Lithium

Construction on the Halmstad facility is expected to start this year after the Stena Recycling branch of the Swedish conglomerate announced a €25 million commitment.

Research institutes in Germany and Chile are investigating the potential of extracting lithium and other minerals, as well as drinking water, from brines used in geothermal energy. The concept could greatly reduce the environmental impacts of mining in northern Chile. The project has set up a demonstration of the technology at a geothermal power plant in western Germany, and is working to identify optimal sites in Chile for further development.

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

China’s Ganfeng Lithium has signed a deal with Argentina’s Ministry of Productive Development and the province of Jujuy to build a lithium-ion battery factory.

With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.

Australia’s only lithium mine outside of Western Australia, Core Lithium’s Finniss Lithium Project, has produced “battery grade” lithium hydroxide, according to the company, with Core hoping the development will place it at the “forefront” of lithium production for the global renewable energy and EV markets.

Renewable electricity will be linked to 90% of the actions needed to remove carbon emissions in 2050, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, and the biggest volume of generation capacity will be provided by solar.

Inverted Energy has started manufacturing at its 100 MWh lithium battery assembly facility at Okhla, New Delhi. The plant will initially produce batteries for energy storage systems in the residential and commercial sectors, and for electric-mobility applications. The plan is to eventually cater to critical applications in the telecom and health care sectors.

The centralized nature of policymaking in Beijing would enable component standardization to ease the transition from EV to stationary energy storage use, according to Greenpeace East Asia.

‘Lithium Valley’, south of Perth, is set for two new faces after U.K. battery manufacturer Amte Power and Perth-based infrastructure firm Infranomics signed an agreement to explore the possibility of establishing lithium-ion cell manufacturing facilities in the state of Western Australia.