Professional Documents
Culture Documents
No. 51
Batteries & Energy Storage Technology Winter 2016
Inside:
C
Mail Right International, 1637 Stelton Road
B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Periodicals ommodity prices collapsing, renewed focus on renewables, signs
Postage Paid at New Brunswick, NJ. of another global slowdown? Theres no question that the big world
POSTMASTER
issues inevitably impinge on the battery industry. But this coming
Send U.S. address changes to year, the spotlight will be on lithium-ion safety more than ever before.
BEST C/o 1637 Stelton Road, B-4, Those of your who read my recent Publishers blog No fly lithium
Piscataway NJ 08854 looks very possible which went up on the BEST website toward the
end of November will be aware of the issues. The airline industry and in
EDITORIAL OFFICE
particular IATA, its trade association, are toughening up on transportation
Energy Storage Publishing Ltd
of lithiumion batteries.
70 Goring Road
Worthing BN12 4AB One of the biggest changes which is slated to come into effect as soon
ENGLAND as this April is restricting the shipping of lithium-ion batteries by air at
TEL +44 (0) 845 194 7338 no more than 30% state-of-charge as this is seen as mitigating the risk
FAX +44 (0) 845 194 7339 of cells going into thermal runaway. Some members of IATAs dangerous
E-mail: gerry@bestmag.co.uk goods panel are looking to an outright ban of shipping lithium by air. My
long experienced colleague Shep Wolsky happens to share that view (see
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Gerry Woolf
page 10). Quite how shippers are expected to police this new requirement
gerry@bestmag.co.uk is anyones guess (random testing of cells and batteries?).
This is only a first step as cell manufactures will eventually have to
DEPUTY EDITOR ship their products in new packaging, the specification of which has yet
Paul Crompton
to be developed. It will be closer to the toughened battery boxes in which
paul@energystoragepublishing.com
Boeing eventually enclosed its on-board lithium-ion systems, used in its
ASSISTANT EDITOR Dreamliner models, and it could be years in the making.
Debbie Mason We know that the incident of lithium-ion fires on planes is very low but
debbie@energystoragepublishing.com the consequences are severe. One fact that this writer found terrifying
ADVERTISING was that while some shippers are utterly scrupulous and declare their
Lynn James contents, others do not, so there may be many undeclared lithium-ion
advertising@bestmag.co.uk shipments in the skies. And not all cargo is checked. Ill leave you to
+44 7885 910 187 think about that And as Tom Chapin points out in ULs safety column
this issue, (page 86) some countries including China do not even have a
SOUTH ASIA ASSOCIATE
battery incident reporting system.
Dipak Sen Chaudhuri
dipaksc@yahoo.co.in
The inevitability of taking the slow route by sea is a strong possibility
+91 98314 37792 now. All of the above is going to add to cost. It may stifle and smother all
but the biggest lithium-ion makers. But maybe it will create opportunities.
OFFICE ADMINISTRATION More localised manufacture? Warehousing and lithium battery finishing
Monica Rossi
facilities on each continent? And perhaps all of these changes are
accounts@energystoragepublishing.com
overdue to make the business more sustainable. Ive always felt slightly
PRODUCTION uncomfortable with air freight for all but the most urgent goods.
Vic Giles None of this though will stop the march of lithium-ion any more than
vic@bestmag.co.uk the growth of portable electronics can be stopped. Tech is wedded to
lithium systems for the next two decades or more in all the applications
PRINTED IN ENGLAND we know. Its a fact we have to accept.
Gerry Woolf
Gerry Woolf
Editor and Editor and Publisher
Publisher
5 108 33
Start here Truly eventful An Ocean of
Storms ahead, If its on, its in. Where to go and Opportunities
but safety comes first. what to see this winter and spring. The battery industry is evolving.
Neil Simmonds of Corvus Energy
discusses the less-than-obvious
market for marine hybrid power.
10 118 39
Second Opinion Advertisers index Energy Storage
No fly for lithiumion Everybody who is anybody is in Update Europe
Shep Wolsky argues the case for the pages of BEST, are you? Energy Storage Update Europe
keeping lithium-ion firmly on the explored ways to store renewable
ground and out of the skies. energy, but in a battery agnostic
industry not everything is equal.
12 120 50
News Groundpath Battery use in grid-
From battery innovations to Not having to do mega events, scale energy crisis
second-life applications, a round- student debt forgiveness and Younicos Philip Hiersemenzel
up of the industrys biggest news what disappearing butterflies tells explains why grid-scale utility
stories. us. firms believe batteries are the
future for renewable energy.
12 120 39
bestmagazine // Winter 2016
7
57 81 99
Lithium safety issues Profile: just how Indias grand plans
heat up in Baltimore good is Jinkeli? for energy storage
With changing regulations and Mike McDonagh reports on what Dipak Sen Chauduri marvels at his
air-freight bans, the Editor reports its really like to visit an industry homelands plans for multi GW
from Knowledge Foundations supplier, following his trip to meet storage capacity by 2020 during
nervous lithium safety meeting. Chinas Shandong Jinkeli. the Indian Energy Storage Alliance.
61 86 103
Energy storage let Li-ion fears prompt Is Chinas battery
lead-acid do the job safety summit industry in flux?
In the emerging energy storage Underwriters Laboratories Debbie Mason talks to insiders
industry, Mike McDonagh shows Thomas Chapin reports on what about what they believe is
the importance of design when he believes could be an important happening in the worlds biggest
choosing the right battery for a job. breakthrough in lithium-ion safety. battery manufacturing sector.
73 91 112
How batteries can Doomed to fail: 2nd Europes greatest
save you money use battery concerns battery show
Batteries are more than just As more firms develop second-life Europes largest and most-
storing energy as Dr Alex battery applications, the Editor attended exhibition is set to be
Mardapittas explains the benefits asks if falling lithium-ion prices even bigger and better this year
of voltage optimisation. will cause the industry to crash. when it kicks off this June.
73 81 103
bestmagazine // Winter 2016
www.wirtzusa.com
WIRTZ AWARDED
PATENT FOR THE KEY
PROCESS STEP IN
PRODUCING PUNCHED
POSITIVE GRIDS.
From the world of Wirtz comes a new process that is so
innovative, its been awarded a patent. This patented
process will make longer lasting batteries.
PowerBond Grid Technology Our patented
TM
INNOVATION. PERFORMANCE.
INNOVATION. RELIABILITY.
PERFORMANCE. RELIABILITY.
10 secondopinion
No fly for lithium-ion
Shep Wolsky argues the case for keeping lithium-ion firmly on
the ground and out of the skies
T
he International Civil Aviation lithium-ion batteries results from the flyer passengers worldwide.
Organizations (ICAO) panel on unpredictable and not yet well understood Even before the development of lithium-
dangerous goods, which met in thermal runaway phenomenon, i.e. a ion batteries, I had occasionally talked to
Montreal toward the end of last year year, sudden and extremely rapid heating of the groups of young, inquisitive elementary
rejected a ban on rechargeable lithium battery resulting in fire and explosion. This grade students about batteries. The first
batteries from being carried in the belly phenomenon has plagued the transport thing I always said was that A battery is
holds of passenger aircraft. The panel of the lithium batteries for years, causing best described as a package of energy
vote was 11-7. serious fires on transport vehicles and and it should be respected as potentially
The meeting was focused on the hotly has become increasingly important as dangerous, if abused, e.g. hit repeatedly
contested (no pun intended) question lithium-ion battery usage has spread with a hammer or heated in an oven.
of the safety of shipment of lithiumion worldwide. It is now common to have the (Yes, children do those things.) I was
batteries via air. The majority of members possible presence of lithium-ion batteries once involved in a legal action, where
voted to continue to allow air transport on board suggested as the cause of any striking an alkaline battery with a hammer,
shipment of lithium-ion batteries. sudden, unexplained plane accident. It resulted in serious injury to a young boy.
has, for example, been mentioned as a I always warned my audience, that a
possible cause of the recent unexplained battery should be treated with the same
disappearance of the Malaysian plane, the respect as a firework, which is also clearly
remnants of which are still being sought. a package of energy. If we think about the
Even the new Boeing Dreamliner, which comparison of a firework and a lithiumion
was designed to use lithium-ion batteries, battery carefully, a firework may even be
has experienced lithium battery thermal safer than a lithium-ion battery, since it
runaway problems. As part of its solution doesnt undergo spontaneous thermal
to the lithium-ion danger, Boeing placed runaway. In the U.S. and most everywhere
the batteries in an extra strong container else, fireworks can only be shipped via
capable of limiting the effects of an out of common carrier ground and they cant be
control battery. The container approach shipped overseas. This type of comparison
has also been used in EVs to limit damage is obviously not enough to convince a
in case of a battery problem. Unfortunately majority of the ICAO members to treat
in all instances it cannot be considered an lithium-ion battery shipments as they do
optimal solution. fireworks.
In a discussion of the ICAO action with The panels decision is a
a colleague well experienced in the lithium recommendation to ICAOs air navigation
battery field following the above vote, he bureau, which will most likely follow the
Supporting a ban was Russia, U.S. (the FAA broached the following question in relation recommendation. We as passengers will
and PRBA, (Portable Rechargeable Battery to the current situation: have to continue to bear the risk.
association) Brazil Association, China and Do you know of any case in the So again we ask the question
Spain as well as representatives for airline history of commercial aviation, where an Do you know of any case in the
pilots unions and aircraft manufacturers. international aircraft organisation has history of commercial aviation, where an
The Netherlands, Canada, France, approved the shipping of a device known international aircraft organisation has
Germany, Australia, Italy, United Arab to spontaneously ignite or explode? approved the shipping of a device known
Emirates, South Korea, Japan, the United That summarises the present situation to spontaneously ignite or explode?
Kingdom, and IATA voted against the ban. and problem for battery manufacturers, Unfortunately the answer is yes - the
The problem of fire and explosion of airliners and, of course, all of us frequent lithium-ion battery. Can we live with that?
C
transport, the and AGM batteries
omments by Italian waters look less a year.
firm Fiamms Asia- than calm for
Pacific general manager the industry. Oligarchs face
Lorenzo Mancini on the In November, price fix criticism
Chinese lead-acid battery a senior Beijing There has been
sector were supplemented official warned criticism of the
with his belief the government in the Chinese Chinese oligarchs
would like the country to web portal who have been
become a world champion in OfWeek that accused of
lithium-ion battery production. the lithium-ion deliberately
(For Mancinis full interview, battery industry keeping lead-acid
Workers at Samsung SDIs lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant
see page 103) faced a similar battery prices low to
China is seeing both foreign chaos to that of lead-acid. Lead not dead yet put off any new entrants to the
and domestic companies Lin Cheng, of Beijings Despite the growing sector.
ramping up production among Institute of Technology, competition from other Chinese publication Electric
them are Japans electronics warned that the EV industry battery chemistries, especially Vehicle Business Network
giant Panasonic, which is was facing three major issues: lithium-ion, and legislation by claimed oligarchs were
set to open a lithium battery competing with traditional the government, Chinas lead- forcing prices down because
plant in Dalian, China, in 2017. fuel vehicles which have a acid industry is far from over. any increases would lead to
This would be the firms first much higher mileage before The goal has not more companies entering
dedicated plant for electric re-fuelling; the high cost of changed, said Ministry of the industry. However,
vehicle batteries in China. lithium batteries; and in an Industry and Information years of price wars havent
Korean firms LG Chem and echo of what happened in the Technology Consumer Goods cut production; instead,
Samsung SDI opened lithium lead-acid battery industry, the Industry deputy inspector manufacturing capacity has
battery plants in October, increasing number of small, Wang Minyan. increased to three times the
each in the former Chinese scattered To survive in this market demand.
capital cities of Nanjing and and highly competitive
Xian. Samsung also confirmed unregulated market environment, Ventures into Vanadium
it going to supply lithium- companies sustainable Chemistries such as vanadium
ion batteries to Chinese joining development policies are undergoing rapid rise
automaker JAC for its new EVs. the rush must be put into with deals by Canada-based
Domestic demand for EVs to make conscious action. Sparton Resources and US-
has fuelled expansion among the newer But the trend by based Imergy.
