 batteries) and the value chain (chemists OEMs and end users). During three days, the conference will gather 70 speakers and internationally known experts.

CESEP 2015 will be held in Poznan, Poland

Contact Christophe Pillot, chairman c.pillot@avicenne.com Sonia Jouneau, congress director sjouneau@lepublicsysteme.fr Tel : +33 1 41 34 21 75

World of Energy Solutions Stuttgart, Germany October 12-14 The World of Energy Solutions is an international trade fair and conference —and thus an important platform for speeding up the change to alternative energy sources. It addresses all players involved in the manufacturing of battery and energy storage systems for mobile and stationary implementation. All areas are dealt with, from raw materials to turnkey battery systems. Be a part of our network and use our innovative platform to promote your research approaches, products, technologies and applications. The three exhibition areas are: • BATTERY+STORAGE: Battery and energy-storage technologies • f-cell: Fuel cell and hydrogen technology • Future mobility solutions: Mobility technologies, applications and concepts The World of Energy Solutions conference, which takes place parallel to the trade fair, is not only a basic component of the overall event, but also a who’s who from research and industry. In over 100 presentations German and international experts will report about current developments in hydrogen and fuel cells, battery and energy storage technology, as well as about future mobility solutions. Both conferences also place a strong emphasis on successful case studies and specific issues of a practical nature. Contact www.messe-stuttgart.de/en/wes/

6th International Conference on Carbon for Energy Storage/Conversion and Environment Protection — CESEP 2015 Poznan, Poland October 18-22 CESEP’15 is the sixth international conference on Carbons for Energy Storage/Conversion and Environment Protection, following the successful initiatives of the French, German, Polish, Spanish Carbon Groups, the organizers of the past meetings in Orléans, Krakow, Malaga, Vichy and Mülheim

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every two years. The conference will be organized by Poznan University of Technology (Institute of Chemistry and Technical Electrochemistry) and the Polish Carbon Society. To date, carbon materials play a major role in a large number of highly specialized applications as structural and functional materials related with current industrial challenges. Their flexible coordination chemistry allows almost infinite possibilities of 3D structures, and their ability to react with other heteroatoms to incorporate functional groups that determine the self-organization, chemical stability and reactivity. In keeping the style of the first CESEP, the conference will consist of one single session and will comprise plenary and keynote lectures by recognized invited speakers and selected contributions as oral and poster communications. We are expecting a limited number of participants (200 maximum). The official language will be English. Like in preceding meetings, the conference aims in bringing together scientists, engineers and technologists and intends to provide a forum for discussion on fundamental and technological aspects of carbon applications related to energy storage/conversion and environment protection. This conference is expected to stimulate fruitful discussions, new ideas and collaborations between specialists from various domains. Contact cesep2015@put.poznan.pl

Interbattery, Seoul

Interbattery, The Battery Conference Seoul, South Korea October 20-22 The biggest international meeting in Korea, The Battery Conference, will be held as a concurrent event alongside InterBattery. The Battery Conference will present optimal opportunity for sharing information and technology with global opinion leaders from all over the world. Get a unique insight into the latest global corporate trends and policies relating to the cell industry, and experience in-depth analysis of technologies, policies and market trends home and abroad. The battery conference attracts top industry players from countries around the world. Hear from and mingle with secondary cell industry leaders from corporations like Samsung SDI, and international energy policymakers. Achieve multiple goals at one event – expand business opportunity at InterBattery 2014 while grasping worldwide market trends at The Battery Conference. Contact InterBattery Secretariat Office Tel: 82-2-6000-1087/8241 Fax: 82-2-6944-8309 interbattery@coex.co.kr

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 111

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 European Utility Week

Ancient Lycian Rock Tombs, Antalya, Turkey

Vienna, Austria • November 3-5

European Utility Week will be divided into various themes — see bullets below. • Energy Storage — The role and commercial viability of energy storage in Europe There is no doubt that 2014 was a breakout year for global grid energy storage. In Europe, with the increase of variable renewables on the grid, the need for electricity storage is growing tremendously. The value of grid scale energy storage is often calculated by deferring the cost of grid investment needed or from providing various different additional services to increase smooth grid operation. Prices for lithium-ion batteries keep falling and new technologies are filling the gaps. The industry seems to have moved past the pilot phase and is making a play for full-scale commercialization. With the introduction of Tesla Energy, Tesla is amplifying its efforts to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels to a sustainable energy future with energy storage enabling homes, businesses and utilities to store sustainable and renewable energy to manage power demand, provide backup power and increase grid resilience. Will other firms follow suit? Will Apple and Google or other consumer giants also make a play for the sector? Distributed storage is one of the fastest-growing markets for energy storage. In the coming years the capacity of distributed energy storage worldwide is expected to increase 10-fold. In particular residential and commercial energy storage is expected to be the focus of technological advanced and market activity in the coming years. The market growth is being fuelled by the development of advanced battery chemistries and at the same time the spread of solar photovolta-

