New Report on Electrodes for Lithium Ion Batteries

In a newly released report, “New Electrode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries -2012”, industry analyst firm NanoMarkets projects that the need for higher performance batteries for consumer electronics, hybrid/electric vehicles and other applications will quickly create a large market for novel lithium battery electrode materials.  Revenues from non-conventional electrode materials are expected to reach around $1.3 billion by 2017, representing an almost 25 percent share of all lithium battery electrode materials sold.  At present this share is 8 percent.

Although many materials are being tried out, NanoMarkets believes that those with the most potential for cathodes are lithium manganese oxide, lithium iron phosphate, nickel manganese cobalt composite and nickel cobalt alumina composite.  For anodes, the growth opportunities are to be found in lithium titanate and silicon.  This report also analyzes and forecasts markets for the traditional electrode materials; lithium cobalt oxide and graphite.

Additional details about the report are available at http://nanomarkets.net/market_reports/report/new_electrode_materials_for_lithium_ion_batteries_2012

This report analyzes the markets for lithium ion battery electrode materials driven by developments in the consumer electronics, power tools, electric/hybrid vehicles, smart grids/stationary and military/aerospace segments.  The eight-year forecasts are broken out by type of material both in volume and value terms for each application.

The report also discusses the strategies of some important suppliers of relevant electrode materials.  Companies mentioned include: 3M, A123, Actacell, AGM Batteries, Aleees, Altairnano, Amprius, BASF, ConocoPhillips, Enerdel, Enerize, Enia, Envia Systems, Hitachi, Johnson Controls, LG Chem, NEI, Nexeon, Panasonic, Phostech, Saft, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Umicore.

The report notes that the current performance of lithium ion batteries limits its addressable markets especially in automotive and smart grid applications.  Better electrodes seem the main way to address this limitation and the success of lithium manganese oxide (LMO) as the novel cathode material that allowed the lithium ion battery to break into the power tools business has paved the way for this strategy.  To date, LMO is the only non-conventional electrode material to reach high volume sales and revenues from this material will generate more than $430 million by 2017.

 The fastest growing electrode material markets will be those for lithium iron phosphate and nickel manganese cobalt for cathodes which together will account for almost $700 million in revenue by 2017.  Lithium ion phosphate seems well positioned to challenge LMO since it can offer a similar performance, but is considered to be safer.  This makes it attractive in a number of markets especially automotive.  Nickel manganese cobalt offers an especially high energy density.

Despite well-established R&D programs intended to replace graphite as the anode material of choice for lithium batteries, NanoMarkets believes that graphite will still account for more than 90 percent of the revenues from anode materials until after 2017.  Alternative materials have been quite challenging to develop and are at an early stage of development.  However, there is a strong incentive to pursue this goal because EVs are demanding higher energy densities.  Despite the hype about silicon, titanate anodes are likely to offer more immediate business prospects, although there may be some use of silicon by Panasonic and a few other companies in consumer electronics applications.

CODA Energy Launches Energy Storage Solutions

CODA Holdings, a developer of advanced battery systems and all-electric vehicles, announced the debut of CODA Energy. The new business arm provides scalable, flexible and reliable battery storage systems to support a more sustainable electrical grid.

Worldwide installations of energy storage capacity are expected to increase from 121 MW in 2011 to 12,353 MW in 2021, with an estimated $122 billion in potential deployments over the next 10 years.

CODA's energy storage system is positioned to address the rapid growth and increased demand for safe, tested and reliable energy storage solutions.

CODA Energy offers battery systems for generation, distribution and behind-the-meter applications for a myriad of commercial and industrial needs, as well as for microgrids, the security sector, the transportation sector and EV-fleet management.

Integral to CODA's battery storage technology is its modular design, which features vertical energy towers operating in concert, but managed independently. CODA Energy's modular configuration promotes cost efficiency and enables continuous operation -- even when performing maintenance -- making the system an ideal choice for demanding environments.

