Emerging battery technologies: Alternative long-term energy storage solutions on the rise
Nov 22, 2023
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Exploring alternative long-term energy storage technologies to fill the flexibility gap in renewable energy, including the limitations of lithium-ion batteries and the rise of scalable solutions like flow batteries and compressed energy storage. The impact of industry growth on battery metal prices, challenges in energy storage adoption, and the forecasted growth of global energy storage installations by 2030.
Alternative long-term storage technologies are crucial for managing renewable energy intermittency beyond lithium-ion capabilities.
Non-lithium based batteries like sodium-ion offer advantages in safety, cost, and raw material abundance over lithium-ion batteries.
Deep dives
The Importance of Energy Storage Solutions
Energy storage solutions are crucial for the global energy transition, particularly in managing the intermittency of renewable energy sources. Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as a key technology for storing excess energy and managing fluctuations in renewable power. The increasing demand for clean energy to power electric vehicles (EVs) highlights the importance of efficient energy storage solutions. While lithium-ion batteries have dominated the market, there is a growing need for longer duration storage beyond their capabilities.
The Impact on Battery Metal Prices
The rapid growth of the energy storage industry, coupled with the booming EV sector, has led to strong demand for lithium-ion battery chemicals such as lithium salts, cobalt, and nickel sulfate. This has raised concerns about raw material supply and prices. In recent years, there has been significant price volatility in the lithium industry, impacting battery metal prices. However, the market outlook remains strong, with governments pushing for increased EV penetration and energy storage installations. As a result, companies are exploring non-lithium based batteries, such as sodium-ion batteries, to meet EV requirements and free up critical minerals for use in the EV segment.
The Rise of Alternative Storage Solutions
With the growing need for longer duration storage, alternative energy storage technologies are gaining attention. These technologies offer advantages over lithium-ion batteries, such as using abundant raw materials and improved safety features. They also have longer cycle lives, reducing the need for frequent replacements. However, the main challenges lie in achieving cost reductions and scalability to compete with lithium-ion batteries. These technologies are still at an early stage and require significant investment and government support to demonstrate their commercial viability.
The growing use of renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels is creating a large flexibility gap that needs to be filled by clean technologies such as energy storage. Long-term storage technologies are critical to solar and wind power, addressing the challenge of intermittency.
While lithium-ion stands as the incumbent, scaling it for extended durations proves costly. Alternative solutions poised to fill this role will need to demonstrate scalable manufacturing and large-scale deployments to meet soaring demand.
In this special miniseries of the Platts Future Energy podcast, metals engagement lead Jesline Tang and energy storage analyst Susan Taylor join metals markets reporter Euan Sadden to discuss the evolving landscape of alternative long-term storage technologies, their impact on the battery sector, and how they compare to existing lithium-ion battery systems.