Battery Metals

New Westminster is poised to become what it describes as the first local government in Metro Vancouver to start “growing” its own solar energy.

The Royal City plans to lead the pack with the Urban Solar Garden: 153 solar panels on the rooftop of a civic building in New Westminster. The two shortlisted sites for the garden are the Queensborough Community Centre and the Public Works Yard building.

Norm Connolly, community energy manager for New Westminster, described the project as the first municipal community solar array in the region. New Westminster is asking for bids and hopes the project can be up and running by this summer.

He hopes it influences other cities and municipalities.

“We called it the Urban Solar Garden because it is in an urban context,” he said.

“We’re hoping that this will be influential and helpful to other local governments, but also for private-sector players that want to look at conversion and doing something like this on their flat-top roof space.”

Connolly said a model for New Westminster has been the community solar garden in Nelson. Built just outside the city, the Nelson Hydro solar array is a centralized facility of solar panels where each community investor receives a proportional credit on their electric bill.

When the Nelson Hydro solar garden opened last June, it was the first of its kind in the country.

New Westminster’s Urban Solar Garden solar array will be able to generate up to 50 kilowatts an hour, or 54,000 kW per year.

B.C. Hydro has about 1,300 projects that generate electricity for the users and sell anything extra to the province’s grid. Solar accounts for about 90 per cent of the projects in what B.C. Hydro calls Net Metering.

Connolly said the New Westminster project is an example of the growing number of small, local energy producers contributing into the larger energy grid.

“There is a transition point happening — the operating cost of solar production is at a price point where it’s starting to become very competitive or quite competitive in some jurisdictions with grid-based electrical energy,” Connolly said.

All 153 solar panels in New Westminster were spoken for with $500 deposits within a 30-day period last year. Connolly said he hopes the final cost per panel is under $840.

The final price tag of the project may be about $140,000. That doesn’t include costs such as paying for the use of the roof-top site, maintenance and monitoring.

Each panel, he estimated, would generate about $32 to $36 a year in savings. Based on a 25-year agreement, the panels could start paying for themselves by year 15 to 19, depending on future energy costs.

Bryson Robertson, a researcher for the 2060 Project with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, said while he wasn’t familiar with the details of the solar energy projects in New Westminster and Nelson, he expects there will be more projects like these in future because of the drop in the cost of generating solar energy.

“It empowers people, it gets people part of the process, it allows them to follow it,” said Robertson, an adjunct professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Victoria.

“Any sort of education awareness around energy power, electricity, renewable, is a fantastic thing. This is a space that is filled with so much misinformation.”

The 2060 Project looks at the costs and benefits of electrical grid integration as part of decarbonizing the economy.

But he pointed out that there is a disparity between energy put into the grid and energy taken out of the grid.

When you pay B.C. Hydro for electricity, you’re also paying for costs such as the dam that generates the electricity, the transmission line that delivers it to your house and other energy sources that fill the gap when the main source isn’t available.

“If you reimburse people purely for putting electricity back into the grid, there is a bit of disparity: you’re paying for the generation cost whereas when you draw from the grid, you’re paying for generation, transmission, backup and other services,” he said.

“It’s important for people to understand that they’re different products — when you’re pulling from the grid and pushing to the grid, the costs of doing these things are not the same.”

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions is hosted by the University of Victoria in collaboration with Simon Fraser University, the University of B.C. and University of Northern B.C.

In Kimberley, SunMine is the province’s largest solar project and the first to sell power to B.C. Hydro when it began commercial operation in June 2015. The $5.3-million project has 4,032 solar cells on 96 trackers that follow the sun’s movement.

A TUMBLEDOWN farmhouse from Australia’s pioneering days has unlikely new neighbours. Giant wind turbines owned by Neoen, a French company, loom over it in the dusty red scrubland outside Jamestown, north of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia. The world’s biggest lithium-ion battery sits a stone’s throw away. Elon Musk, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, installed it last year through his company, Tesla, to store energy from the turbines and feed it back to the grid when other supplies run short. About 100km to the west, across the Spencer Gulf, Sanjeev Gupta, a British billionaire, is also pouring money into renewable energy. He is building solar and pumped-storage hydropower plants to revive a failed steelworks at Whyalla that he bought six months ago.