Chinese manufacturers, with chemistry larger lead-acid firms, However, an interesting
BYD announcing it would raise batteries. be they Chinese or report in the journal PV
$2.4 billion by selling stock Lin, foreign, seems to be Magazine suggests China is
to fund a massive increase in the deputy Lin Cheng, of Beijings focused on expansion, hoarding its resources of
Institute of Technology
lithium-ion battery production. director rather than closures. vanadium in expectation of
EV battery maker Tianneng of the institutes EV National Johnson Controls, for rising demand for the element
Power announced plans to Laboratory, said: We foresee example, plan to double its in the growing ESS market.
R
energy storage technologies to 2019 for a typical 30-minute AG, The Mobility House AG
esidential and within applications in duration utility-scale lithium- and German Utility firm GETEC
commercial-scale ESS November. ion system will come from the is set to bring a 13 MWh
are marketed as a The report covered lead- balance-of-plant equipment, stationary storage unit on-line.
potential Band-aid to a global acid, lithium-ion, pumped rather than from batteries The battery packs will
warming crisis and a way to hydro, sodium, zinc, alone. come from the manufacture
save cash for many home and compressed air, flow batteries, and reprocessing of electric
business owners. and flywheels. Big firms take first steps and plug-in hybrid battery
However, an Alternative It said the lead-acid into distributed ESSs systems at the Daimler
Technology Association (ATA) industry must reduce the So with battery prices falling subsidiary ACCUMOTIVE. The
report in November poured amount of lead used in it is little surprise November project begins next year at the
cold water on the question of batteries while improving saw a host of big companies site of REMONDIS SE in the
cost for the Australian market, engineering and design to gain moving into the ESS market. Westphalian town of Lnen.
which is predicted to grow to more usable energy and reach Johnson Controls (JCI) The Philippines is also getting
AUS$630 million by 2020. a median fall of 24% in AUS installed its 85kWh lithium- ESS savvy, having introduced its
The report suggested Dollars per kWh by 2020. ion L1000 ESS battery storage first lithium battery-based energy
grid-connected battery For lithium-ion the system in Chicagos 4.2 million storage facility in 2015. Built by
storage would not become equivalent price drop in square foot Merchandise Mart. US-based firm AES, the 10MW
economically attractive for AUS$/kWh could be as JCI also secured a Super facility will help the country
many Australian homes until great as 47%, but needs ESPC (Energy Savings maintain power during cyclones.
around 2020. increased manufacturing scale Performance Contract) which
Damien Moyse, the ATAs (think Teslas Gigafactory), pre-qualifies the company to Could court hearing derail
policy and research manager, improvements in design and work on US federal sites. future of USs ESS market?
was less optimistic. a fall in material costs, the California-based battery A moment of caution for the
He said: At todays prices, report claimed. firm Pathion announced it was North American ESS industry
most Australian households The other main contender to bring modular lithium-ion came in October.
wont be able to achieve a 10- in the ESS market is flow energy storage platforms to The US Supreme Court
year return on their investment batteries technology. market a week after buying heard a case prompted by
which is the typical lifetime This could see costs fall as technology from energy the US Court of Appeals in
of a well-designed and much as 25% if manufacturing storage company Spider9. Washington, DC, vacated
operated battery system. improvements are made. Under the name Order 745 in May, 2014, which
The short-term implications PATHION Power, the system was in response to Order 745,
for firms launching products Commercial scale ESS up automatically reconfigures or demand-response, which
into the country like Tesla as battery costs fall individual problem cells pays people for cutting their
(7kWh Powerwall), Panasonic However, a report from without loss of power. It electricity consumption at
(8kWh domestic ESS), and LG analyst firm IHS claimed also allows for advanced peak times, effectively, paying
Chem (1-10kWh Residential that an average 53% fall in chemistries and applications consumers for peak shaving.
Energy Storage Unit) remain to lithium-ion battery prices in to be added. This qualifies owners of
be seen. 2015 had already led to more Pathion chairman and small-scale ESSs for a rebate
commercial-scale energy CEO Mike Liddle said that each month and would make
Manufacturing key to storage installations. deals were being made with investment into the technology
reducing ESS costs The Grid-Connected Energy two unnamed major global worthwhile.
The obvious way of making Storage Report predicts costs companies to launch the The hearing is expected to
the applications cheaper is will continue to fall up to 2019, technology. last until June, 2016.
www.froetek.com
16 newsinreview
High profile industry deals
The last few months of 2015 saw advanced battery companies pooling resources and
knowledge to push the battery industry forward BEST looks at all the key deals.
I
n North America (IESO).
Cambridge-based 24M The project
agreed to supply its aims to smooth
semisolid lithium-ion cells for the flow of
use in Westbourgh-based NEC renewable energy
Energy Solutions integrated into Ontarios
energy storage systems. grid using US
The Memorandum of firm Imergys
Understanding (MoU) was one vanadium redox
of 24Ms first since it unveiled flow battery
its technology in June, 2015. It technology.
followed five years of research The project
fund-raising including is the US firms
$50million from venture first commercial
partners and a $4.5million large-scale grid-
grant from the US Department connected energy
of Energy (DoE). storage project,
The MoU was NECs and one of
second energy storage deal Canadas first commercial flow and store between six to 12 Boost for lithium-ion in
in October. An agreement battery applications. hours of energy. microinverter deal
with Eos Energy Storage set Elsewhere, US firm Battery manufacturer Eliiy
out plans to develop next- Vionx Energy is looking to IP sharing to boost lithium Power made a deal back in
generation energy storage commercialise its batteries sulphur technology October to boost production
solutions based on Eoss and transform the way grids The end of 2015 saw a flurry of of its large-size lithium-ion
ZnythTM zinc hybrid cathode are managed in a six-company activity by the US DoE. electricity storage battery cells
battery chemistry and its partnership. An exclusive agreement by 40%.
Aurora DC battery system. The Massachusett-based with US battery firm Solid The Japanese firm will
firm will license, finance, Power allowed IP from Oak supply US microinverter
Redox flow deal to push manufacture and deploy Ridge National Laboratory company Enphase with six
technology forward vanadium redox flow batteries to be used to develop higher years worth of cells, allowing it
Major business developments with United Technologies energy density lithium-sulphur to increase annual production
in the redox flow battery Corp, Starwood Energy Group, batteries. to around 1.5 million.
market industry, especially in Siemens, 3M, VantagePoint Solid Power began The project, at its Kawasaki
the stationary storage market, Capital Partners and Jabil. production of the first large- plant just south of Tokyo, will
saw the technology gaining Staying with the redox scale prototypes last year cost up to $24.8 million. Eliiy
traction in the battery industry. technology, US firm Energy at its 700-square-foot dry is also considering building a
Renewable energy Storage Systems secured $3.2 room facility with roll-to-roll new plant in the Osaka region
development company million to ramp up production processing capabilities. of Kansai by 2018.
SunEdison signed a 10-year of its 125 kW/1 MWh all- On paper, the technology
agreement to provide 5MW of iron redox flow (IFP) battery delivers more power by New partnership makes
vanadium redox flow battery system. replacing carbon-based separator dream a reality
storage in Canada. The IFB is designed for anodes with lithium metal, Back in December a
Construction on the 20 commercial, industrial and however, finding a solid partnership between US firm
MWh battery storage begins utility-scale applications. The electrolyte that can match Dreamweaver International
in 2017 following the deal Oregon-based company claims liquids conductivity, cycle life and PH Glatfelter allowed
with Ontarios Independent the IFB can deliver 10,000 and operating temperature is production of a nanofibre-
Electricity System Operator cycles with no degradation, proving difficult. based supercapacitor
Solar/Wind Power
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM VIRTUE CALL TODAY 01142 576 200 OR VISIT WWW.POWERSTAR.COM
Exide rewards VP
U
S lead-
acid firm
Exide
Technologies
has named Brad
S. Kalter as its
executive vice
president.
Kalter was
promoted from
general counsel and corporate secretary
Take Control of Your Battery Quality Testing. of the firm to help the company rebuild its
brand and market presence.
L
ead-acid firm Hammond Group has named Gordon C.
Beckley as its new vice president and chief technical
officer.
Beckley will be responsible for all R&D efforts now
headquartered at the firms new Lead-Acid Battery Laboratory.
He reports directly to the companys president and CEO Terence
Murphy.
A
Relicell batteries contain a acid batteries in uninterrupted the specialty battery additive
lead-calcium-tin-silver alloy, power and inverter systems. tetrabasic lead sulphate ten- year deal will see
a synthetic separator with The companys under its SureCure trade. New renewable energy firm
phosphoric acid added to manufacturing unit in production at ALSB will allow SunEdison provide
the electrolyte to improve life Bengaluru, India produces Asian customers to acquire 5MW of vanadium redox flow
cycle. around 100,000 small Relicell the speciality additive at battery storage to Ontarios
The major applications batteries and 30,000 large considerably lower cost than Independent Electricity System
for our batteries are in solar batteries a month. from US sourcing. Operator.
A
ES Energy Storage
C
and LG Chem supply
heaper and more Zhonghe agreement will bring
effective carbon black Bi. a GWh of lithium-ion battery
is set to come on to A team capacity on stream.
the market after a licensing now aims The multi-year agreement
agreement between the US to develop will see Korean firm LG Chem
Department of Energys Oak the carbon design and configure its
Ridge National Laboratory black to battery modules for AES
Group (ORNL) and scientific create Advancion grid-scale energy
consultancy firm RJ Lee Group. a better storage application.The supply
ORNL has developed a way anode for lithium-ion The next step is to scale up agreement covers battery
of turning rubber sources, batteries. the production of the carbon modules with configurations
such as tyres, into carbon The ORNL team will materials to replicate the lab- ranging from 30 minutes to
black composites through collaborate with RJ Lee scale performance in larger four hours of discharge
a proprietary pretreatment Group to further develop the format cells. duration. US firm AES and LG
process invented by its technology through a privately The research was funded by Chem have also agreed to
researchers Amit Naskar, funded sponsored research the ORNLs Technology collaborate on joint
Parans Paranthaman and project. Innovation Program. development initiatives.