112 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

ics, electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging and home energy networks are all creating new applications and new demand for storage. • Grid & Renewables Integration — DSO and TSO changing roles and responsibilities A new energy system, reliant on more distributed and variable energy resources with the consumer at its center is resulting in changing roles and responsibilities for the TSOs and the DSOs. Renewable energy sources are being connected to distribution grids at an extraordinary speed, consumers are installing solar panels on their roofs, new market players are starting to sell flexibility services, and there is an increase in electric vehicles appearing on the roads. The one-size-fits all model no longer works and new business models are needed to integrate higher levels of distributed energy resources, new technologies, environmental goals and the new customer needs. • Grid Optimization, Intelligent Networks and Communication — The power system of tomorrow: innovation in grid optimization • Big Data & Analytics — Utility analytics and the big data revolution: moving forward towards the digital utility of the future • Smart Homes and End User Engagement Business • Smart Metering— Getting the meter economics and incentives right • Smart Cities—The impacts of EU policies on utilities, cooperation with the cities Contact Paddy Young Tel: +31 346 290 807 Email: paddy@synergy-events.com

RENSEF – 3rd Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Exhibition Antalya, Turkey October 22-24 The RENSEF Forum within the RENSEF Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Exhibition have attracted high attendance. A big desire from companies to get in touch with the industry was also something caught our attention. We have started preparations for the next RENSEF Forum to offer a yet more satisfying programme to listeners and energy investors. Meetings and conferences of governmental and non-governmental organizations aimed to share experiences and trigger ideas will be held for free. We invite companies wishing to promote their products and services to investors for organizing promotional meetings in one hour time intervals. In the case of early booking, you can clarify your event schedule and announce it during the long time before RENSEF Forum. This way, you will be getting the exhibition visitors know about your event early. Book your spot on RENSEF Forum 2015 to have a chance to promote your products and services to the investors. • Having the chance to make presentations to potential energy investors visiting the exhibition • Having the chance to promote and show your products and services to a special group of customers visiting the exhibition • Having the chance to meet the executives of related institutions and firms and professional visitors in person. • Post-event promotions on social media with video and photo shoot. • Collecting the potential customer data(e-mail, phone etc.) thanks to registration system at the door of the event. Contact www.agoras.com.tr rensef@agoras.com.tr Tel: +90 242 323 51 10 Fax: +90 242 323 51 11

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 Shanghai, China

Energy efficiency, energy storage Dresden, Germany • November 10-11

Battery & Power Storage Shanghai Shanghai, China October 27-30 Battery Shanghai is the official sister show of the China Industrial Battery Fair (CIBF) in Shenzhen, organized by China Industrial Association of Power Sources (CIAPS) and Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai. Subjects that will be discussed. • All kinds of batteries: Li-ion, LiPolymer, lithium primary, Ni-Cd, NiMH, lead-acid, VRLA, Carbon Zinc, alkaline manganese, zinc-air, Ni-Zn, Na-S, fuel cells, solar cells and supply systems, super-capacitors, other new battery types and thermoelectric cooling modules; • All kinds of battery pack: Battery packs for mobile phones, walkietalkies, cordless phones, laptop computers, digital cameras, mobile DVD, emergency lighting, electric toys, UPS, railway locomotives and passenger cars, and ships; • Power batteries and management systems: Power batteries and management systems for power tools, electric bicycles, electric vehicles, and hybrid vehicles; • EV charging station and related facilities: intelligent network for charging station, EV charging station products, charging station power distribution equipment, charging and replacing batteries and battery management system, parking facilities and intelligent monitoring device, charging station power supply solutions, charging station-smart grid solutions; • All kinds of energy storage batteries: Wind power, solar power, wind

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Innovations in energy research are becoming more and more important to secure the future health of our economy and society. Energy resources have to be used in a most efficient and costsaving way. You are looking for new approaches and ideas for your company or research? You would like to exchange ideas with like-minded people? You are interested in information about brand-new technological developments and strategies? The 3rd Dresden conference “Energy in Future” will present the latest research results in the fields of electrical energy generation, energy storage and energy efficiency. We are happy to invite you to participate in this conference, to meet renowned scientists and economic experts and to take part in the accompanying exhibition. Included within the conference on and solar systems, solar street light, lawn lamp, landscape and traffic lights, storage batteries and other products • Solar cell, system and applications: Silicon solar cells and materials; thin film solar cells and materials; solar transparent packaging material; solar cell and module production equipment, testing equipment; solar street light, lawn light, traffic lights, etc.; solar chargers; users of photovoltaic power, grid-connected photovoltaic systems, photovoltaic power transmission and distribution equipment; inverter; measurement and control systems; solar system control software • Battery manufacturing equipment,

