Wood Mackenzie

The EU has been pouring money into European battery manufacturing and recycling projects but has, as yet, been unable to address the critical question of raw materials, according to analyst WoodMac.

A lack of end-of-life batteries this decade is likely to play into the hands of Chinese recyclers located near most of the world’s production facilities, according to analyst WoodMac, but might at least help rebalance the current situation in which new products are cheaper than recycled ones.

The urgency to decarbonize the building sector has caught global attention in the lead-up to the COP26 summit, commencing on Oct. 31. Wood Mackenzie’s Ben Hertz-Shargel says that success will require a two-pronged strategy of massively electrifying building heat over the coming decade, while also investing in technologies that can pick up future heating demand if the grid cannot handle it.

The race to electrify passenger cars is picking up pace, writes Prachi Mehta, senior research analyst for Wood Mackenzie. Competition among leading EV automakers is fierce, as 2024 looms as a watershed year when auto battery-pack prices cross a key consumer threshold.

The manufacturer has launched sodium-ion products online. Production has begun and will be easily scalable, according to the CATL chairman. Researchers have been keen to make the technology work as it offers a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion products.

Indonesia will catch the eye too over the next nine years, according to analyst WoodMac, as its market grows from 300 MW to 8.5 GW.

Analyst WoodMac says South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam will also join India and Australia next year, among the nations where clean energy projects are cheaper than new coal power plants.

If confirmed, the global newly installed PV capacity for this year would be 5% more than that of 2019. China is forecast to be once again the world’s largest market, with 39 GW.

A new report by Wood Mackenzie suggests that rapid solar module technology innovations in the next decade will lead to significant increases in module power class, better performance and more versatile applications. Technology and lower capex will be key to sector growth, it adds.

The bill for full decarbonization of the economy – which is likely to see the decommissioning of no more than half the current coal fleet, with CCS doing some heavy lifting, according to the US-owned analyst – could come in at more than $5 trillion.