Bhler AG, Grinding & Dispersion, CH-9240 Uzwil, T +41 71 955 34 91, F +41 71 955 31 49,
grinding.dispersion@buhlergroup.com, www.buhlergroup.com/cenomic, www.buhlergroup.com/micromedia
U
energy sodium-ion
K-based Renewable battery energy storage battery has been
Energy Systems is set combined within installed for the first time on
to build and support a distributed generation UK shores by English energy
lithium iron phosphate battery installations in the UK. storage firm Wattstor.
energy storage system (BESS) The system will be Wattstor put together the
in England. embedded at British Solar 25kWh bespoke stationary ESS
The fully contained 640kWh Renewables Ltds 1.5MW using a battery, manufactured
BESS will be supplied by BYD solar park at Copley Wood by US Company Aquion.
and includes battery cells, near Butleigh, Somerset, Michael Danes, Director at
power conversion equipment and connected to WPDs Wattstor, a specialist in the
and safety and monitoring South West network. design and supply of ESSs,
systems. The battery will be installed operational tests for said the battery unit was quite
The 1million project with by RES and ready for approximately two years and large, and so suitable for large
Western Power Distribution commissioning tests by subsequent analysis of the domestic or small commercial
(WPD) is part of an September 2016. After the results. The project is and agricultural applications.
investigation into the technical battery has been installed the expected to complete in early The installation is in County
and commercial feasibility of project will involve conducting 2018. Derry, Northern Ireland.
S
work with researchers
wedish researchers They claim the material can measured current in an organic at the UKs University
have developed a paper be recharged in a few seconds conductor, 1Ampere; highest of Birmingham to develop a
supercapacitor that and has a cycle life in the capacity to simultaneously laboratory specialising in new
has been dubbed a dream hundreds. conduct ions and electrons; energy storage technologies.
product for storing energy. Thin films that function highest transconductance in a A Memorandum of
Scientists at the Linkping as capacitors already exist, transistor, 1 Siemens. Understanding has been
Universitys Laboratory of but this is the first time the The team involves scientists signed between the university
Organic Electronics developed material has been produced from the KTH Royal Institute and the State Grid of Chinas
the power paper material that in three dimensions to form of Technology, Innventia, Smart Grid Research Institute,
consists of nanocellulose and thick sheets, said Xavier Technical University of which is owned by Chinas
a conductive polymer. Crispin, professor of organic Denmark and the University of State Grid (SGCC).
The team demonstrated electronics at the university. Kentucky. The partnership will focus
how a sheet 15 centimetres in In tests, the material set The team is now planning to on grid-scale cryogenic energy
diameter and a few tenths of new world records for: highest develop the technology in an storage research and look at
a millimetre thick could store charge and capacitance industrial-scale process for different storage materials,
as much as 1 Farad of electric in organic electronics, 1 C manufacturing the power devices, system integration
charge. Coulomb and 2 Farad; highest paper. and optimisation.
Contact: www.coulometrics.com
www.sov-el.com www.sovema.it
LEVERAGING
FIRE EXPERTISE
FOR BATTERY
SAFETY
Saving lives and property is serious business so is battery The value of UL issued test reports and global certification
and energy storage safety. Addressing risks of fire, electric marks extends beyond the launch of your product. When
shock, and other hazards early on can help mitigate field events happen, certified products can help ensure
long-term complications. ULs safety engineers not only that firefighters can do their jobs safer, smarter and more
have longstanding expertise in battery science, analysis and efficiently. In addition to product safety testing and
standards development (including one of the first standards certification, UL also offers:
for lithium batteries 30 years ago), the UL name is also
Performance testing & certification
widely known and trusted as a fire research authority.
Custom research
Forensic analysis
Hazard management
Field evaluation
Training
ul.com/batteries
Paul Crompton talks to Neil Simmonds of Corvus Energy about the less-than-obvious market
for marine hybrid power, supported by highly ruggedised lithium-ion batteries.
T
he sun is rising above the date the majority of the Canadian
North Pacific Ocean. Oil companys hybrid projects are
tankers, container ships evenly split between retro-fit and
and barges are being moved into new build applications.
position at the Port of Los Angeles.
Among the everyday scene of Transformation in shipping
big industry going about its daily industry
business, a small tugboat silently When the battery industry discusses
chugs its way to its first ship assist the brave new world of battery
of the day. But this was no average power, electric vehicles, stationary
day in 2009, this day proved to energy storage systems (ESS) and
be a milestone for the merchant of course personal gadgets fill the
shipping industry. Thats because agenda. But Neil Simmonds, Chief Neil Simmonds
the small, unassuming green Technical Officer at Corvus Energy lithium-ion module for use in heavy
tug had been fitted with lithium believes the real market lays in the industrial applications would
polymer batteries; this was the merchant marine industry. transform the shipping industry.
USs first hybrid tug. Simmonds is one of the founders Whether thats for offshore
Skip forward six years and of the Vancouver based company, vessels, tug boats like the
Corvus Energy has completed and now along with his three senior companys Kotug applications
30similar hybrid, plug-in hybrids executives Andrew Morden, Chief or ferries, they could see a world
and pure electric projects using its Executive Officer; Neil Lang, Chief where battery packs, albeit up to
bespoke battery packs, fitted with Operating Officer and Halvard MW scale, could help companies
nickel manganese cobalt pouch Hauso, Executive V.P. Sales and cut costs when ship assisting,
cells. This year the company is Marketing. With almost fifty years vessel escorting, dynamic
scheduled to supply packs for four of combined history in the marine positioning or simply powering
more new build hybrid boats: three and battery industries, they all the ground breaking Ampere pure
ferries and one offshore vessel. To shared a vision that a ruggedised electric ferry in Norway.
confirmed the following conclusions it pays to take it seriously. Above: That development includes using
The AT6500
about the its battery system: That is why Corvus Energy the ESSs in applications such as
module, its
works with The American constituent cranes, which Simmonds enthuses
Battery modules surrounding the Bureau of Shipping (ABS), ISO, components, built about. They are mobile and save
into a pack and
module experiencing thermal independent certification service 50% of fuel use because the energy
finally into an
runaway do not reach dangerous Lloyds Register Type Approval, array. during the motor lowering its load
temperatures and maritime classification, is recoverable. And thats a true
verification, risk management and hybrid application, which is very
Thermal runaway does not technical advisory service DNV-GL. similar to EV and can get back their
propagate to other modules It means the company can boast money within two years.
of having the only lithium battery
The Corvus racking system Type-Approved by DNV-GL, Lloyds Untapped market on crest of a
remains undamaged and keeps Register and ABS. wave
the module lid in position We are the first to make all the Constrained only by our own
safety requirements and achieve imagination, perhaps we are only just
The Corvus battery module the correct regulatory standards, scratching the surface when it comes
design results in a controlled said Simmonds. The marine sector to the true potential for battery
release of pressure is finally realising the requirements technology. Corvus Energy thought
of safety and we are demonstrating outside the box when it set sail into
Water mist quickly extinguishes to the industry that theres a lot of the untapped merchant marine
a fully-developed fire scenario energy in the packs if anything goes industry. They believe the real market
wrong. We are the safest in the for lithium batteries is in EVs thats
A fire external to battery room marine industry right now. Electric Vessels and have the
does not cause dangerous technology to back up their claims.
temperatures in the battery Shore to be a bright future Environmentally speaking,
system The company aims to expand as moving to hybrid and pure electric
the demand in the marine world vessels makes sense, but it will be
So rigorous are the companys rises. This doesnt just include new the accountants who will be rubbing
safety standards that it guarantees builds, because the ESSs can be their hands about what Corvus
the IP67 rated packs can be retro fitted to any vessel thats Energy is doing. Retro fit a battery
immersed under one metre of water currently more than 5,000 potential pack today, and in two years it has
for 30 minutes, subjected to 30G customers from private yacht paid for itself, giving ship-owners a
of shock and 8G of vibration, and owners to ferry operators. potential further eight years to reap
still operate. They also test each These applications are new to the 30% plus savings on fuel.
module (containing 24 76amp cells) us as well, we are breaking new It seems too good to be true: a
for all types of shock vibration, and ground, said Simmonds. We are technology proven in real world
saltwater ingress. This is stringent the only company doing this for the applications, is safe, and will save
self-regulation, but when you are first time in the market for these money. But then all good ideas
the only firm designing packs types of applications, so we are still seem too good to be true until they
specifically for the marine industry, developing the market, he added. become the industry norm.
www.rosendahlnextrom.com
EX MET EXPANDER
B
y the standards of the New beginnings in an old Perhaps one solution would be
average battery conference, market to follow Germanys lead and sell or
this was a small and In the renewable market, energy buy excess power to neighbouring
intimate affair. Just two days, is being wasted every day, or to be countries, but you need somewhere
with around 200 delegates, from precise, its going unharvested. to store the energy before it is
mainly European utility companies, That means it is costing utility exported, or indeed when it is
startups and investors. All packed firms money, as James Tedd, imported when supplies fall.
into a side-room on the second Project Manager, Emerging Energy And as clean energy production
floor of the Royal Garden Hotel, Technologies at Irelands utility becomes more important as
located next to Londons famous company Electricity Supply Board, countries attempt to meet climate
Hyde Park. told delegates. He informed change demands, the ability to
However, this small conference delegates that Ireland had had store excess energy becomes
had big ambitions. This was a to curtail 250MW of wind power increasingly important.
nononsense, taut meeting of some every 30 minutes that morning Different researchers give
of the worlds biggest names, all (December 1st) at a cost of around different forecasts on how
gathered to explore the future 10,000 each half-hour. And this much storage will be required:
Wheres the
of renewable energy storage. technology to happens regularly, said Tedd. International Renewable Energy
Representatives from heavyweight mitigate the Storing that excess energy for Agency believes 150GW of storage
hidden cost of
firms such as E.ON, DONG Energy, another time is a big challenge for will be required by 2030; Broker
not running a wind
Samsung SDI, Younicos and Tesla farm. utilities. Research thinks 240GW will be
Motors (Energy) discussed the
why, where and how of bringing
large-scale storage to grid level
renewable energy production.
But why the need for energy
storage at grid level, and why now?
Depending on who you spoke
to, there are up to 52 ancillary
services energy storage can help
with in the next five years. And
its not just about storing energy,
apparently. Frequency regulation,
load levelling, peak shaving and
time-shifting were just some of
the words bandied around. And
batteries were at the heart of
discussions: flexible enough to
deploy energy at the flick of a
switch and meet the plethora of
ancillary demands.
WE BELIEVE
IN GREEN ENERGY
Imerys Graphite & Carbon is committed to supply the rapidly developing
green energy market with high performing and sustainable carbon
powder-based solutions.
C-NERGY TIMREX
TM
C-NERGY SUPER P
TM
imerys-graphite-and-carbon.com
bestshowreport 43
will be possible, if not by 2020 then Future Transport
Systems 2nd Life
by 2021, said Ricci.
sytem in Norfolk.
He added: But maybe 60-70%
of a batterys cost is the battery,
remember the rest is the synergies,
and we dont exploit the potential
of synergies yet.
Chris Wright, Co-founder and
CTO of UK energy storage firm
Moixa Corporation, said his firm
had noticed a 65% reduction
in costs per cell in the last nine
months. I believe, looking at Tesla
and EOS, that $150 per kWh, for
pretty long life systems, is doable,
he said. So that seems to be a
general point that people think we
need to be at in a relatively short
term.