November 11 will be the 4th Workshop Lithium-Sulfur-Batteries Lithium-sulfur batteries are a most promising choice for future energy storage systems. Novel materials such as nanostructured carbon/sulfur composite cathodes, solid electrolytes and alloybased anodes are expected to significantly enhance the cell’s performance. Following the great success of our previous Lithium-Sulfur Battery Workshop in 2014, this year’s symposium will again bring together an international audience of scientists and industrial customers. Renowned experts will present the latest results, new materials, processes and applications in the field of lithium-sulfur batteries. We are looking forward to welcoming you at Dresden. Contact www.zukunftenergie-dresden.de testing instruments, chargers, raw materials and components for all kinds of batteries; • Battery recycle technologies and processing equipment. Contact China Industrial Association of Power Sources Lu Hui Tel. :+86-22-23959049 Fax: +86-22-23380938 E-mail: luhui@ciaps.org.cn Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Kelly Sun Tel: +86-21-5045 6700 *314 Fax: +86-21-5045 9355 Email: kelly.sun@hmf-china.com

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 115

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015

Baltimore aka Charm City

11th Annual Knowledge Foundation, Lithium Battery Power & 6th Battery 2015 Safety Baltimore, USA November 17-19 Significant increases in the global demand for lithium-based batteries have created exciting breakthroughs in nextgeneration Li-ion and beyond lithium battery technologies. From micro-medical devices to highenergy/high-power automotive applications, these breakthroughs have paved the way for an emerging market with unlimited potential. The 11th International Conference on Lithium Battery Power focuses on two distinct tracks on materials & commercialization and addresses critical issues facing the industry, presents innovative advancements in research on lithium batteries, and fosters crossindustry discussions on ways to take viable technologies from research to practical application and manufacturing. One of the greatest challenges to creating higher-performing, lower-cost batteries is moving these emerging technologies from research to market. • Track 1: Commercialization & Manufacturing guides you through device packaging, integration and manufacturing in a full spectrum of lithiumion batteries applications currently on the market. Breakthroughs in novel battery chemistries, novel electrode/electrolyte materials, high-capacity cathodes/ anodes and system integration have delivered a vast array of automotive, portable and stationary applications. • Track 2: Chemistry, Materials & Modeling focuses on significant innovation in research and engineering for energy storage technologies in lithium-ion batteries as well as the significant achievements in safety and reliability.

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3rd Annual Energy Storage India Conference and Expo December 2015 The 2nd annual Energy Storage India Conference and Expo, hosted by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) from December 3-5, 2014, in New Delhi, was a successful event that brought together 532 industry professionals and 65 speakers from 15+ countries. It was the largest such gathering

ever held in India, and highlighted the many opportunities available in a fast-growing market. The 3rd such conference and expo should be held again in December. Contact Visit www.worldenergystorage.com/ for more information about the 2015 event.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 EV Japan 7th EV & HEV Drive System Technology Expo January 13-15, 2016 Tokyo, Japan EV JAPAN gathers all kinds of core technologies for EV & HEV; motors, inverters, rechargeable batteries, chargers, etc. automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers visit the exhibition to find the latest products. The exhibition has grown in size every year and has established itself must-attend event for automotive industry professionals. This is the best place to promote your products to the automotive industry. Contact EV JAPAN Show Management Tel: +81-3-3349-8519 Fax: +81-3-3349-8530 E-mail: visitor-eng.auto@reedexpo.co.jp

Tokyo by night, a unique experience

2016 NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference Indian Wells, California • February 29-March 3, 2016

SAE 2016 Government Industry meeting Washington DC, USA January 20-22, 2016 Understanding how technology, regulations and legislation will affect the design of light and heavy duty vehicles in terms of safety, environment and energy conservation is essential to vehicle development. This forum will provide opportunities for technical authorities from government, industry and academia who are leading advanced automotive technology, regulations and pending legislation to address issues that will influence future decision making for those within the industry. Contact http://www.sae.org/events/gim

SAE 2016 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium Anaheim, California, USA February 9-11, 2016 SAE 2016 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium addresses critical information on both the technical developments in electronic vehicle technologies as well as the business decisions around technology development and implementation. Additionally, it allows for attendees to meet with those industry experts and technology specialists from the entire supply chain of EV, HEV and EREV to engage in dialogue about the topics of greatest interest. Here, attendees will learn about technology applications of the manufacturers’ hybrid and electric vehicles, powertrain technologies and components, and about supporting technologies — such as advanced energy storage and charging systems. Join the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technologies industry at this increasingly popular, must-attend event in 2016.