CODA's existing joint venture with battery manufacturer Lishen -- supplier to Apple, Samsung, CODA Automotive and others -- supports cost-effective large scale supply. CODA shares proprietary innovation, research and development, and manufacturing intelligence among its automotive and stationary energy storage divisions, and passes that value onto the customer.

Source:

POWERGRID International/Electric Light & Power

A123 Systems and NSTAR to Launch Advanced Energy Storage Pilot Project

A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE), a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate lithium ion batteries and systems, announced that it is launching a pilot project with NSTAR to study and showcase the performance and reliability benefits of implementing A123's Grid Storage Battery (GBS) within a suburban electric grid. The system, NSTAR's first battery energy storage project, is proposed for installation at a substation in Medway, Mass. and is expected to be operational in 2012.

"We’re very interested in learning more about how advanced energy storage can help continue to improve electric service reliability for our customers," said Lawrence Gelbien, vice president of engineering at NSTAR. "Launching this pilot project with A123 will allow us to gain invaluable hands-on experience with clean, efficient energy storage technology and, ultimately, it will help determine how we can utilize larger-scale energy storage projects on our system."

Under the terms of the agreement, one of A123's two-megawatt (2MW) GBS solutions is proposed to be interconnected to the power grid at NSTAR's substation in Medway. It will be owned and operated by A123, and will be designed to provide area regulation services, which are used to address momentary differences between electric power supply and demand. A123 expects to earn revenue from these area regulation services from ISO-New England (ISO-NE) as part of the Alternative Technology Regulation (ATR) Pilot Program, which allows "non-generating resources" such as advanced energy storage systems to receive compensation for area regulation and other ancillary services. In addition, the pilot project is expected to allow A123 to learn more about how its GBS performs in real-world applications in order to facilitate further product improvements designed to reduce total cost of ownership.  

"Working with leading utilities like NSTAR enables us to showcase the economic and operational viability of our advanced GBS solutions and helps to further validate our position as the leading provider of storage technology for electric grid services," said Robert Johnson, vice president of the Energy Solutions Group at A123 Systems. "We expect that this pilot project will allow us to demonstrate how energy storage can generate revenue for area regulation services. Further, we believe that owning and operating our own real-world storage system will allow us to enhance our product offerings to continue delivering cost-effective, efficient solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing grid infrastructure and technologies."

NREL Reports on Value of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage

A new report, Enabling Greater Penetration of Solar Power via the Use of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage, published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with thermal energy storage (TES) can dispatch power even during periods of high demand or reduced solar output. This flexibility could boost the use of other types of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic (PV)or wind power, that are generated intermittently, the report notes.

Authors Paul Denholm and Mark Mehos describe how CSP systems with TES address the challenges anticipated as greater levels of variable resources, such as PV and wind, are integrated into the Western Interconnect, the major power grid that extends from western Canada, south to Baja California in Mexico, and eastward over the Rocky Mountains to the Great Plains.

There are two major challenges to economically integrating such variable and uncertain resources into the grid. One is the mismatch between when the sun shines, or the wind blows, and when there is a demand for energy. To address this obstacle, CSP with TES can shift energy production to periods of high demand or reduced solar or wind output.

A second challenge is the limited flexibility of conventional generators, such as fossil-fueled power plants, to accommodate variable generation resources, like PV and wind. In this case, CSP with TES can provide substantial grid flexibility by rapidly changing output, via higher ramp rates, in response to the highly variable net load created by high penetration of solar and wind generation.

The report describes how NREL examined the degree to which CSP may complement PV by performing a set of simulations in the U.S. Southwest. The results indicate the general potential of CSP with TES to enable greater use of solar generation, including additional PV.

The authors state that the preliminary analysis performed in their work will require more advanced grid simulations to verify the actual ability of CSP to act as an enabling technology for other variable generation sources. An important next step will include complete production simulations, using utility-grade software, which consider three things: the realistic performance of the generation fleet, transmission constraints, and actual CSP operation.

