We truly live in the exponential age: I only heard of sodium-ion battery technology about this time last year and now the first car is being launched running on sodium and gigafactories are being built. I checked the Northvolt website relating to the first story below and it trumpets the arrival of sodium-ion technology too, so I added it.
COMPANY NEWS
Northvolt raises record green loan
Northvolt announced the signing of a $5 billion non-recourse project financing to enable the expansion of Northvolt Ett in northern Sweden. The deal represents the largest green loan raised in Europe to date.
In addition to the expansion of Northvolt Ett’s cathode production and cell manufacturing, the finance package will enable the expansion of the adjacent recycling plant, Revolt Ett, which is approaching the conclusion of its commissioning and is processing its first materials. The facility recovers battery-grade metals with a carbon footprint 70% lower than mined raw materials, thereby enabling a fully integrated, circular battery production setup that has not previously existed outside of Asia. (electriccarsreport)
Photo: Northvolt
Schroders Greencoat launches semi-liquid energy transition fund
Schroders Greencoat has launched its new Schroders Capital Semi-Liquid Energy Transition Fund to support renewable technologies such as solar, wind, hydrogen and battery storage.
Greencoat, which is the renewable and energy transition infrastructure manager of UK-headquartered asset management giant Schroders, has assets under management worth £1.1 billion across a number of geographies including the UK, Europe and the US.
A semi-liquid structure allows funds the chance to invest in long-term illiquid infrastructure projects. Semi-liquid funds invest in private equity, with investors committing their capital at the time of subscription. In doing so, this offers “greater flexibility and operational simplicity to investors,” Schroders said.
The firm stated that the Article 9 Fund will make investments into what it calls the “backbone of the energy transition” and includes large-scale wind farms and solar parks. Alongside this, it will also target other infrastructure contributing to the energy transition such as clean hydrogen, battery storage, district heating, charging infrastructure, power grids and carbon capture technology. (current-news)
UK NEWS
ScottishPower seeks biggest ever supply round worth £5.4bn
ScottishPower has unveiled £5.4bn worth of contract opportunities as it launches its next phase of electricity network investment.
A boost early in 2024 by its SP Energy Networks business for suppliers of capital goods is the company’s biggest issued contract opportunity ever and will see major investment in green energy infrastructure and green jobs which will bolster the grid for decades to come.
With electricity demand forecast to double in the next ten years, the International Energy Agency says the UK needs more than 600,000km of new or upgraded electricity lines to meet its needs.
ScottishPower says it is at the forefront of unlocking green growth and now has billions of pounds in contracts on offer for the supply chain to support its electricity network ambitions and a net zero future. (theenergyst)
‘World’s first’ hydrogen boat with UK fuel cell completes testing
A UK-based project has successfully tested the “world’s first” hydrogen-electric boat powered by a printed circuit board fuel cell (PCBFC™).
Funded by the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund as part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, the HyTime project, led by Bramble Energy, recently concluded real-world testing.
Bramble Energy, in collaboration with custom engine builder Barrus, designed a 57ft narrowboat to demonstrate the potential of PCBFC™ technology.
This emissions-free narrowboat, launched in Sheffield, Yorkshire, utilises a custom marinised fuel cell system.
The fuel cell can provide a range of approximately 600 miles, thanks to the 14kg of stored hydrogen onboard. (energylivenews)
photo: Bramble Energy
2.2M homes and businesses are taking part in demand flexibility events this winter
Over 2.2 million businesses and households have signed up to participate in this year’s Demand Flexibility Service, “eclipsing participation levels at this stage last year”, according to system operator NGESO.
The ESO said in the six test events and two live events across November and December 2023 households and businesses have saved a total of 2,507MWh.
So far participating providers – of which there are 43 – have earned over £9.3million which they have passed onto households and businesses in the form of pounds, points and prizes. (newpower)
Scottish Renewables calls for revamp of constraint system
A new report commissioned by Scottish Renewables has described the UK’s approach to constraint management as “outdated” and in need of a “major revamp.”
Established prior to the wind generation boom, the constraint management system has been struggling to cope with the substantial increase in renewable deployment over the last 20 years, the ‘Exploring options for constraint management in the GB electricity system’ report stated.