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The 2016 NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, a four star resort in one of the most attractive communities in the Palm Springs, California area. You will not want to miss this program. The 2016 Annual Meeting will build on the great success of the 2015 Annual Meeting recently concluded in Phoenix, Arizona. Like the 2015 Meeting, the 2016 Meeting will include a summit on emerging battery technologies, giving industry participants a first look at new technology coming on to the market. The meeting will also include talks about emerging trends in the advanced battery business and presentations about emerging applications for battery technology that will create new opportunities for advanced battery manufacturers. The 2016 Annual Meeting will also mark a new direction in NAATBatt’s approach to industry meetings. NAATBatt has decided that it has no interest in running just another one of many large trade shows in the battery industry. NAATBatt cannot compete, and has no desire to compete, with the professional conference companies that, directly or indirectly, run major trade shows such as The Battery Show, AABC, ESNA or ESA. The industry does not need NAATBatt to produce another trade show. What the industry does need is a meeting each year where the real decision makers in the industry get together, talk about emerging trends, get a good look at interesting busi-

ness opportunities for electrochemical energy storage technology, and build high quality personal relationships in the industry that will be the basis for business growth in the year ahead. That is what the NAATBatt Annual Meeting will be, because that is the kind of meeting that the industry needs. Consistent with this new approach to its annual meeting, NAATBatt has decided to limit registration for the 2016 Annual Meeting to 300 persons. Employees of NAATBatt member firms will be given priority. But our goal is to limit attendee numbers and increase the quality of the attendee experience. This will not be another trade show. But those who attend will get real value, as that is NAATBatt’s mission in the industry. Also, don’t forget the Advanced Battery Golf & Tennis Tournament, which will be held on Monday, February 29, at the Indian Wells Golf Resort next door to the Hyatt Regency. The Indian Wells Golf Resort, which recently underwent an $80 million renovation, is one of the top golf venues in the United States, playing host, among other things, to the PGA TOUR’s Skins Game. The Advanced Battery Tournament will, like the 2016 Annual Meeting, aim to help our members build new and better business relationships in the industry in a setting which, in late February in the California desert, should be close to perfect. Contact Rayna Handelman Tel.: +1 312 588-0477

Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 117

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Energy Storage Europe Dusseldorf, Germany • March 15-17, 2016 The Energy Storage Europe is an expo and conference event which takes place in Düsseldorf in March annually. The goal of Messe Düsseldorf is to further develop this young format of Energy Storage into a worldwide leading platform for the energy storage industry. In order to reach this goal, Messe Düsseldorf does not only invest financial funds but also uses its worldwide distribution network of 134 countries. Good business is done where top decision makers gather at one place — in Düsseldorf! The 2015 Dusseldorf meeting signalled a coming of age for the event which almost doubled in size from

the year before. “The last time I came here this was a fraction of the size, this event seems to be growing exponentially,” one delegate told Batteries International in its review of the event. The conference organizer’s figures said the conference and trade fair attracted some 1,800 specialists from 48 nations. There were over 80 speakers and almost 100 exhibitors. Contact Bastian Mingers, head of renewable energy fairs Tel.: +49 211 4560 273 Fax: +49 211 4560 87273 E-mail: mingersb@messe-duesseldorf.de

ARPA.E energy innovation summit — the Premier Event Dedicated to Transformational Energy Solutions February 22-24, 2016 Washington, USA The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit brings together the very best minds in business, academia, and government to advance cutting-edge technologies that could fundamentally change the way we generate, use and store energy. Contact Amy Sites Tel: +1 703 740-1953 ARPAE-Registration@eventPower.com

ICLB 2016: 18th International Conference on Lithium Batteries March 1-2 Miami, Florida, USA The ICLB 2016: 18th International Conference on Lithium Batteries aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of lithium batteries. It also provides the premier interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of Lithium Batteries. ICLB 2016 has teamed up with the Special Journal Issue on Advances in Lithium Batteries. A number of selected high-impact full text papers will also be considered for the special journal issues. Selected full text papers will be published free of charge. Contact https://www.waset.org/conference/2016/03/ miami/ICLB

118 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Smart Materials Singapore March 4-6, 2016 Further details to be announced shortly. Contact Amy Guo Tel: +86 411 8479 9609 Ext 829 Fax: +86-411 8479 9629 Email: amy@bitlifesciences.com

Space Power Workshop 2016 USA location to be announced April 18-21, 2016 The Space Power Workshop covers topics of interest to professionals with all levels of expertise. The workshop also provides many industry networking opportunities with both domestic and international attendees. Contact http://www.cvent.com/events/2015-spacepower-workshop/event-summary-1543c80bbe114f9aaa9e12791e23815d.aspx

2016 Energy Harvesting & Storage Berlin, Germany April 27-28, 2016 The seventh annual IDTechEx event provides insight into energy harvesting technologies and their applications.

Hear end user insights, see the latest products and learn about the emerging technologies. Attendees to this event will learn: • Who needs energy harvesting, the ROI and sectors close to adoption. • End user and integrators from a diverse range of markets present their needs and experiences. • All the technology options — from energy harvester choices, energy storage options, through to the latest in low power electronics and wireless sensors. • The current state of the technology at the event tradeshow... And all with an analytical, commercial outlook, taking into account market requirements, competitive technologies and development roadmaps. Contact Corinne Jennings +44 (0)1223 812300 c.jennings@IDTechEx.com

229th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society San Diego, California, USA May 29-June 3 2016 Contact http://www.electrochem.org/ecs/staff.htm