Dr David Blood, Market Manager
EMEA for US conversion system Transport Systems, said: Theres a under certain work stresses.
company Parker Energy Grid-Tie problem with second life batteries However, not everyone is so
Divisions, said that, from his at the moment, they have a home. bombastic about lithium-ion EV
firms experience using lithiumion But by 2020/22 they will come on batteries. Robert Elrich, Executive
technology, they had seen stream in big amounts. Chairman at US power systems
significant cost reductions in the In the future people will be able manufacturer Arotech Corporation,
past 18 months. The cheaper the to buy or lease battery packs from a co-sponsor of the conference,
batteries are, the more economical the OEMs. Each battery will have a sounded a word of caution.
energy storage will be, he added. passport to predict how good the Elrich believes his companys
In other words, volume of battery is; it will detail the lifestyle, zinc-air technology can get prices
demand and breakthroughs in what the vehicle was used for etc. down to $150-175kW/h within
technology could bring down costs People dont know how electric the next three years. And as a
to a point where large megawatt 2nd life batteries vehicle batteries will work in energy side-swipe to lithium technology,
an elegant
batteries are installed at grid level. solution. storage applications, but we are he said: Were still years from a
As Heiko Staubitz, Senior Manager testing to see how they will operate massive EV market, Tesla only sold
for Smart Grids and Energy Storage 20,000 cars this year [2015]. Im
at Germany Trade and Investment, sure it will grow, but at the moment
said: The market is open for all we have to take numbers with a
technologies, so it depends on pinch of salt.
which ones can provide the best Another reason to be cautious
flexibility for the cheapest price. about the rise of battery technology
The upshot of larger battery in energy storage systems comes
manufacturing set-ups is OEMS with a glance at the European
and lets not forget the batteries Association for Storage of
from military applications will Energy (EASE) website. It lists 78
put electric vehicles on stream. Of companies throughout Europe
course, eventually, those battery using energy storage. Of those the
packs will need to be replaced or majority (42) are pumpedhydro.
upgraded. But with an estimated Lithium-ion accounts for 16
80% capacity still left, the packs projects, vanadium-redox just four.
used in 2nd life applications are And lead-acid, well that isnt
open for exploiting. used in a single project listed
Matthew Lumsden, Managing on EASEs database. Its worth
Director at Uk R&D company Future noting, however, Europes first
FINISHING
Most versatile HRD tester for finishing
lines, available from 600A to 3000A or more
FORMATION
Energy saving IGBT technology
Germany, Tel.: +49 (241) 168 090 // United States, Tel.: +1 (203) 446 8000 // China, Tel.: +86 (532) 8608 9988 //
India, Tel.: +91 (20) 27472532 // www.digatron.com // info@digatron.de
bestshowreport 47
with the launch of a new company
in January that will focus on energy Load Levelling Ancilliary Services Isolated Supply
storage. Asset Optimisation Power Quality Asset Optimisation
Russo said: The longer-term
goal of the industry is to use energy Peak Shaving Frequency
storage for multiple uses. However, Renewables Integration Voltage T&D Deferral
the industry is currently on an
extremely steep learning curve. Peaker Replacement Operating Reserve
We are at the beginning of the
Primary Power Quality
industry. We are looking at making
investments in storage, but we are T&D deferral Secondary
technology agnostic.
We are expecting solutions that Centralised Tertiary Operating Reserve
are model scalable with ramping Distributed Black Start
capabilities, higher density and
KPI in 3-4 years; the improvements Numerous country committing to cease of renewable energy policies.
applications for
already are quite impressive. energy storage.
coal-fired power generation It states the country aims to
The company is investing by 2025, it doesnt appear to generate up to 60% of electricity
10-30million into the sector, have any real commitments to from renewables by 2035. Lofty
which will evolve when the market renewable energy. The UK wants ambitions, but one which batteries
matures and projects get larger, to build 20 new gas-fired power are ideally suited to meet.
said Russo. In terms of energy stations over the next 20 years, Mick Barlow, Applications
storage that is not a huge amount of and see a new generation of Director at electric power systems
cash, but if companies like E.ON are nuclear power plants. Although provider S&C Electric, said with
dipping their toes into the market, it the countrys government has wind or solar energy generation the
is churlish not to take notice. consented to 10billion worth of problem comes if the grid needs
offshore wind projects by 2020, more power, and there is no means
Not everything is on an equal as weve seen with Ireland, wind to generate it it might be cloudy,
playing field generated power is okay, if there is or windless for example during
In the UK, energy demand is somewhere to store the energy. peak times.
increasing. However, the countrys Now compare that to He suggested batteries could
commitment to renewable energy Europes leading player in the provide up to 600 times the ramp
ESS battery
is suspect. Despite plans to platforms. sector, Germany. The countrys rate and four times the flexibility
double investment in energy Energiewende (Energy Transition) of gas turbines, but at a price.
research to 500m, and the scheme has raised the bar in terms Storage, as in batteries, are
Y
ounicos clients benefit from it being rated power rather than
their technical expertise, energy.
commercial know-how and The market in Germany is
in-depth experience based on beginning to boom, and batteries
nearly 100 megawatts installed with their inherent speed and
in more than 20 energy storage preciseness for charging and
projects worldwide. discharging means companies are
already being rewarded for using
Batteries are becoming them, says Hiersemenzel. and of course maximise the revenue
mainstream With the right software they will from the application, he said.
As more residential Energy become like a Swiss army knife,
Storage Systems (ESS) come on capable of doing many different Money is king for chemistry
stream, storing energy becomes things from one source, he said. agnostic firms
an increasingly hot topic. The He believes that within five years Like many utility firms, those
same can be said for large-scale, most utility companies will be using seeking large-scale energy storage
megawatt plus, ESSs as utility batteries to mostly balance the are battery agnostic, concerned
firms struggle to maintain their system, not so much store large only with the price and the
grids frequency as renewable amounts of energy. To balance the technologys ability to effectively
energy from wind and solar system you need to store energy cater for a number of ancillary
becomes increasingly available of course, but comparatively little, services, from black-start to
in higher quantities. Ireland, said Hiersemenzal. frequency regulation.
for example, regularly has to If we are serious about moving Younicos has been looking at
shut down wind generation, and to renewables we have to look at the sector for more than 10 years,
Germany has to export excess storage and companies have to but even then, when lead-acid was
energy to stabilise its grid. look very carefully at what kind of still dominant in the market, the
With increasing demands for storage they need. company was not looking at the
energy, and especially clean Right now, there typically isnt chemistry as a serious contender,
energy, utilities are looking for a case for simply storing energy said Hiersemenzel.
alternative sources. Currently, if for long periods of time, but At that time there were three
they want to build the traditional using storage for multiple, critical technologies in which we saw
way, it can take three to four services. longterm potential: sodium-
years to complete the project, Batteries are so important sulphur, vanadium redox flow and
whereas Younicos built its 5MW because they are electro-chemical lithium-ion. The most promising
energy commercial battery park in and they do all the things to keep of which is currently lithium-ion,
Schwerin, northern Germany, within the grid stable. They are becoming because the prices are falling fast
a year. The system has a five-hour increasingly cheaper and can be due to large production capacities
capacity, but Hiersemenzal said combined with intelligent software, for lithium-ion being constructed
what really counts, for the way it which can tell the batteries what to in Asia and the US for electric
is being used, ie a grid asset, is do, maximise a batterys lifetime mobility.
Our Mission is to eliminate the inefciency, costs and toxic waste associated with
conventional smelter based recycling of Lead Acid Batteries. Our breakthrough,
AquaRening, delivers a better product, at a higher yield, eliminates toxic waste,
reduces permitting and is less expensive to build than smelting.
Discover a better way - www.aquametals.com
AquaMetals
For more information contact:
Aqua Metals U.S. Ofce:
1010 Atlantic Avenue
Alameda, CA 94501
Tel +1 510 479 7635
bestsafety 57
Lithium safety issues heat up
in Baltimore
With new shipping regulations in the offing and a not unrealistic
possibility of a ban on lithium air-freight, there was a lot of
nervous energy at Knowledge Foundations lithium safety
meeting. The Editor reports.
B
attery safety is many things everything like this from social
to many people from unrest to international terrorism.
the erudite finite-analysis Youll need the computing
approach, to designing cells which power and modelling skills to
may run warm (but never get hot), keep up and judging by the
to the balls-achingly tedious but clients list for CAEBAT (computer
necessary development of technical aided engineering for batteries) At the heart of it all though there
standards, which are designed to developed in partnership with the is still a huge lack of understanding
keep everyone safe. Then there are US Department of Energys office of what really happens within
guides and procedures for the guys of engineering efficiency and short circuits (at the material and
that have to do the shipping and renewable energy, the club is small mechanical level).
then theres the politics. and of elite standing. VIBE brings together the
It was all there at the 6th The partners include all the infrastructure pieces: OAS
Knowledge Foundations battery top names in auto engineering (Open Architecture Software),
safety conference event in modelling: CD Adapco, Battery which provides a Python-based
Baltimore and required rapid Design and Ansys, three national computational infrastructure for
switching of mental gears to speed laboratories (NREL. ORNL and INI as interaction and orchestration
up and slow down, depending well as Ford and JCI). between the various components;
on the intellectual pace of the The fruits of the US Government- BatML, an XML standard for battery
presentation. backed efforts are seen in a piece
Some were downright folksy of Software called VIBE virtual
from the first responders. And some integrated battery environment,
went clean over this writers head. launched in the spring of 2015.
The buzz phrase, in case you Success can be judged not by how
havent heard in trying to make many copies of the software have
sense of what goes on when lithium been downloaded but by which
cells go wrong, is multi-physics companies and research institutes
multi-scale. have downloaded it Apple for one
Practically every speaker used (perhaps they really are looking at
it as a new PC way of looking at the car market?), Lockheed Martin,
phenomena. Were looking at Ford, Bosch and Samsung.
everything here from cell domain Modelling failure is the only way
and electrode domain, right down forward, using modelling to design
to particle domain. There are tests that can indicate failure, with
electrical processes going on, thermal runaway a key indicator.
thermal process and boundary Modelling the These models need to build up
ideal placement
events. Hell, this is micro-chemical of electrode tabs from the cell level right up through
engineering! You could look at using VIBE. to module and pack.