This, paired with what Scottish Renewables called “a decade of under investment in the UK’s electricity transmission network” has resulted in constraint costs growing significantly, with the current system “no longer delivering good value.”
The report – published by renewable service company the Energy Landscape – revealed that overall, the average cost of relieving transmission constraints rose from £109/MWh between 2018/19 to £366/MWh between 2022/23.
These constraints also lead to the curtailment of the cheaper energy provided by renewables such as wind and solar, and replacing them with more expensive energy sources like fossil fuels. (current-news)
photo: Scottish Renewables
EV OF THE WEEK
For those of you who follow the tech as much as the cars, EV of the Week has slipped down to the feature on Sodium-Ion Batteries below. The new YiWei car, pictured is highly significant. It is an urban runabout that is mooted to have 160 mile range in any weather, uses no lithium, charges very fast and the battery is considerably less than a lithium based equivalent. If the trajectory of the Lithium battery industry is followed, it will be little time before sodium batteries are a feature of many mass-market cars.
EUROPEAN STORIES
European Parliament endorses call for a geothermal strategy
The European Parliament’s Plenary has voted on a resolution, led by Professor Krasnodębski MEP from the European Conservatives & Reformist Group (ECR), to support a European geothermal energy strategy.
531 of the 533 Members of the European Parliament present (96 percent) voted in favour of the resolution with no abstentions and 2 voting against. The resolution calls for:
A European strategy for geothermal energy to reduce administrative burdens and aid investments in buildings, industry and agricultural sectors across the Union.
A Geothermal Industrial Alliance to fast-track best practices and the effective implementation of legislation.
A harmonised financial risk mitigation insurance scheme.
Encourage Member States to design national strategies for geothermal like those by the French, German, Polish, Austrian, Croatian and Irish governments.
Support regions in transition and coal regions to transition to geothermal. (renewableenergymagazine)
Gore Street’s Irish assets earn £19/MWh more than GB assets in Q3 of FY2023
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund has revealed that its Irish portfolio generated an estimated £25.8/MWh during the quarter ending December 2023, £19 higher than its GB assets.
According to the fund, the combined Irish portfolio achieved this strong performance following a positive outcome throughout the Summer months. With December revenue having come in at an estimated £37.2/MWh, it noted that this was primarily due to strong and consistent wind in the nation. (solarpowerportal)
Netherlands to get world’s largest green hydrogen plant
The Mitsubishi Corporation will invest $690m in developing the world’s largest green hydrogen plant in the Netherlands, Nikkei Asia reports.
The Japanese industrial conglomerate has teamed up with Dutch renewable energy company Eneco to form Eneco Diamond Hydrogen, which will then manage the construction and operation of the hydrogen plant.
The project is set to break ground in 2026, with hydrogen production scheduled to begin in 2029 using wind farms owned by Eneco.
The company presently has installed capacity of just under 7.4GW. This electricity will be used to produce 80,000 tonnes of the fuel a year – almost 30 times more than anything seen previously. (globalconstructionreview)
photo: Mitsubishi Corp.
FOCUS ON: SODIUM-ION BATTERIES
BYD bets on largest sodium-ion battery factory
BYD, which recently surpassed Tesla to become the world’s biggest electric vehicle manufacturer, has broken ground on a $1.6 billion sodium-ion battery factory, the world’s largest. When operational, the innovative facility will be able to churn out 30 GWh of cell capacity a year.
Considering that the cheap and lithium-less sodium batteries are mainly targeted towards compact mass market electric vehicles, as well as energy storage, the advertised BYD factory capacity could make it one of the main suppliers of this emerging battery tech.
Sodium-ion batteries have lower energy density than current EV battery technologies, but they are much cheaper to produce, very fast to charge, and the range of electric cars powered of them is less affected by cold weather. (notebookcheck)
Others betting on Sodium too
JAC Group’s YiWei, a new EV brand backed by Volkswagen, has started building its first sodium-ion battery-powered EV. The first model rolled off the production line last week, and deliveries are expected to begin this month.
Chairman of Yiwei Tech, Xia Shunli, said sodium-ion batteries will be “a low-cost solution that promotes the popularization of mass electric vehicles to masses.”