19th International Meeting on Lithium Batteries June 19-24, 2016 Chicago, Illinois USA This is the premier international conference on the state of lithium battery science and technology, as well as current and future applications in transportation, commercial, aerospace, biomedical, and other promising sectors. Convening in the heart of downtown Chicago, the conference is expected to draw 2,000 experts, researchers, and company representatives involved in the lithium battery field. http://www.imlb.org/contact/

by Kevin Desmond 228 pages $39.95 softcover (6 9) 89 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index ISBN 978-0-7864-9709-6 Ebook ISBN 978-1-4766-1968-2 2015

In the latter half of the 19th century, Gustave Pierre Trouvé, a modest but brilliant Parisian electrical engineer, conceived and patented some 75 inventions, including the endoscope, the electric car and the frontal headlamp. He also designed an electric boat— complete with outboard motor, headlight and horn—an electric rifle, an electric piano and luminous fountains, and developed wearable technology and ultraviolet light therapy. Unlike his famous contemporary Nikola Tesla, who worked for Thomas Edison and was patronized by George Westinghouse, Trouvé never came to America. A confirmed bachelor disinterested in industrialization, he was gradually forgotten following his accidental death in 1902. This expanded edition of the 2012 French first-ever biography of Trouvé details the fascinating life of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor once dubbed “the French Edison.” Kevin Desmond, a freelance technology historian and biographer, lives near Bordeaux in southern France. Since 1976, his 25 published books and 300+ articles have illuminated the men and women innovators, often forgotten, behind the progress of transport and related subjects.

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Batteries International • Summer 2015 • 119

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BATTERY HERO: CHRISTINA LAMPE-ONNERUD Battery pioneers come in varying shapes and forms. Some are inventors. Some are developers. And some have the skills to turn ideas into market changers. Christina Lampe-Önnerud, founder of Boston-Power seems to have managed all three.

Harnessing the commercial power of innovation to push lithium ion batteries on to the next level In the world of international technology, women are few and far between. And the battery world is no exception, though the contributions of some have been exceptional— think Kathryn Bullock, Maria Skyllas-Kazacos or Jeanne Burbank. And, to swell the ranks, also consider Swedish-born electro-chemist Christina Lampe-Önnerud who has combined business acumen and a vision of lithium batteries to advance a whole industry forward. Christina Lampe was born in February 1967 in Ludvika in central Sweden. Her father, Wolfgang Lampe, a member of Sweden’s Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences and an IEEE fellow, worked for engineering giant ABB, whose activity in the town included development and manufacturing transformers, capacitors and equipment for high-voltage direct current power transmission. By the time she was 12, she was concocting fireworks in a basement bathtub, slapping out stray sparks with damp towels. In high school she was accepted by a prestigious eight-year program in Sweden that would end with a medical doctorate. But during her senior year of high school, in 1985, with memories of a recent fun-filled summer in Oregon fresh in her mind, she accepted a scholarship from a Swedish-American association to go to college in the US. She spent a year at Elmira College in upstate New York, taking more than the normal course load and studying English literature, business, and various sciences and working for one of the chemistry professors as a lab assistant. In the fall, the students voted her “Miss Elmira.” Lampe went back to Sweden to finish her education at Uppsala University, but by this time she’d turned away from medicine for good. An

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“Ever since I was a child I had dreamt of starting my own company and now I set my heart into it. It was really a matter of wanting to solve a problem. I understood that if we succeeded, we would attract a great deal of interest” Elmira chemistry professor, PierreYves Bouthyette, had convinced her that chemistry was far more interesting than anatomy. She later said that with chemistry, “you had to see beyond what the science was, and understand what the science could make happen”.

The first patent

Lampe focused on copper deposition on semiconductor wafers for her master’s and analysing cathode materials for lithium-polymer batteries for her doctorate. While completing her degree, she collaborated with battery firm Danionics, in Odense, Denmark. In parallel, she was awarded her first patent, based on her PhD work. On the day Lampe was due to defend her PhD thesis, in 1995, the uni-

versity publicized the event — she was giving a live interview to a radio journalist as she entered the room. According to Josh Thomas, the professor who supervised her PhD. work: “the thing that separates Christina from the others is her ambition”. But she could hardly have timed her thesis better. When she received her doctorate in 1995, commercial lithium-ion batteries were still novel. Lampe quickly became a lithium-ion cathode expert. In 1989, she married her high school sweetheart, Per Önnerud, who was studying theoretical physics, chemistry and maths, but also playing jazz trumpet in local bands. Together with her professor and thesis adviser, Josh Thomas — whom she describes as “incredibly pleasant,

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BATTERY HERO: CHRISTINA LAMPE-ONNERUD funny, and intellectually challenging” — Lampe-Önnerud went to Boston, Massachusetts for a conference. She presented her findings to the world’s leading battery researchers and, coincidentally, captivated by Boston. During that time she was presented with a Woman of the Future award by the university. In 1994, granted an International Fellowship Award by Zonta.