Safety Concerns Raised Over GM's Volt Li-ion Batteries

According to a story on Bloomberg, "GM Volt Under U.S. Probe for Batteries," General Motors Co. (GM)’s electric plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt is the subject of a U.S. safety probe after its lithium-ion batteries, supplied by LG Chem Ltd. (051910), caught fire in crash tests.

Northwestern U Advances Li-ion Tech

A team of engineers from Northwestern University has created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that allows the batteries to hold a charge up to 10 times greater than current technology. Batteries with the new electrode also can charge 10 times faster than current batteries. The researchers used a graphene-silicon sandwich.

2020 Strategic Analysis of Energy Storage in California

The California Energy Commission's PIER program released a comprehensive report titled "2020 Strategic Analysis of Energy Storage in California." The report discusses the state of technology, policy, barriers to deployment and suggested reforms. 

The conclusion of the report is that energy storage involves numerous technologies (see below), applications, regulatory entities, and grid processes. Given California's long-term goals for integrating variable renewable energy into the grid and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, "policy makers must determine how energy storage can best fit with these future grid needs," the report states. "These leaders should begin by identifying the critical grid needs that energy storage technologies could address, developing a method for valuing the various energy storage technologies in these applications, and evaluating the policy options available to them to increase deployment of energy storage where the technologies, market value, and locational and environmental benefits offer the most value compared to the alternatives. With this framework, policy makers can determine how California can achieve an appropriate and cost-effective deployment of energy storage that meets all of the state's energy and environmental goals."

The report also calls out suggested R&D priorities:

• Bulk energy storage demonstrations for variable renewable energy integration (for example, pumped hydro, concentrating solar power, and solar thermal).Field demonstrations of modular energy storage technologies (for example, batteries, flywheels) in various grid applications.
• Evaluation/demonstration of aggregated storage, for example Thermal energy storage HVAC or electric vehicle (EV) batteries, especially in a smart grid scenario.
• Develop simulations, analytical tools, and intelligent control systems for planning, designing, and dispatching energy storage devices for multiple applications and benefits.
• Quantification of costs and benefits of energy storage in grid applications.
• Modeling of the impact of 33 percent renewable energy on California's electricity grid to determine needs for energy storage to support the grid, including sensitivity analysis to address cost variables of storage and other needed energy resources, environmental impacts, and emerging smart grid performance enhancements.

The overall findings part of the report notes that grid operators are already deploying large energy storage technologies, such as pumped hydroelectric and compressed air energy storage (CAES). There are significant challenges that must be solved in order to achieve desired storage goals. These goals include: finding appropriate sites for these facilities, obtaining necessary permits from various agencies and levels of government, overcoming regulatory hurdles associated with environmental review, meeting high capital costs for construction, and addressing a lack of access to transmission lines.
 

Manufacturers are demonstrating modular technologies, such as flywheels and various forms of batteries, in grid applications. Key challenges relate primarily to cost (although the modularity of the technologies may offer promise for cost reduction through volume production), to the ability to manufacture and deploy on a large-scale basis, to durability, and because of limited experience in grid applications.

Electrochemical Energy Storage

Batteries take in electricity from another producing source, convert the electricity to chemical energy, and store it as a liquid or solution. When operators need energy from the battery, an electric charge chemically converts the energy back into electrons, which then move back into a power line on the electric grid.

Batteries used to store power from renewable energy sources must be reliable, durable, and safe. Ultimately, affordability will be a key to widespread deployment. There are several promising battery technologies for grid energy storage applications including advanced lead-acid, lithium-ion, flow, and sodium-sulfur batteries.

Advanced Lead-Acid

During discharge in a traditional lead-acid battery, sulfuric acid reacts with the lead anode (positive electrode) and cathode (negative electrode) to create lead sulfate. The process reverses during charge. This conversion produces a short, powerful burst of energy, such as needed to jump start a vehicle. Over time, a lead-acid battery can lose its charge due to the gradual crystallization and buildup of lead sulfate within the battery's core. The corrosive acid also can eat away at a battery’s core.