PEAK PERFORMANCE
T
he global stationary battery 3. Charge acceptance the required characteristics.
market represents around 4. Internal resistance The stationary market can
5billion USD. This is rapidly 5. Operating voltage be broadly subdivided into the
increasing as the benefit of following categories:
battery storage, namely instant These properties are the result UPS
availability of power, is gaining of the materials used and the Telecom/Broadband
interest in the energy supply processing methods. The most Utility
market. One growing application frequently used types are: Standby Power
is national grid frequency control, 1. Flat plate and tubular flooded
where traditional methods of two volt cells, and 6V and 12V The last category is often
switching to alternative power monoblocs considered the same as UPS
sources can take minutes rather 2. Flat plate and tubular VRLA but I have listed it as a separate
than the microseconds required 2 volt cells, and 6V and 12V category. This is in order to
with battery storage. Whilst still monoblocs differentiate between the
a relatively new application for 3. Plant applications where there is a
battery technologies, it is gaining frequent or occasional discharge
momentum in many countries and The type of battery used requirement of more than 50% DOD
states across the globe. depends on many factors inherent and those applications where the
The number of stationary in the applications. Some of these maximum discharge is less than
applications is increasing and there factors are not related to the output 20% but require many shallow
are widely differing properties and input requirements but to the cycles at a high discharge rate.
which are required to meet these physical location and operating This is important for the choice of
new applications. In this article conditions for the batteries. Some design and also the rating of the
the emphasis will be on the of these practical requirements are battery to ensure that the capacity
leadacid system, concentrating as follows: of the battery meets the autonomy
on the most popular variations of Location of the battery time required by the application.
design and construction widely stations, remote or local It is also important to consider the
available. However, the benefits of Ease of access to the type of load which is in use and
new developments, in particular batteries simply looking at the power ratings
the emerging lead-acid carbon Climate and projected outage times is
technologies, will be discussed in Proximity of delicate or insufficient to accurately predict the
the final part of this design series. sensitive equipment required battery capacity. The type
The main properties which a battery of load, i.e. inductive or resistive
possesses are not complicated. These properties will be and the operating profile have to
These are: discussed with a view to specifying be considered. Equally important
1. Power delivery the most appropriate battery design are the recharge time and the rates
2. Energy delivery and processing methods to provide of discharge as well as the time of
Inverter
Internal resistance
the bfs-system
batterie fllungs systeme gmbh ing. klaus oschmann mitterweg 9-11 d-85232 bergkirchen / Germany
phone: +49 8131 36400 email: info@bfsgmbh.de www.batteryfillingsystems.com www.bfsgmbh.de
bestknowhow 71
of thin plates and lower internal Figure 4
Hand welded
resistance. The tubular designs
intercell connector.
have a lower power rating but
have a better cycle life due to the
Depth of weld
spine and tube construction (see
previous BEST article). The Plante
design has a very low resistance
due to its pure lead grid and
integral active material and grid
structure. The active material is
created from the thin sections of
the grid and there is therefore no
AM/grid interface and therefore a
lower internal resistance. This also
ensures that there is no spalling
or shedding of AM during the
discharge/charge cycles during
the batterys operational life. There Quality of all welded areas
is however some maintenance
requirement as the construction
is a flooded design. However, at higher temperatures. This article has considered a
the pure lead grid ensures the range of battery designs currently
maximum hydrogen overvoltage High surface area of available for the UPS market.
value to minimise water loss. electrodes to provide high There are newer lead acid
It is evident that for many power outputs for short designs and different chemistries
applications the Plant cell has bursts and fast recharge which are also installed in limited
the optimum properties for UPS capability. This favours more quantities in a small number of
applications. However the low plates probably of flat plate locations. Technologies such as
AM utilisation and the production design. The processing lead carbon or enhanced lead
methods make it an expensive methods to provide the carbon are relatively new and this
option. This, as well as the water correct crystal structure are author has little practical
loss over its operating life, means necessary; namely higher experience of the initial and long
it is not the ideal choice for some levels of tri basic lead term performance of these
applications. sulphate formed by the curing technologies. However, there will
In summary, a good UPS battery process are favoured. be a summary and a discussion
should have: and comparison of the new lead
Minimal or no maintenance acid technologies and the
Corrosion and growth designs favour VRLA rather alternative chemistries which are
resistant grids with high than VLA. This depends on available, at the end of the Fit for
power output. Pb/Ca/Sn grids the application, as previously Purpose series of articles. In
with a good cross sectional discussed. these articles, as with this one,
area within the grid frames references will be made to
should minimise plate Minimal variation in OCV processing conditions and design
growth. The end of life of UPS and IR/impedance values aspects which have been more
batteries is often caused by to ensure cells are balanced fully covered in previous articles.
the positive group touching in series parallel arrays. It is intended that the information
the negative bus bar due to This is dependent upon the in these articles will not be fully
positive growth in service. manufacturing methods to repeated and that if any further
Some manufacturers place ensure that internal welds detail is needed, then these back
a plastic insert under the are minimum resistance and issues can act as a data base to
negative bus bar in order that the AM/ grid cementation further the understanding of the
to prevent this occurrence. stage in the curing process is complex design and process
This can extend the batteries optimised (see previous BEST aspects of Lead-Acid battery
operational life, particularly article). manufacture.
130 MILLION M 2
With our new, state-of-the-art separator
production line in Feistritz, Austria that will
be completed in December 2015, we will
produce globally 25 million m2 of Industrial
OF SEPARATOR
separators and 60 million m2 of Automotive
separators per year. We are reaching a size
that is able to fulfill the needs of any battery
V
oltage optimisation (VO) as suppressing harmonics, and
is a proven and effective provide some protection against
technology that has been small power spikes.
saving industry millions of pounds
in wasted electrical energy. Why is voltage optimisation
The market-leading VO system required?
delivers average annual electricity Voltage optimisation is needed to
savings of 12%-15%, extending to correct the supply issues caused
17% on High Voltage side electronic by the High Voltage infrastructure.
variable optimisation, with the The voltage supplied to a site will
significant proportion of these generally be at a higher level than
savings achieved through induced the equipment on site needs to High Voltage side optimisation
negative power (back EMF). Typical run effectively. The extra voltage High Voltage (HV) side optimisation
return on investment is between supplied is not needed but technologies offer optimisation
two and three years depending on ultimately the user will be paying solutions to sites that own their
kWh cost. Capture that back EMF for this. own distribution transformers.
through energy storage systems If a company operates its own Many technologies exist, but there
and you can save even more. HV/LV infrastructure then it is more is only one system currently on the
The concept behind the efficient to tackle these issues at market that provides HV, electronic
technology is simple. On the whole, source (HV side optimisation). If a variable voltage optimisation. This
power is supplied to businesses at company only has a LV supply then is a combined solution, which
a higher voltage than is necessary. the most effective approach will be replaces an on-site, inefficient HV
Although the ideal voltage required addressing the issues at the LV side transformer with an amorphous
for most electrical equipment in the (LV optimisation). core super-low loss HV transformer,
UK is 220V, the average delivered
is actually 242V and it can be
delivered at levels as high as 253V.
The mismatch between voltage
required and voltage delivered
results in a waste of energy and of
course money.
VO corrects the over-voltage
and brings it in line with the actual
needs of the equipment on site,
through use of a device installed
in series with the mains electricity
supply. True voltage optimisation
systems will also clean and Figure 2.
condition the power supply and High Voltage side
reduce power quality issues such optimisation
1
Brushing
Transfer machine
system
Slitting
machine
5
Automatic plate slitting
and brushing machine
2 3 4
Save time and cut costs with our new plate slitter and brushing system.
Just five operators are all you need.
Slit battery plates at rates of up to 100pcs/min and brushing at up to 600pcs/min.
The system can be adjusted in minutes to cope with a varying workflows
100
by half hourly equipment.
periods pre and With no moving parts, VO
post installation of
80 systems require no maintenance
market-leading VO
system or monitoring and operate
60 effectively for many years without
replacement. They also have
40 a payback for the planet. By
cutting energy consumption and
20 thereby reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, they enable companies
0 to make a positive environmental
contribution.
00:30
01:00
01:30
02:00
02:30
03:00
03:30
04:00
04:30
05:00
05:30
06:00
06:30
07:00
07:30
08:00
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
00:00
Average Pre half hour period
Time
Average Post half hour period Continuous improvements in VO
technology, such as energy storage,
have ensured that these systems
could generate savings of 10bn energy storage solutions like will complement existing energy-
a year by 2050 in the UK. This, Powerstar Virtue. This blueprint saving initiatives already installed
coupled with the volatile nature of will improve the financial viability by many facilities and will play a
renewable generation sources of small-scale energy generation part in the growing development of
solar and wind, for example, from wind, solar and fuel cells and Microgrids within smart cities.
generate little amounts of power will make it easier for informed
if the sun doesnt shine or wind decisions to be made on when and References
doesnt blow highlights the need how local energy can be stored and
for flexibility and greater control of used. 1. 16th edition; Wiring Regulations
electricity usage. BS7671.
Energy storage systems Conclusion
incorporating VO technology allow VO systems work to address 2. Proceedings of the 8th
energy to be stored during periods the issue of wasted energy that International Conference on
of low demand and used at times exists as a result of an imbalance Harmonics and Power Quality
of high tariffs, or indeed when it is between a buildings incoming 1998-10-14.
most beneficial. Users can come supply and its usage. Voltage is
off-grid during times of high tariffs, generally supplied to a site at a 3. Faiz, J; Ebrahimpour, H Precise
diverting the energy stored, to considerably higher level than the derating of three phase induction
make noticeable savings on energy optimal amount of 220V required motors with unbalanced
costs. by modern electrical equipment. voltages. Energy Conversion and
As the prominence of smart This is because utility companies Management 48 (9): 2579-2586
cities where traditional networks cannot precisely target voltage
and services will be made more over varying distances and simply 4. Defra 2011 factor 0.5246kg/kWh.
efficient with the use of innovative transmit power in a way which
technologies, for the benefit of ensures that all sites receive
inhabitants and businesses between 216V and 253V. About the Author
evolves, energy storage systems The average voltage delivered
incorporating VO technology will in the UK is actually 242V. This Dr Alex Mardapittas is managing
become an integral part of the local excess energy is still factored into director of EMSc (UK) Limited.
energy Microgrid system. a buildings energy bills despite He has extensive knowledge
A Microgrid is a smaller version the fact that it offers no benefit to of software programming and
of an electricity grid, the main the business and can actually be innovative engineering design.
difference being they are powered detrimental to equipment. In 2001 he set up EMSc (UK)
by local energy sources that match VO technology ensures that Ltd to provide energy and
power with local demand rather companies only pay for the energy environmental consultancy to UK
than national demand. that they need. In addition, it filters organisations.
Microgid systems will rely on out harmonics, transients and
S
handong Jinkeli is one of the simple. For this particular visit in cold with an early snowfall and
largest manufacturer and December, I had been engaged temperatures down to -10C. The
supplier of battery additives to visit a company in Dongying journey through the city and along
with over 70% domestic market to assist in product and process the motorways was characterised
share in China. improvements. I mentioned to the by new building activity, highly
And it has a simple philosophy: owner, (a customer of Jinkeli) that industrialised agriculture and large
To establish a closer technical I had a long-standing invitation industrial estates, some containing
strategic relationship with lead acid from Xing Yanchao the President of traditional coal fired power
battery manufacturers to improve Jinkeli to visit their facility in Zibo. stations. The weather was grey with
battery performance and promote
the development of the lead acid
battery industry
Sounds very good and is
easy to say. However, in order
to deliver, you need to have the
ability, dedication and resources to
achieve this. I was looking forward
to this visit and was very keen to
meet the people and to view the
facility capable of delivering this
goal. Dr Mike McDonagh
and
The opportunity arose following Mr Xing Yanchao
a meeting with Mr Xing Yanchao
the President of Shandong Jinkeli Rather than letting me take a train a pervading low mist for the entire
Power Sources Technology Co Ltd trip, the factory owner in Dongying journey, which further added to
at the Lead acid Battery Conference insisted that he would arrange a industrial feel of the landscape.
in Edinburgh an 0pportunity to company car and driver to take me Once at the hotel, Mr Xing
witness at first hand this exciting to Zibo. It was a relatively short invited me to dinner where I had
new area of battery technology, distance and it was a Sunday, the my initial introduction to some of
particularly with a company one day in the week which the his team. As usual, the meal and
which claims to be dedicated to Chinese seem to take off work. This venue were faultless, and if I were
improvement and original research. level of hospitality is common in to add to my list of improvements
And this was no PR trip (Write China and derives from a traditional in China, I would have to include
flattering copy and secure an culture of treating visitors with the red wine. Yet another benefit
advertisement?) No. My purpose respect. And its appreciated. of the collaboration with foreign
was fact finding pure and The weather was unseasonably companies.