Battery giant CATL also revealed in April that Chery Auto’s iCar brand will be the first to use its sodium-ion batteries. (elektrek)
photo: JAC Motors
Northvolt launch Sodium-ion battery for storage market
Northvolt today announced a state-of-the-art sodium-ion battery, developed for the expansion of cost-efficient and sustainable energy storage systems worldwide. The cell has been validated for a best-in-class energy density of over 160 watt-hours per kilogram at the company’s R&D and industrialization campus, Northvolt Labs, in Västerås, Sweden.
Northvolt’s validated cell is more safe, cost-effective, and sustainable than conventional nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC) or iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries and is produced with minerals such as iron and sodium that are abundant on global markets. It is based on a hard carbon anode and a Prussian White-based cathode, and is free from lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite. Leveraging a breakthrough in battery design and manufacturing, Northvolt plans to be the first to industrialize Prussian White-based batteries and bring them to commercial markets. (company website)
GLOBAL STUFF
First “Vertical Agrivoltaic” system installed in US
If you haven’t heard of vertical agrivoltaics systems, that’s probably because it’s such a new technology that many countries, including the United States, don’t have any farms using it yet. That’s set to change, at least for the U.S., however, as the first-ever vertical agrivoltaics system is about to be built in Vermont.
An agrivoltaics system uses solar panels installed on farmland so the land can be simultaneously used to grow crops and generate clean, renewable energy. Vertical agrivoltaics is where the panels are installed vertically, leaving more space for growing.
The Vermont project is being developed by U.S. solar energy company iSun and German agrivoltaics company Next2Sun. The latter company has already built similar projects in Germany. (thecooldown)
photo: Next2Sun
Carnegie deploys wave powered barge concept
Carnegie Clean Energy has deployed a demonstration of its wave powered barge concept, MoorPower, in waters offshore from the company’s headquarters in Fremantle, Western Australia.
MoorPower uses a version of Carnegie’s CETO technology to deliver clean and reliable electricity to offshore industries. The concept came out of the aquaculture industry, which still relies heavily on diesel.
The technology converts the orbital motion of waves into electricity, but rather than using a stand-alone buoy system, as with the CETO units, the scaled down technology is designed to be integrated with moored offshore vessels.
The $3.4 million WA demonstration project is being delivered in collaboration with a consortium of partners, including Huon Aquaculture and Tassal Group, and with $1.35 million in funding from the Tasmania-based Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.
The demonstration project aims to show how the technology works in a variety of sea conditions, ahead of a commercial rollout for aquaculture clients. Blue Economy CRC is a government-supported group that brings marine industries, government and researchers from 10 countries. (reneweconomy)
photo: Blue Power CRC
TECHIE CORNER
Chung-Ang University researchers develop a low-cost catalyst for green hydrogen production
Sustainable electrolysis for green hydrogen production is challenging, primarily due to the absence of efficient, low-cost, and stable catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic solutions. A team of researchers has now developed a ruthenium catalyst by doping it with zinc, resulting in enhanced stability and reactivity compared to its commercial version. The proposed strategy can revolutionise hydrogen production by paving the way for next generation electrocatalysts that contribute to clean energy technologies.
While iridium-based catalysts are a potential solution, metallic iridium is rare and expensive in nature. Alternately, oxides of ruthenium (RuO2) offer a more affordable and reactive option, but they also suffer from stability issues. Therefore, researchers are exploring ways to improve the stability of the RuO2 structure to develop promising OER catalysts for the successful implementation of the hydrogen production technology.
Now, in a recent study made available online on 22 September 2023 and to be published in Volume 88 of the Journal of Energy Chemistry in January 2024, a group of researchers, led by Professor Haeseong Jang from the Department of Advanced Materials Engineering at Chung-Ang University in South Korea, has developed a promising OER catalyst. Denoted as SA Zn-RuO2, the catalyst comprises of RuO2 stabilised by single atoms of zinc.
Due to its improved stability and features, the newly proposed SA Zn-RuO2 catalyst has the potential to influence the development of cost-effective, active, and acid-resistant electrocatalysts for OER. This, in turn, could help in reducing costs and enhancing the production of green hydrogen, aiding in a shift toward cleaner energy sources and advancements in sustainable technologies. (renewableenergymagazine)