Morrow loan deal boost for for giga plans in Norway

Morrow Batteries said on July 5 it had achieved an 86% yield of battery cells production at its customer qualification in South Korea just four months after opening.

CEO Lars Christian Bacher praised the results, saying industry standards put the initial average yield of new production lines at 70%.

Morrow started test production at Chungju-si in

February and has produced more than 600 prismatic cells with NMC battery chemistry.

The Norway-based battery maker said its industrial scale-up is now on track.

Morrow said it will produce a few hundred LFP batteries at B-sample stage during the summer.

The customer qualification plant will have a capacity of 2,000 battery cells per month.

Australia critical minerals blueprint launched

Australia unveiled a new critical minerals strategy on June 20, including a pledge to pump A$500 million ($332 million) of fresh investment into sectors including battery materials supply.

Resources and Northern Australia minister Madeleine King said the country aimed to become a “globally significant producer of raw and processed critical minerals”.

Independent modelling has found increasing exports of critical minerals and energy-transition minerals could create more than 115,000 new jobs and add

A$71.2 billion to GDP by 2040, King said.

But jobs could more than double that figure and GDP increase to A$133.5 billion by 2040 if Australia builds downstream refining and processing capability and secures a greater share of trade and investment.

Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium — accounting for some 47% of world supply in 2020.

King said it is the third largest producer of cobalt and fourth largest producer of rare earths and produces significant amounts of metals such as aluminium, nickel and copper.

€500m R&D financial support awaits EU battery projects

Battery developers are being urged to make bids for millions of euros in financial support still up for grabs in Europe.

Wouter Ijzermans, executive director at the Battery European Partnership (BEPA), gave details of around €500 million ($547 million) in potential aid still available from the EU’s Horizon Europe R&D program during the International Flow Battery Forum in Prague on June 27 (see our events section).

BEPA works in tandem

On May 12, Morrow said it had agreed a loan deal of NOK567 million ($53 million) to support development of its battery cells projects at Arendal in Norway, where production is to begin in 2024.

An investment decision to start on the next facility — the Eyde 1 14GWh per annum batteries production plant — will be taken in the first half of 2024.

Fitch upgrades China’s CATL to A- rating

Fitch Ratings, the international credit rating agency, announced on June 26, it had upgraded CATL, the China-based battery producer to a senior unsecured rating to A- from BBB+.

To put this into context this says the likelihood of defaulting on its debt is equivalent to that of Spain or Poland not paying their international obligations. Both countries are also rated A-.

Fitch says it expects the firm to have a compound annual growth rate of 18% over the next three years and its EBITDA (earnings before interest tax deductions and amortization) of around 15%.

Fitch says: “The company’s performance in 2022 and the first quarter this year demonstrates solidification of its dominant market share, technological capability and capacity leadership. These are commensurate with or stronger than peers’ in the respective industries.

“The ratings are con- strained by the current nature of the volatile, evolving EV battery sector, which sees rapid changes in its competitive environment and technology. Regulatory risks in specific markets could also constrain CATL’s overseas growth, but Fitch believes the risks are manageable.” with BATT4EU — a program established under Horizon.

Fitch believes CATL will continue to maintain its leading global market position and has a strong order book that supports future growth with adequate leverage headroom.

According to SNE Research, CATL had a 37% share of the global EV battery market in 2022. “We expect CATL to continue overseas penetration through exports and growing localized production amid tighter geopolitical regulation,” Fitch said.

CATL’s EV battery is a leader in international markets with a non-China market share of 22.3% in 2022.

Ijzermans said nearly €1 billion had originally been earmarked in funds under Horizon, of which €503 million had been allocated to date. Of the remainder, €21 million has been set aside specifically for nonlithium sustainable batteries for stationary storage with European supply chains.

Applicants for the nonlithium battery chemistry funding have until April 18, 2024 to apply.

Emeren, Matrix partnering for BESS projects in Italy

Solar developer Emeren said on June 27 it was partnering Matrix Renewables to develop up to 1.5GWh of energy storage projects in Italy.

The companies are working on a development service agreement for the BESS portfolio ahead of an expected new capacity market auction in late 2023 aimed at boosting the deployment of solar in Italy.

Potential battery chemis- tries to be used in the projects were not disclosed.

The first tranche of developments accepted by Matrix, which is part of private equity firm TPG, includes more than 260MW of standalone BESS projects, the companies said.

Emeren CEO Yumin Liu said BESS systems are vital for the future of renewable energy and the company wants to become a leader in the market.