OK
Sealing and
Storage
packing Automatic
silo
Coding
elimination
Batching
first weighing
Inspection
Batching silo
second weighing Finished products
warehouse
The next morning we arrived at The factory tour started with Ensuring alert, and pushing one of the
the Jinkeli factory located in the the premix expanders. Automated customers get the bags off the conveyor into a reject
right additive mix.
Zichuan Economic Development equipment, based on customer catchment area. I am assuming
Zone. My first impressions of the orders, selects the correct mix and it was a coincidence and not a
36,000 square meter site were weighs the additives individually demonstration. This was verified
of cleanliness, busy activity, a before mixing in the patented when the bag weight was recorded
minimal presence of working staff system. Precision, uniformity and and found to be a little more than
and well maintained buildings consistency are guaranteed by one gram out of tolerance.
logically arranged for access a combination of quality control The majority of the building
and product flow. My second and innovative technology. This spaces are used for storage, order
impression was that a bit more involves sampling of the blended picking and packing for despatch.
heating in the offices would be additives from different parts of the Again, the stock and order system
quite welcome. The company blender, then comparing the ash is computer controlled. However,
distributes Vanisperse from content of the blended expander there was an area dedicated to
Borregaard and the Cabot tailored against a pre mix standard for production of short fibre floc which
forms of Carbon Black, and the individual components. The involved spinning the yarn and
other main additives like humic blending process itself is part of cutting to size. Precise control of
acid, barium sulphate, their own a uniquely engineered solution the tension in the fibre is the key
patented CuringBon(R)which is devised by Jinkeli, which provides to obtaining the reliability and
a seeding mixture to form a 4BS a high degree of homogeneity and consistency, which is the hallmark
structure in the paste and Nano- uniformity within and between of the Jinkeli customer service.
silica sol are produced in other batches. Why manufacture and not simply
production bases of Jinkeli. After mixing, each bag is find a supplier who can match the
Also, quite surprisingly, there weighed automatically and has quality? The simple answer, typical
is a manufacturing process to a very small tolerance band for of the company philosophy is that
produce seamless pasting belts. acceptance. Of course, I had if you cannot find the product
In all there are around 16 products to ask the obvious question: on the market then you have to
selected and developed specifically what happens if there is an out manufacture it yourself and if
to enhance battery performance of tolerance bag? The machine necessary, develop the methods
and where possible reduce cost dutifully showed me by sounding required to produce the results
and waste. an alarm reminiscent of an intruder you want. Rather than compromise
Li-ion incidents
prompt
US-China
safety summit
J. Thomas Chapin, Ph.D., Vice President Research, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. reports
on a major conference which took place in China at the end of last year and which could
represent an important breakthrough in lithium-ion safety on a global scale.
A
significant event occurred end users, first responders and a. LiB Incidents and Emergency
in Beijing in early November airline shipping and transportation Response,
that has set in motion a companies. It was organised by
new dialogue between the US and UL and Tsinghua University and in b. LiB Chemistry,
China on lithium-ion battery (LiB) total five organisations sponsored
safety. This unique summit was the event China Electronics c. LiB Applications and
attended by eighty experts from Standardisation Institute (CESI),
a diverse range of organisations Tsinghua University, Beijing d. LiB Standards and Test
involved with LiB technology. Institute of Technology (BIT), China Methods.
The U.S. and China experts came Battery Industry Association (CBIA)
from academia and government and UL. The welcome and opening
research laboratories, testing and The Safety Summit was remarks were made by Mr.Wang
standards bodies, state and local organised around four central Weiwei, Director from the
governments, manufacturers, safety topics: Electronic Information Department,
China Ministry of Industry and across every aspect of the LiB research community to provide
Information Technology (MIIT), Mr. supply chain from discovery, education and training programs
Clyde Kofman, UL Chief Operating prototyping, manufacture, use and to understand the dynamics of LiB
Officer, Mr. Zhao Jinsheng, CBIA end of life. Improvements in safety failure, propagation and means
Secretary General and Mr. Zhao require dialog and information to mitigate these incidents.
Xinua, CESI Vice President. The sharing across diverse disciplines This involves an understanding
keynote presentations were made and expertise. of the failure mechanisms and
by Professor Wu Feng of BIT and associated hazards posed by cell
Professor Stan Whittingham of Session 1 LiB Incidents and breaching, venting, ignition of
the State University of New York Emergency Response flammable electrolytes and arcing
(SUNY). Safety research is driven by followed by propagation and
There were several key aspects fact-based scientific methods to spread to surrounding materials.
that contributed to the intensity quantify hazards. This is especially This poses new questions about
and benefit of the event: true for battery incidents. While fire suppressants and fire ground
the risks are relatively low based tactics, personal protective
a. the exclusive focus on LiB safety on the quantity of rechargeable equipment (PPE) and sensing
from four perspectives, devices in commerce relative to technologies.
the frequency of the incidents,
b. the diversity and selection however the severity of the Session 2 - LiB Technology and
of the attendees based upon hazards posed by LiB failures is Reports of New Discoveries
expertise and background, high. The analysis of incidents The second session of the Summit
allows researchers and safety dealt with existing and emerging
c. the intimate setting combined officials to deconstruct the event LiB technologies, potential
with an open format that and ascertain root cause. failure mechanisms and test
encouraged information Understanding the patterns of methods. One common theme is
exchange and exploration of LiB incidents across the supply the need for guidance for battery
ideas rather than emphasising chain is important, but a complete technology developers to validate
formal presentations. In set of information is often not performance and safety behavior
short, the expert panels available for many reasons. using standardised test methods.
in each session provided The first session of the Summit The significant absence of safety
their perspectives in brief embraced these concepts and it data validating claims of new
presentations to highlight was clear that China and the US discoveries and inventions was
issues, while the majority of places a high priority on battery apparent. Independent validation
the time was devoted to open safety. is the first step in enhanced safety
discussion and dialog with the The international first responder protocols. It is well understood
attendees and panelists. All community is relying on the battery that many factors affect cell
sessions and documentation performance and safety including:
were simultaneously translated
in Mandarin and English to a. LiB chemistry(active ingredients
promote dialogue. and additives),
F
or as long as this author is kicking and screaming into the
can remember, there have market.
always been proponents of Its hard to believe but probably
second-life batteries the spent the most popular electric vehicle,
power sources of the electric the Nissan Leaf, has been on sale
vehicle market that, once past their for over five years and the 200,000
capacity peak, could theoretically Leafs will probably have been
provide the energy sources for delivered as this issue went to business from springing into life.
stationary energy storage. press (January 2016). Last summer, German
For the best part of a decade this What we dont know is how automaker Daimler AG announced
almost mythical role was discussed many of these vehicles are still the launch of a new stationary
at length but there was a massive on the road or how many are on storage business, utilising its fully
commercial hole in the argument. a second set of batteries. This owned EV battery maker subsidiary
EVs sold in very small numbers and authors guess is that, barring Deutsche Accumotive. The
stationary energy storage was more accidents, the vast majority of automakers plan is to sell batteries
conceptual than real. vehicles are running and because to residential and commercial
In the last two years all this has Well have to wait of range limitations (accepted by customers in partnership with
a decade or more
changed, as the pages in BEST for these batteries purchasers), very few vehicles will the German utility EnBW Energie
have reflected. EVs are beginning to be repurposed. have clocked up mileages such Baden-Wuerttemberg AG.
to shift at last and as push the initial battery pack The company has gone further:
commercial beyond its predicted life. it has announced the creation
energy But thats not stopped of a 13MW-hour energy storage
storage the second-life unit at a recycling plant in Lnen
battery using second-life EV batteries
supposedly the largest deployment
of second-life batteries in the
world.
Nissan was not to be beaten.
Again last June, Nissan
Motor Company and Green
Charge Networks, which
claimed to be the
largest provider of
commercial energy
storage in California,
joined forces to
deploy secondlife
lithiumion vehicle
batteries for stationary
commercial energy storage
in the U.S. and international
markets.
500 McKinsey
Roland Berger
400
Anderman
300
Tesla Target
200 Navigant
2) NREL
Nissan Battery Replacement Cost
0
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040
1976
screen TVs, cars and cellphones.
Crystalline Si PV module Everything gets cheaper with scale
10 1998 but theres another factor at work
2004
1988 2008 what Naam calls a learning curve.
The more we make, the better we
2010
1 become at innovating and cost
2014
reducing.
H1 2014
m=24.3% Naam quotes the US electric
Li-ion EV battery pack m=21.6%
0.1 Power Research Institute, which
1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 shows a 15% drop in price in
Cumulative production (MW, MWh) 3) Bloomberg lithiumion costs when production
volume is doubled. Naam calls this
A lithium-ion battery from business in the US. Nissan looks a 15% learning rate.
a Nissan Leaf still holds a great forward to working with Green Others go further. Bloomberg
deal of value as energy storage, Charge Networks to get second-life New Energy Finance (BNEF),
even after it is removed from the vehicle batteries into the hands meanwhile, uses more recent
vehicle, so Nissan expects to be of customers who can realise data, and finds a 21.6% learning
able to reuse a majority of Leaf benefits that include improved rate in electric vehicle batteries. In
battery packs in non-automotive sustainability and lower energy fact, the learning rate they find is
applications, said Brad Smith, costs. These customers may well strikingly similar to the learning
director of Nissans 4R Energy have to wait a long time. The real rate for solar panels.
even lower, at US$300 per kWh, Maximum and Minimum PEV Sales Projections
and has declined by 8% annually.
Learning rate, the cost reduction Essentially NREL tried to answer mid 2020s.
following accumulative doubling three big questions: And dont expect all the vehicles
of production, is found to be that are sold to yield batteries fit for
between 6 and 9%, in line with 1. When will these second-life repurposing.
earlier studies on vehicle battery batteries be available and how Perhaps 20% of all the vehicles
technology. healthy will they be? sold will be involved in accidents
Nykvist and Nilson claimed the which may well damage the battery
costs of lithium-ion battery packs 2. How can such batteries be packs.
would continue to decline and that repurposed and how much will And what will be the availability
the costs among market leaders it cost? of used automotive batteries
are much lower than previously for repurposing? That is very
reported. This has significant 3. How will these repurposed dependent on market projections
implications for the assumptions batteries be used, how long for EV sales.
used when modelling future will they last and what will their And the cost of the repurposed
energy and transport systems and value be? batteries? Again a tricky answer full
permits an optimistic outlook for of ifs and buts.
BEVs contributing to low-carbon On the surface and in the It is only possible to determine
transport. executive summary it looks rosy a price if all the costs associated
but, as you dig deeper, you soon with removing a vehicle battery
So how low can things go? learn that youre at the mercy of are known (collection, testing,
Naam believes lithium-ion costs market projections particularly EV repackaging, warranty, etc).
will fall to be literally cents per sales. And these are fraught with
kilowatt capacity reaches one The most obvious point is that complications: how the battery was
days worth of global generated batteries suitable for repurposing used in its automotive lifetime;
capacity. are going to be a while in coming. where it was operated (hot or cold
And this must have implications Even as far as plug-in hybrids are climates), and so forth.
for potential second-use batteries concerned (and thats where NREL NREL examined everything
when future batteries will be as concentrated its efforts), theres from shipping used batteries to a
cheap as chips. Who wants a used little economic gain in replacing collection and repurposing centre
battery when a new one will be batteries until the vehicle has to the cost of testing including
cheaper in the future? reached the end of its service life. technician labour. For a facility
Battery second-use has not NREL says PEV batteries will retain to be viable, it would have to
only got the interest of the auto more than 70% of their original repurpose at least 100,000kW
industry. Its got the fervent support performance over the first ten hour per year not that many
of the US Department of Energy and years of operation, and replacing vehicle packs. But the fault rate
one of its prestigious laboratories, batteries within the anticipated of the batteries would need to be
the National Renewable Energy 15year lifetime of a vehicle will not exceptionally low.