Lead-acid batteries are a mature and proven technology in use in a number of applications including frequency regulation, bulk energy storage for variable renewable energy integration, and distributed energy storage systems. Technology development of lead‐acid battery technology is ongoing. Researchers have found that adding carbon to the battery seems to minimize or prevent the detrimental crystallization from occurring, thus improving the life cycle and overall lifespan of the battery. This technology has potential for storing renewable energy, but engineers must work to understand the technology's limitations and to find ways to bring down the cost.

Lithium-Ion

In a Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cell, positively charged lithium ions migrate through a liquid electrolyte (fluids that conduct electricity) while electrons flow through an external circuit. Both move back and forth from one side to the other. This movement creates and stores energy. Li-ion batteries store energy in various compounds, composed of layers of different elements, such as lithium, manganese, and cobalt.

Li-ion batteries are most commonly found in consumer products and electric vehicles. The relatively high energy and power capacity offered by Li-ion batteries, when compared to other technologies, has made Li-ion batteries the most promising option for transportation applications such as electric vehicles. Developers are considering and demonstrating Li-ion batteries in the same applications as lead-acid batteries.

Although Li-ion batteries have been a success for small electronics such as cell phones and laptop computers, larger versions are expensive, prone to overheating, and susceptible to electrical shorting. While engineers have made substantial progress over recent years toward improving this technology, they will need to make further advances to extend life, improve safety, and reduce materials cost for this to be an attractive alternative for stationary applications.

Flow Batteries

A flow battery is a type of rechargeable battery that stores electrical energy in two tanks of electrolytes. When operators need energy, they pump liquid from one tank to another. During this slow and steady process, the technology converts the chemical energy from the electrolyte to electrical energy. When operators need to store energy, they reverse the process. The size of the tank and the amount of electrolyte the battery can hold determine the amount of energy the battery can store.

Flow batteries may be good candidates for backup energy storage up to 12 hours. They may also support integration of variable renewable energy. This technology has potential for grid applications if developers can manufacture it in a variety of sizes and make it portable and more affordable.

Sodium-Sulfur

The sodium-sulfur battery uses sulfur combined with sodium to reversibly charge and discharge, using sodium ions layered in aluminum oxide within the battery's core. The battery shows potential to store lots of energy in a small space. In addition, its high energy density and rapid rate of charge and discharge make it an attractive candidate for applications that require short, potent bursts of energy.

Sodium-sulfur batteries are a commercial energy storage technology with applications in electric utility distribution grid support, wind power integration, and high-value electricity services. However, materials are expensive, and safety concerns remain with respect to the high operating temperature of the battery. Researchers believe that modifying the shape of the battery can improve efficiency, lower the operating temperature, and reduce cost.

Mechanical Energy Storage

Operators can store energy in water pumped to a higher elevation using pumped storage methods, in compressed air, or in spinning flywheels.

Pumped hydroelectric uses two water reservoirs, separated vertically. During off-peak hours, operators pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. The operators reverse the water flow to generate electricity.

Pumped hydroelectric energy storage is a large, mature, and commercial utility-scale technology that utilities use at many locations in the United States and around the world. This application has the highest capacity of the various energy storage technologies that experts have assessed. However, pumped storage plants generally entail long construction times and high capital expenditure for both construction of the plants and needed transmission lines.

Compressed air energy storage technology stores low cost off‐peak energy, in the form of compressed air, typically in an underground reservoir. Operators then heat the air with the exhaust heat of a standard combustion turbine and release it during peak load hours. Operators convert the heated air to energy through expansion turbines to produce electricity.

Compressed air energy storage systems suffer from reduced roundtrip efficiency associated with the cooling/reheating process. Air cooling between compression stages, although necessary, results in a loss of heat energy. Compressed air energy storage systems also produce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the reheating process, usually performed by direct combustion with natural gas. Some compressed air energy storage systems under development, such as advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage, use a thermal energy storage unit that absorbs heat from the hot compressed air and saves the heat energy for later use to reheat the air before expansion, thus avoiding CO2 emissions.

Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor (flywheel) to a very high speed, maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy. When operators extract energy from the system, they reduce the flywheel’s rotational speed as a consequence of the principle of conservation of energy. Adding energy to the system correspondingly results in an increase in flywheel speed.

Developers have matured flywheel technology through the advent of strong, lightweight materials, microelectronics, and magnetic bearing systems. Manufacturers are currently developing and demonstrating megawatt‐scale flywheel plants with cumulative capacities of 20 megawatts to maintain a uniform quality electricity supply often also termed as frequency regulation applications. Overall, manufacturers have proven flywheels to be an ideal form of energy storage due to their high efficiency, long life cycle, wide range of operating temperature, and higher power and energy density on both a mass and volume basis. FESs still present high costs and technology limitations, including modest energy storage capacity and efficiency losses associated with the bearings.

Thermal Energy Storage

Thermal energy storage comprises a number of technologies that store thermal energy in energy storage reservoirs for later use. Operators can employ them to balance energy demand between daytime and nighttime. Operators maintain the thermal reservoir at a temperature above (hotter) or below (colder) than that of the ambient environment. The applications include concentrating sunlight to produce electricity from solar thermal energy during non-solar periods and the production of ice, chilled water, or salt solution at night, or hot water, which the devices use to cool / heat environments during the day.

Solar Thermal Storage Integration

The integration of thermal energy storage with solar energy offers a direct grid application for thermal energy storage. Unlike solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, concentrating solar power uses the thermal energy of sunlight to generate electricity. An advantage of concentrating solar power is the potential for storing solar thermal energy to be subsequently used during non‐solar periods and to dispatch it as needed. Thermal energy storage allows concentrating solar power to achieve higher annual capacity factors from 25 percent without thermal storage up to 70 percent or more with thermal storage. Large concentrating solar power facilities using molten salt energy storage are in construction and/or operation in Spain and the United States. Plans are underway for facilities offering thousands of megawatts of additional generating capacity that will also use this storage technology.

Recent and ongoing improvements in solar thermal generation technologies, coupled with the need for more renewable sources of energy, have caused an increased interest in concentrating solar power. The key challenges lie in further cost reductions and perfecting designs to store solar heat later into the peak electrical period.

Thermal Storage for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

In thermal energy storage systems, a device chills a storage medium during periods of low cooling demand and then uses the stored cooling to meet air-conditioning load or process cooling loads. The system consists of a storage medium, such as a water/ice system in a tank, a packaged chiller or built up refrigeration system, and interconnecting piping, pumps, and controls. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) thermal energy storage systems shift cooling energy use to nonpeak times.

Thermal energy storage for commercial HVAC systems is a mature technology. The key to maximizing the effectiveness of such systems to shift cooling load and thus support the electric grid is appropriate engineering design and implementation.

Hydrogen as an Energy Storage System

Hydrogen as an energy storage system involves four processes. First, a device must produce hydrogen. In a grid energy storage application, the most appropriate production technology is the electrolysis of water using electricity. Second, after electrolysis produces the hydrogen, a device must store it, either in gaseous or liquid form. Third, in many instances, the hydrogen must be transported by truck or pipeline to a distant location. Fourth, to return electric power to the grid, the devices must convert hydrogen to electricity by either a fuel cell or a combustion engine or gas turbine generator.

The primary limitations of hydrogen energy storage systems include the maturity of the fuel cell technology; the durability of fuel cells and electrolyzers; and the capital cost of fuel cells, electrolyzers, and, to a lesser extent, storage vessels. The scale of fuel cells and electrolyzers with respect to grid storage applications and the efficiency of fuel cells and electrolyzers also limits the use of the technology, with roundtrip (electricity into the system to produce hydrogen relative to the electricity produced by the hydrogen fuel cell) energy efficiencies of 31-35 percent.