MIT and beyond

In the spring of 1995, Christina and Per moved to Massachusetts, each with a post doctorate position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But just a year later, she left for a MIT spin-off, Quantum Energy Technologies where she concentrated on batteries and displays. “There was a unique combination of an extremely high pace and incredibly friendly people who wanted to help each other,” she recalls. “It was interesting. When you have lots of people who dare to think outside the boxes that exist today — new solutions abound.” In 1997, she joined New Jerseybased Bell Communications at Red Bank. There she helped license lithium batteries technology made from thinfilm polymers and the process for manufacturing them. The batteries were smaller, more powerful and safer than conventional lithium batteries. Lampe broadened her technical base and helped develop a strategic marketing plan, collateral materials, and key client sales consults, leading to multiple global licenses with top tier firms, such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, Varta, Ultralife and polymer-battery makers — resulting in billion dollar revenues. For this she received

In 2002, Christina, aged 35, was named as one of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review, MIT’s Magazine of Innovation www.batteriesinternational.com

Bell Research Laboratories’ Spot Innovation Award in 1998. The Bellcore work was fun but short-lived. Brian Barnett, an internationally acclaimed battery expert, at Arthur D Little, the Cambridge-based management-consulting firm, had begun wooing Lampe-Önnerud the day she left for Bellcore. “He called at least once a month,” she says. “He even sent gift baskets. And finally they offered to hire me, with my husband, and to assign us to work together, something Bellcore wouldn’t do.” During the next six years, together with Barnett, the Lampe-Önneruds helped develop and grow the company’s battery labs, defining strategies for the world’s top chemical and battery organizations, and directed highprofile market evaluations. To do this she criss-crossed the world, working for clients that included a Fortune 100 electronic controls client, a huge US integrated energy company, a restructuring that was ultimately successful for a major European company, a Japanese chemical firm, and ADL clients faced with high profile material disputes worldwide as well as being selected as one of ADL key partners on energy and sustainability issues, advising G7 governments. In 2002, Christina, aged 35, was named as one of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review, MIT’s Magazine of Innovation. It was the first of a whole necklace of awards. From her earliest days she had been passionate about music and this she continued alongside her professional life. In December 2002, she founded the Stardust Show Chorus, a 20-woman jazz a cappella group, located in Framingham, Massachusetts. This alongside teaching music at the Swedish School in Boston and singing in various groups, allowed another busy time in her life to be filled with music through recordings, dance and choreography as well as participation as guest singer in various groups. In 2003, Christina stood in front of a symposium in Kyoto, Japan, and announced that the energy density of a typical lithium-ion battery (increas-

From her earliest days she had been passionate about music and this she continued alongside her professional life. In December 2002, she founded the Stardust Show Chorus, a 20-woman jazz a cappella group, located in Framingham, Massachusetts ingly used in all our mobile devices) was approaching that of a hand grenade. Together with her team she had investigated unpredictable 100 battery explosions, in laptop computers. In her view, nobody in the industry wanted to address problems such as a laptop battery life that went from four hours to 20 minutes within a year. Then there was the issue of the unpredictable explosions. “The industry decided to sweep them under the rug and say, ‘That’s fine,’ but I thought that was absolutely not fine. Corporations were lying to people. There’s also a paradigm in my specific industry where batteries are a constant disappointment. So people have surrendered to the fact that batteries fade. So, if we could change that paradigm and batteries didn’t fade, you could make a real impact.” By summer 2004, Lampe-Önnerud was tired of helping the industry slap on Band-Aids: “I wanted to take a step back and think about the whole battery as one system.”’ And she couldn’t do that within Arthur D Little, which was then TIAX. “With two small children, I was very concerned about the direction Planet Earth was going. And I felt part

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BATTERY HERO: CHRISTINA LAMPE-ONNERUD HONOURS AND AWARDS The list of recognitions for her achievements looks like a spectacular music score. Perhaps the most prestigious is to have been made Lifetime Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, Sweden. But there’s also: • Swedish Woman of The Year 2011; • Wall Street Journal Top 10 Clean Technology Company (20102011); • Technology Pioneer Award (2010 by World Economic Forum); • Private Company CEO of the Year (2010 by MA Technology Leadership Council);

• One of The Most Important Women in Mobile Tech (2011 by Laptop Magazine); • Inducted into Entrepreneur Hall of Fame (2009 international program hosted by E&Y); • Stevie Award for Women in Business (2008); • “Women to Watch” (2007 awarded to top 10 by Mass High Tech); • Award for DEMOgod (2007 Top 10 innovator); • United Nations Inter Academy Panel (IAP), 2011-2013.