Laboratory (NREL), which published be economically justified. NRELs investigation found that
an extensive and in-depth report on So dont expect to recruit staff regional repurposing facilities
the matter a little over a year ago. to your repurposing plant till the dedicated to a single model of PEV
PEAK
PERFORMANCE
T
hey were all here! renewable. The visibility of Indian of European countries, including
Siemens, AES, Panasonic, manufacturers was relatively France, had come together to give
SAFT, Coslight and so muted, and mostly, though not the group a sound technological
many others they had all all, restricted to organisations base.
come from every corner of the that were essentially fronting for India has committed itself, in
world, patiently waiting, for the some of the international battery the Paris summit, to supplying at
great Indian renewable energy manufacturers. least 40% of all her energy needs
storage story to begin. Most Just a week before the from renewable sources by 2030.
importantly, no one went home conference got going, Indias This is very ambitious indeed!
disappointed. There was a slew of prime minister, Narendra Modi, Coming down to the figures,
announcements, made by Indias had launched an international which were confirmed during
apex policy makers, reeling out solar alliance of 127 countries the various announcements
the details of one of the most with the French president, made during the conference, the
ambitious green energy plans Francois Hollande, at the Paris country proposes to add 175GW
that any government has ever COP21 climate summit. The of renewable energy by 2022!
put in place. There was business Of this, 100GW would be solar
in the air, a lot of deals being and 40GW wind. The solar is
discussed. What more can one India has committed, in further segmented into 40GW of
say of a good conference?
The Indian Energy Storage
the Paris summit, that by 2030 rooftop, 20GW of solar parks and
the balance 40GW of land-based
Alliance Conference in its at least 40% of all her energy distributed generation. Bear in
3rd edition was organized
in Delhi on 8th and 9th of
needs would come from mind that current total installed
capacity, in the entire country,
December. In the view of this renewable sources. totals to around 240GW and it is
correspondent, this was one of largely thermal and hydro with
the best attended conferences renewable being a few percent
on the subject in India, with only. With this background the
very serious participation of the Indian government is investing figures of an additional 175GW
top bureaucrats of the relevant an initial US$30m in setting up from renewables look very
ministries of the government. the alliance headquarters in daunting.
There was also a very large India. The alliance is expected to The conference was formally
contingent of international pool knowledge resources and declared open by Dr. Shailendra
manufacturers present, who develop production technologies Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry
anyway have been camping appropriate for tropical countries of New and Renewable Energy
in Delhi, or Mumbai, for the in particular. The aim is to bring (MNRE), who simply stated that
past two years or so, in a state affordable solar power to tropical Indias ambition of achieving
of readiness to do immediate villages and communities across 175GW of renewable energy in
business, once the Indian energy the world. While the majority of seven years would just not be
storage business really opens the signatories of the alliance possible without the availability
up be it for telecoms or for are tropical countries, a number of technically and economically
T
he situation in any Chinese China will develop the market where management has to see a
industry is murky even at because there is sufficient demand healthy return on investment in the
its most transparent, but at home, and they can become relatively short term.
one thing the battery industry can world-class champions. Whatever If they dont see this they have
be clear about is the future is not they do there will always be some US to sell out or allow foreigners to
going to be dull. or European manufacturer stronger come in and I think they will do
With some saying the leadacid
battery industry is slowing in lead-acid EnerSys, for example,
is all over the world. It would be
it, says Mancini. They are not
concerned about foreigners coming
down to make way for the rise of impossible to overtake them. in and getting a technological
other chemistries, in particular I think the major Chinese advantage; its strategic.
lithiumion, other industry battery manufacturers would What Im not so clear on is the
analysts say that in fact the bigger be happy to be bought out by 4% consumption tax on lead-acid
players in the lead-acid sector are European or American investors, batteries only. The manufacturers
drawing up expansion plans. who are waiting on the side-lines will have to pass this on to their
With the Chinese stock market
suspended not once but twice for the market to deflate, and thats
when they can make their move.
customers somehow, but its
a mixed signal because the
in the first week of January Most of the stock owned by government isnt clear what it
alone, many would suppose the State-owned companies is held by wants to do with this tax.
economic climate in China would local governments and local banks, Mancini believes insiders in the
have some impact on the industry. Chinese lead-acid battery industry
But at the moment, it still seems to have realised that having caught up
be going strong. with western competitors, they do
Lorenzo Mancini is the general Beijing has successfully
manager of Italian battery firm developed the Chinese lead-acid
Fiamms Asia-Pacific arm, based in industry to achieve self-sufficiency.
Singapore. But having reached that goal,
He believes some of the larger it does not want the industry to
Chinese lead-acid firms would be develop further, says Mancini.
quite happy to see western firms
step in and simply buy them out. State-controlled capitalism
means the government chooses
The Chinese government which strategic industries to
might want to switch its focus to develop, and lead-acid batteries is
lithiumion or other chemistries not one of them.
more than lead-acid, whatever Lead-acid battery
is strategic for the Chinese manufacturing is a labour-
Government because its one of the Lorenzo Mancini intensive, small profit margin,
segments where they can become
market leader, he says. ? strong environmental industry,
and its further development
in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, I think the Chinese government factories in China up to 18.
Sri Lanka and there are new JVs wants the management of the lead- Its a bit of a dichotomy, says
in Bangladesh and Pakistan, says acid battery industry to be more McDonagh. The economy is not
Mancini.
Its happening relatively
stringent because of the problems
with lead pollution incidents.
in good shape, so the government
needs to recoup some of the
fast and mostly because of
environmental issues: they are
But I havent heard that any
companies are looking to be
tax revenue its lost by failing
companies.
much less concerned about the
issues than China so its easier to
bought out by the West. With the 2011 lead-acid battery
cull, the smaller firms were forced
get away with it.
These countries also have a
Hell-bent on expansion
Industry analyst and consultant
to shut up shop and many were
assimilated by the larger ones.
pretty big domestic market. Its a
long distance from China to these
Mike McDonagh calls the situation
in Chinas lead-acid industry a
This means that although the
number of companies was slashed
markets, and China is pragmatic: its
doing the same thing the States and
dichotomy.
from around 2,000 to just over 300,
the overall production capacity
European companies were doing
30 or 40 years ago, when they sent did not change and China remains
the only net exporter of lead-acid
their manufacturing to China.
Another factor is the narrowing batteries in the world.
When it comes to lithium-ion
cost gap between manufacturing in
China and in the West, says Mancini. versus lead-acid, if lithium-ion is
the only contender it can replace
Our production facility in Italy it in some circumstances but it
has turned around now because hasnt got a hope in hell in car
the cost of batteries made in China starter batteries, and so on, says
is now comparable to the costs in McDonagh.
Europe, he says. Apart from the fact that there is
This is partly because of the no recycling stream, it would take
new consumption tax, and partly It could be that the economy is a decade before it could fulfil even
because of the exchange rate
and the yuan being pegged to
waning because of the stock market
crash, and it may be that when the
a quarter of the requirements of
lead-acid.
the dollar, which led to a 25%
difference last year.
tax legislation was announced,
some of the companies had a knee-
Leoch chairman Dong Li said the
lead-acid battery sector still had a
China Industrial Association of
Power Sources (CIAPS) secretary
jerk reaction and said they wanted
to be bought out, he said.
strong life in China.
I do not believe that Chinese
general Liu Yanlong said it was
inevitable that the government was
But the battery industry seems
to be bucking the trend of the larger
manufacturers want to be bought by
western companies, he said. I see
considering other chemistries.
Of course the governments
economy. Most of the companies
I have seen seem hell-bent on
some activity in reverse, that a lot
of western companies want Chinese
policy of support is more inclined to
lithium-ion batteries and other new
expanding and they are making
reasonable profits, which we cant
companies to buy THEM. The buying
and selling is going both ways.
batteries, but the lead-acid battery
market is still strong and there will
seem to manage in Europe.
What it might be is that they The domestic Chinese market is
still there, whether the government
still be a stable increase in the
future, he said.
realise the domestic market is
saturated and they are intending to wants it or not. The country still
needs plenty of batteries.
Pasting Paper
Thickness 0.20.02 Grammage Strength
282 0.70N/mm2
Tolerance (%) (10KPa) (g/m2) (KN/m)
Surface Area Absorption 60 Water content
2.0 0.50
(m2/g) rate (mm/2min) (%)
Chlorinity Acid leaching
Iron content (ppm) 25 30 3.0
(ppm) loss (%)
Accepted papers will be categorised into poster and oral presentations and accepted authors will receive a notice
from CIAPS of acceptance and category. There will be a poster competition if the total number of posters reaches 150.
The method for evaluating and rewarding the best poster will be announced after March 15, 2016.
Any questions about the battery fair and the paper submission please contact: Cheng Liwen at the CIBF 2016 office
Phone: 022-23959269, 23959049 Fax: 4008875666 ext 460002 QQ: 787578195 E-mail: chengliwen@ciaps.org.cn
www.cibf.org.cn
Chairman: Wang, Jiqiang E-mail: wangjiqiang@ciaps.org.cn Phone: 022-23959636
108 forthcomingevents
Pack your bags, book your flights and kiss the family goodbye once again, as we bring
you the BEST events for buying, discussing or simply schmoozing in the battery world.
29 February- 3 March 15 -16 March, 2016 15-17 March 13 -14 April, 2016
NAAtBatt 19th Power & Energy Storage Critical Power 2016
California, US Electricity World Europe Illinois, US
A great chance for European Africa Dusseldorf, Germany This conference serves
delegates to get some winter Johannesburg, South Pack your bags and be part of the needs of white-collar
sun and recharge their the energy storage revolution professionals who worry about
proverbial batteries at this Africa ensuring their company has
and join experts from all walks
lithium-ion focused event.The Conferences need delegates, of the energy storage industry reliable and continuous power.
conference draws together and this African event is not from production to utilities Explore the strategies and
decision makers to discuss the shy of casting the net wide to to gather on the east bank of solutions coming onstream
latest commercial applications attract the biggest number of the Rhine. The annual expo and how to choose best
of advanced electrochemical delegates. By bringing four and conference will see top practices in testing and
energy storage technology events together under one roof, players in the industry reveal maintenance, how to assess
and to learn about whats you get to choose the sessions methods to help your company new and emerging technologies
new in the market. However, most applicable for helping your gain from developments in the and monitor for reliability. It will
registration is limited to 300 business develop. In Africa, industry from keynote speeches be co-located with Internet of
attendees with preference utilities must deliver more from global leaders of energy, Things North America.
given to NAATBatt members reliable services, invest in new Info:
economics and research.
and C-level executives. technologies, and streamline www.criticalpowershow.com
Info:
Info: operational process.
www.energy-storage-online.
www.naatbatt.org Info: www.terrapinn.com/
com
exhibition/power-electricity-
world-africa
24-26 May
China International
Battery Fair
China
Who knows where the China
battery industry will be next
year as legislation and the
countrys economic dip
continues. What we do know is
this conference will involve six
sessions covering everything
to do with new battery
technologies in the world of
xEV and ESSs and the newest
R&D developments to battery
module pack evaluation via
advanced generation batteries.
Refreshingly that means all
chemistries will be represented.
Info:
www.cibf.org.cn/indexen.asp
With three events coming up in Germany, youll have time to be distracted by a bier or two.
Fuel processing
Modelling and control
Fuel cell components
bestprofile 3 bestp
2
r
eview insight From a hobby shed to global Sovem ofile
ech r Toolin a:
2 be
stt ors wit
h that presence Digatrons 45 years g up f
t
world
yd oc educa
te the Life h
or the
as be
Batter
d to en go
future
In honour of a triple anniversary year for Digatron, Ruth Williams visited Aachen to report on
ux trie ad- senio od fo
Sallo ine le rm
future anageme r Itali
r. Kurt determ nded the companys history and secrets for success. an ba
nce D rd to u hold? nt is ttery
de si forwa ture-f mach Shou riddle mach
a deca s the way t ven ology ines? ld So d wit inery
ore th
a n is firs te ch n Or sh ve ma ju h doubt a make
py wa eld. H 8, but the ons
Sove ould bout r Sove
een m rosco the fi soluti
mas it rest mp a
head the fu ma in
Its b spect 00 HQ in
W
alth in d in 2 nance or Veron on its of the ture. recen
dance ate of he ende ainte dit a to fi laure co What t years
impe Labs, tive m The E ls an m petiti s next
2013
ry st y ta
hen th
nd ou d sit but it
ba tte ne rg ve n o n s. is a year of lithium-ion cells, packs and invite
is mag
t. prett on an ? Wh s
pre licati
az
acid orld E d deve at
d in
vide lop co does the
e is
y app K. it does to visit a y a
any, W dy to pro the U
celebrations modules. The business is equally expe s sales
andb
ct to fa Vi
be to not usua ctory, llafra
comp sit to roll in mple
for Digatron portioned for both types of system radica
roman nca on th
y in st
at
d rea ind vi tes th l. High ld abou lly
? Tim tely n
ck an nolog satelli World Firing Circuits. It is 45-years since and there is an equal demand Yes. t som tic Ita e outs
hirlw ew
e Positiv quality
ions as th d so P
is ba
kirts
et lia ro
d tech naw
hi So
o unicat
comm hium chem pedance
istry
t to gr
ow. An rn, with a Digatron was started in Aachen, from lead-acid and from lithium- grow e eq
th? Ce noises ab uipment?
ng ve
somet ma very
n city of of
Verona the bert vi
ad -aci u x bo sits
Sallo was se Labs was ent the Germany, 25-years since the ion customers. The business is rtain out fu hing much .
for le
lit Im A visi ly. dive to sa had
ith used urces. s used to . movin on for th
ture
w so d ergy strum r 4210B acquisition of Firing Circuits in divided between formation and rsifi y.
the le ed maker While the
ht up
r es an cks En -held in
powe scopy wa mod to
rroga and the
g aw e
ay fro future, pe
ca u g isn t qu ite
spec
tro fa ilure we r pa hand
d Inte
sell
the USA and 20-years since the testing equipment for automotive prod
uc m rh
ad
comfo -acid ba
of mac most
world terise lls fo
r po ry -calle easy pital opening of Digatron China in Top right to bottom left: and industrial batteries as well as rang ts to an as establishe aps rtabl tte hine
e selli ry has be ry for
the ve to charac t weak ce cause ba
tte so ca
snt an s venture ness ende
d e of pr make
oduc yet unknow d
S
imes at you ha ty It wa Exce m ng en ve
omet ttery filter
ou , be ssibili ny wa e busi money
Qingdao. Not to mention Rolf Rolf Beckers The secondary cells and pt, in ts? De batte ostly auto equipm ry
for wh o, ba launch t a po , due to compa . When th t his own rther. Beckers 65th birthday. to So th fin n rie motiv ent
ready n years ag s were vema is case, du itely not. has do s cons
Chief. packs. Digatron
pr ior to ent wasn ilu re al ed pu fu
2013
ol e star to
. Te an fa m back lloux t s head ring a ubled idated te
offer chnici th failure em ry
replac and batte d cause th ic
er oduc As BEST readers know, Digatron The Aachen site in can provide testing recent r Right:
an ce te wi e t 20 08, Sa ng the pr ns (GEI) 1983 and today.
quar vi
ters in sit
to
years 80m ($ turnover Mauri
en ips s. Th ul
in orbi fects co catastro
ph in lopi tio e designs and manufactures and formation impo zio Ma
maint ing to gr deve gy Innova ile th automated battery testing 110m
Sove CEO,
stem ly ss of to rtant m ) Sove sotti,
m d sy on de r l lo in d wh equipment for ch a in ma
ci had e latent y and othe potentia er batte forese
Rolf in his hobby
still co in lead-a hods al En nce an anged ry bu anges in
ic met knowledg wa to Glob eque ch equipment and formation cellar, 1968. siness the le es
mod
es runa ading cons vent to . ad-aci Below
lu e of ohmcommon tte ry ilu res le +M asse
t. is the entals ha to take in ofequipment for lead-acid and 1983 d So
:
va d ba fa am s, th vema
come ad-aci was a $400 fund uct ha ntial grow ich is Villaf s
just be rld of le the US prod ne wh
ranca
e the t the expo nology,
while
head
e wo d ther king d
1968 quart
in th ce an cial war ta ch ad-aci ers
mply, s can
un
enan s acco wer te by le batteries from cell phones up to
maint e commer purveyor e -up po minated
g it si
al e nc back y do submarines, meaning the range
d
full sc tween th impeda largel e
Puttin ic metho as
be cy tte ry st ill off ers th
of expertise spans hundreds of
place en ba s. ny
compa ry analys e
is a
frequ to assess
e tterie
d to b
that
ohm tor h
ng le ed ba y th e thousands of amp hours.
of si hods who argu te. tte com
other t an opera which nee offers
Toda y of ba ator has
d met e re ad
equa nopl for The current site in Aachen has
base and thos er
full pa ck-up op -held unit
ds we
detec althy cells ored, GEI in cells
health ce metho ring (as ba
large ct a ha
nd ,a
been the headquarters since 1983
an 39) cells r
resist ote monito 39, page pe dual after outgrowing the previous site
a mo g, which c ement an
s prem quency to chec ttery ba
it wa ed in cid ba lligent ftware to expand with a team of 200
fre ckag t into lead-a and inte
multi uld be pa
failin ve managoperator.
ou so g employees working for Digatron
that t
system ement sy
st em
makin their
ds co and pu e. es in
metho -held unit me purpos was Firing Circuits group worldwide. The
A
nd what better backdrop for and future energy supply. systems, intelligent transformers
ees Europe 2016 and the Also worth mentioning is and virtual power plants will be
concurrent Intersolar Europe the valuable fringe programme presented at Intersolar and ees
than Germanys city of Munich? on offer at ees Europe. The ees Europe 2016.
After all, Germany heads up exhibitions are accompanied by Electric vehicles are also part
the PV storage system markets in forums, workshops and special of the power grid of the future,
Europe; not least because of the exhibits, which provide an insight both as consumers and as energy
governments decision to extend into renewable energy storage storage devices. Predictive energy
subsidies for PV storage by three solutions, from residential and management systems will control
years last December. commercial applications to air conditioning and heating,
Around 40,000 plus visitors large-scale storage systems for charge management for electric
including leading manufacturers, stabilising the grid. vehicles and the smart grid function
researchers, dealers and suppliers for feeding power into the grid.
across the energy storage sector Smart Renewable Energy Intelligent power grids, or smart
are expected to attend this June. This year both the Intersolar Europe grids, will control and monitor
Filling the 12,000 square metres as well as ees Europe trade fairs power generation, store, distribute
of exhibition space this year, will focus on the topic of Smart and consume electricity.
around 380 of the more than 1,000 Renewable Energy: Solar and
exhibitors will present products, smart thats the future of modern But why visit ees Europe?
solutions and services relating to energy supply. The continents biggest event of
all stages of the value chain. This includes decentralised its kind is the perfect place to
Organisers Solar Promotions photovoltaics installations and exchange information and engage
and Management Marketing FWTM battery storage systems for in the type of conversation that will
Freiburg have increased the size of domestic power supplies combined pay dividends when you get back to
the event by 25% due to growing in intelligent networks providing the office.
interest in the industry. balanced power to the public grid. Exhibitors this year will focus
An interest which reflects the The devices and communication on rechargeable batteries,
energy storage industrys vast technology needed for the energy storage systems, charging
market potential as well as its integration of these elements technologies and battery production
relevance for the energy transition small and large electrical storage equipment and materials.
www.ees-events.com
For more information, visit www.batterycouncil.org/BCIConvention +
For more information, visit www.batterycouncil.org/BCIConvention +
BCI_0021115_Convention2016_Ad_v2.indd 1 11/9/15 4:10 PM
San Antonio, TX
Marriott Rivercenter Hotel DATE!
May 1-3, 2016 THE
SAVE
Power Mart Expo
+
BCI Convention +
+
BCI Convention +
Power Mart Expo
SAVE
May 1-3, 2016 THE
Marriott Rivercenter Hotel DATE!
San Antonio, TX
Dexmet dexmet.com 49
Powerstar powerstar.com 17
O
ne of the pleasures of being As BYDs press release stated: choking smog, generated largely
an old journalist, long in It is absolutely imperative that from emissions from coal-fired
the tooth, is that you dont our leaders reach an agreement electricity generation. Theres
have to attend the mega events at COP21 said BYDs founder and little doubt that theres a will to do
anymore. When I mean mega, I chairman, Wang Chuanfu. Our the right thing. But China added
mean events with thousands of message as the private sector 22million conventional cars to its
delegates and exhibitors. Like the is that we have been working car fleet this year alone.
Farnborough air show or one of hard for decades now and finally
those AIDS jamborees back in in have technologies that can now Another one of the pleasures of
the 80s, or a massive trade fair substitute fully for their fossil fuel being an old hack like your Scribe is
your Scribe attended in another life competition. A great example is our being able to trouble you the reader
called Pittcon (which is still going city buses. Our 12m city bus can go with the Scribes more worrying
strong), battery events dont even as long on one charge as a diesel thoughts. No Im not planning
come close except maybe Battery bus does on a tank of fuel, creates a mass murder or Jihad but Ive
Japan or CIBF. Crowds, crowds and no emissions and saves operators begun thinking about student debt.
more crowds. thousands of dollars each week! And only because I had to deal
The hassle includes getting said Wang. Yes, well with a payroll query with one of my
press registration to begin with And then I thought of the staff a paltry sum which will be
and sometimes security clearance. images coming out of Beijing just with that employee for years. When
Then getting your delegate pass, days before a city enveloped in I write this column I feel as if Im
learning the layout of the event and talking mainly to Americans, who
where the key press conferences have lived with student debt a lot
will be held, schmoozing the PRs longer than we Brits.
and filing your story back to base.
And then the fact that youre very
manipulated to file the right story.
And thats how I felt, one
Saturday in December, listening
to the excitement of the release of
the final communiqu from Paris
on the climate change talks and so
glad not to be there, caught up in
the moment of the good news as
if it was a seasonal advertisement
for a department store. Agreeing to
cut carbon emissions is one thing.
Doing it is something else.
And then I wondered how long
it would be before a limp industry
press release linking itself to the
climate change talks would drift into
my work e-mail box. It wasnt long.