Christina Lampe-Önnerud (centre left) won the category for Entrepreneurial Innovation & Leadership in the 2015 Women of Innovation awards as CEO and founder of Cloteam

of my contribution could be to deliver a product that actually differentiates [from other batteries] in performance and in green. As summer turned to autumn in 2004, she realized she was weary of having to think about batteries in the ways her clients wanted her to. She had two children, aged one and four, but she also had child care. The family could live on her husband’s income. She even had an unrenovated carriage house on her Framingham, property, which could be company headquarters; for a while. So on Halloween 2004, she cleaned out her office at Arthur D Little, said good-bye to her colleagues, and went trick-or-treating with her kids. The

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next day Lampe-Önnerud walked up the stairs to her study, opened her laptop, took a deep breath, and began to think about lithium-ion batteries in a way no one else ever had before. She saw a huge lack of innovation. “I wanted to revolutionize storage, as it’s one of the solutions for a sustainable future. Nobody cared, but this to me was so clear. If you have a battery that works, that’s like giving an engineer a new Lego piece. I think this is what tipped me into starting up a firm of my own. “Ever since I was a child I had dreamt of starting my own company and now I set my heart into it. It was really a matter of wanting to solve a problem. I understood that if we suc-

ceeded, we would attract a great deal of interest.” The name the Lampe Önneruds chose for their disruptive, innovative energy storage company was BostonPower. For those closing two months of 2004, Lampe-Önnerud quarantined herself in the study, figuring out what her new-born company should do. Although she considered developing a battery for active RFID, implantable batteries for medical devices and even thought about batteries for hybrid cars, she kept coming back to the laptop market as the most interesting niche.

Reorganization

She reviewed cases in which laptop batteries had problems, and she found something interesting: what all those incidents had in common was that people were jamming too much energy into a confined space. A laptop’s battery slot determines the boundaries of that space but not the divisions within it. So Lampe-Önnerud reorganized the space within. And just as a simple kitchen remodel can make a family’s life more efficient, the reorganization made all the difference. “The solution looks simple now,” she recalls. “At the time it was anything but!” She admits that she and her small inner team were stretched to almost breaking point but they made it. The result was Sonata, the first environmentally friendly lithium ion battery. It didn’t contain either PVC or heavy metals — which at the time were commonly used in laptop computers, electric vehicles and large energy storage units. Like interlocking building blocks, the individual batteries could be joined to generate more power as needed — say, three in a laptop and 2,000 in an electric car. Boston-Power has always been far from being a sleepy little tech shop. The corporate culture reflects Lampe-Önnerud’s personality and love of music. She selected Sonata as the name for Boston-Power’s first battery (bright blue because that’s her favourite colour). The conference rooms at the company are labelled Harmony and Symphony. The company’s next battery products were named Swing and Salsa. A regular laptop today charges in two to three hours but it was much longer a few years back.

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BATTERY HERO: CHRISTINA LAMPE-ONNERUD With the Sonata battery, one can charge it in 30 minutes to an 80% capacity. She also managed to get her batteries certified to carry the Swan symbol indicating they are environmentally friendly under the Nordic Ecolabel programme, the first lithium-ion batteries ever to receive such a designation. In 2007, Boston-Power introduced DEMOgod as the next-generation, lithium-ion battery for notebook computers. Designed to fuel a wide range of applications, its flagship offering, Sonata, was the foundation for HP’s new brand of longer lasting notebook batteries. In the next five years, while thousands of Sonatas and Swings were being built, Boston-Power masterminded a global portfolio of 158 patents. She closed deals for Boston Power for laptop firms HP, Lenovo, and ASUS; for electric automotive she sold to SAAB, Beijing Automotive, with prototype fleets at Mercedes-Brabus, Yulon, Foton, Mahindra-Reva; customers included specialty medical/ high-tech electronics firms, Devilbis, GP, Ritek, Beckett, and Dr Battery. The awards kept coming too: Top 100 Woman-Led Businesses in MA (2006 by Babson College/The Commonwealth Institute) Between 2007 and 2009, she was assigned by the Club de Madrid and the UN to serve on the so-called “Road to Copenhagen” as an energy expert. In 2008, she was a member of a US State Department delegation to China, where she met China’s premier Wen Jiabao. She served on multiple working groups through the World Economic Forum, 2009-2011. Before long Chinese companies began to court Boston-Power and in 2008 the regulators awarded the Boston-Power products environmental certification. In September 2011, Boston-Power received $125 million that included private equity plus grants and lowinterest loans from the Chinese government. The investment was for funding a lithium ion battery plant near Shanghai to service primarily the China market, but also for export. After applications for US government loans failed, far from seeing this as a blow, Lampe-Önnerud saw it as an opportunity. In 2011, she closed a deal that took the bulk of the company’s infrastructure and all its manufacturing to China. In the US, she believes the company would have been

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Between 2007 and 2009, she was assigned by the Club de Madrid and the UN to serve on the so-called “Road to Copenhagen” as an energy expert. In 2008, she was a member of a US State Department delegation to China, where she met China’s premier Wen Jiabao. She served on multiple working groups through the World Economic Forum, 2009-2011. “limping along”, whereas in China, opportunities were enormous. In all the firm raised $360 million in funding through 2011. The headquarters were initially in the US (staff 80), supply chain and manufacturing operations are in China (100) and Taiwan (350), and sales offices are in US Europe, and China. She later won a BOD/investor buy-in for next growth phase, shifting her executive office to Asia and eventually moving away from an active management role.

Cloteam and beyond

In 2012, she founded a new startup calling it Cloteam — Christina Lampe-Önnerud team — looking at innovative ways to join and package batteries using a wide range of battery chemistries. The idea is that better placement of battery packs could absorb and

manage the impact energy from a collision. Cloteam’s batteries could provide greater energy density compared to today’s lithium-ion batteries, while reducing the costs associated with materials and processing. In February 2013, Cloteam, won a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center grant to fund the design and development of lower cost and higher safety energy storage systems using battery technology. That August Cloteam was awarded a $3.5 million grant from the US Department of Energy to develop EV energy storage systems using different designs. In addition to Cloteam in May 2013, Lampe-Önnerud also joined the core management group of Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut in the US. Still under 50 and with medals and recognition from all around, she says there are still mountains to climb.

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COINCIDENCE OR SOMETHING MORE SINISTER?

Wherever the Battery Industry’s Finest go — aka the BCI’s annual meetings — tragedy follows. Just think on this trail of mayhem: the latest race riots in Baltimore (whoops! BCI 125) the University of Miami tragedy (BCI 122), the drug wars in San Diego (BCI 124). Even the less controversial spots, think Scottsdale (BCI 123) aren’t immune. (No coincidence then that the place is suffering the worst drought in recorded history.) “This year we had a great conference,” said a BCI official. “So Savannah will probably get it in the neck by the fall. The hot money in the office is on crippling snowstorms this August. Me I think Texas’ll go for independence. And that’ll probably cause a cattle war. “We don’t know why there’s a connection between batteries and trou trouble but almost exactly a year after w were formed in Chicago [January 1924, B CI 1], we Al Capone took over as head of the mob.” commi So commiserations to San Antonio (B CI 126) alrea on Code Orange — ahead of — already next spring’s influx of Batterypeople.

Something for the bookshelf

Spotted at BCI … two superheroes

Steve: “Apart from his plans for world domination, we’re best buddies”

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The Handbook of Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Design: Chemistry, Components, Types and Terminology by John Warner

Just another conference evening in Savannah as two superhero/ villains — Clark ‘Steve Mates’ Kent and boo hiss Lex ‘Terry Hartman’ Luther — cross the river looking for a duelling piano bar.

John Warner, the well known and popular figure often seen on the conference circuit, has written what some are saying could be the definitive state-of-the-art handbook on lithium battery pack design. The book, published by Elsevier but downloadable to a Kindle, explains how lithium packs are designed from the perspective of an entry level engineer, manager, product manager or sales person who is

not already an expert in lithium-ion battery design. It provides a layperson’s explanation of the history of vehicle electrification, what the various terminology means, and how to do some simple calculations that can be used in determining basic battery sizing, capacity, voltage and energy. By the end of the book, readers have a solid understanding of all of the terminology around Liion batteries and are able to do some simple battery calculations. In one reviewer’s opinion is is useful to beginning and experienced engineers alike who are moving into the battery field.

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70 years a winner Congratulations to Bob Aronsson — perhaps the first true pioneer of electric vehicles of the last couple of generations — who this April celebrated 70 years of marriage to Annice. Their first meeting was the stuff of Hollywood. A young GI in the tiny town of West Point in Georgia is standing on a corner when a pretty young lady walks by. Young GI introduces himself. Pretty lady smiles. The rest is history.

True Grit

In the land of the Midnight Sun — where men are men and moose are worried — Hammond superstar Steve Barnes completed his charity cycle ride this June “Here in the veritable roof of the world, aka Newcastle-upon-Tyne in

Bob may look back with fondness of “a lifetime of love and happiness”, according to his son Raymond and daughter Lisa, but he deserves more as an unsung hero. His pioneering work in the 1970s and 1980s almost — tantalisingly almost — brought in a new generation of electric vehicles powered by lead acid batteries and a totally different way of thinking about energy, only to be thwarted by the automotive giants of the day.

the UK,” whispered one commentator. “Our Steve has cycled 128 miles, made 11,000 feet of hill climbs and frightened countless graminivores in their pastures.” He also raised £1500 ($2400) to boot.

Stylish but slightly unnecessary: the rest of the cycle pack used the bridge (just out of shot).

Crunch factor 10 American dietary requirements —16oz of red meat served daily with fries and Coke — won’t be a problem at this September’s ABC meetings in Bangkok. The venue is surrounded by international restaurants. Even the British nightcap combo — a dozen pints of beer before a hearty kebab (to be cuddled on the return home) — can be met. And as for Europeans’ needs for a fine glass of Chardonnay to go with their 128 • Batteries International • Summer 2015

MacDonald’s? No probs. But who’s for Thai’s street-style food? Deep fried bamboo worms or creamy reds ants (with their eggs à la croute)? “Their cuisine is delicious and based around different food senses —texture, flavours, piquancy,” says one of the conference organizers aka Mark. “Even a sense of crunch too.” That’s the deep fried crickets, of course. www.batteriesinternational.com

Pasting ► Dividing ► Flash Drying ► Sta cking ► Curing ► C.O.S. ► Asse mbly

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