With just 7% of Australia’s population, South Australia has become a testing ground for a political argument about how hard the government should push to replace fossil fuels with cleaner energy. The projects at Jamestown and Whyalla loom large in the state election on March 17th. The rest of Australia, too, is paying more attention than it normally would. The last coal-fired power station in South Australia closed two years ago. While the bigger eastern states still rely on coal for most of their electricity, South Australia now gets almost half of its power from wind and solar, the highest proportion in the country. (The rest comes mainly from gas.)

Jay Weatherill, the state’s Labor premier, recently set an even higher renewable-energy target: 75% by 2025. The federal government, a coalition of the (conservative) Liberals and Nationals, has dismissed this as a “big experiment”. Josh Frydenberg, the federal energy minister, likens Mr Weatherill to a “problem gambler chasing his losses”. He says too much renewable power will lead to blackouts and push up power prices. Instead, his latest energy plan calls for reliable electricity from any source, although the details remain unclear. Critics see this scepticism as a bid to guarantee a future for coal, a big industry in Australia. The federal renewables target, about two-thirds lower than South Australia’s, expires in 2020.

South Australia has long been connected to a grid encompassing four other states in eastern Australia with 40,000km of transmission lines. But in 2016 a freak storm disconnected it, leading to a statewide blackout. A smaller outage followed five months later. To Mr Weatherill, the drama meant the national electricity market was “failing”. He launched a plan a year ago for South Australia to “take charge” of its own energy with A$550m ($430m) of public money, by building a gas-fired plant and financing green projects. Private investors are keen. Solar Reserve, a Californian company, will start work on a solar thermal power plant at Port Augusta, near Whyalla, this year. Tesla will build a “virtual power plant” by fitting 50,000 homes with solar panels and batteries.

Neoen now owns and runs the giant battery next to its 99 wind turbines on the edge of the Flinders Ranges, one of Australia’s windiest places. The device started operating in December, in the middle of a hot summer, when demand for air-conditioning is high. Since then, says Franck Woitiez of Neoen, it has kicked in several dozen times in response to “unexpected failures” at coal-fired plants as far away as Queensland, in north-east Australia. The Australian Energy Market Operator, which oversees the national system, seems to approve of South Australia’s initiatives. Audrey Zibelman, its head, says the battery is “faster than traditional generators” and dependable: “That’s important to us.”

The scale of foreign investment in South Australia’s projects also seems to defy sceptics. Mr Gupta alone, through his company GFC Alliance, is spending about A$1bn on the Whyalla steelworks. He has also bought a majority stake in Zen Energy, an Australian renewables outfit, to power the works. He thinks South Australia can become a “hub of renewables industries”.

But South Australia has higher wholesale electricity prices than other states. Its unemployment rate, 6%, is Australia’s second-highest, partly because of the closure of its last car factory last year. Steven Marshall, the Liberal candidate for premier, says scrapping Mr Weatherill’s renewable-energy targets would reduce power prices and so boost the local economy. He wants to focus instead on improving transmission lines to the rest of the country.

Mr Weatherill argues the reverse: that turning the state into a renewables powerhouse will mean more jobs and lower power prices. A recent poll showed more people approve of his renewable-energy target than disapprove. But the election could still be close. Labor has been in power for 16 years (with Mr Weatherill as leader for just over six). To further muddy the waters, Nick Xenophon, a former independent federal senator, is fielding candidates for SA-Best, his new state party, in most seats. His energy policy is woolly, and his support appears to be waning, but he could still take votes from both big parties. The field is confused enough, in short, that the result is unlikely to resolve the debate about renewables, whichever party ends up in charge.

More than 50,000 electric vehicles (EVs) are estimated to be on Oregon roadways by 2020, according to utility company Pacific Power.

The Public Utility Commission of Oregon recently approved three pilot projects that are part of a series of a Pacific Power $3.5 billion Energy Vision 2020 plan to prepare the energy grid for the future.

The utility will clean energy portfolio by installing adding more than 1,300 megawatts of new wind generation and upgrade existing wind generation facilities. It also will install smart meters throughout the state.

These efforts get Oregon closer to meeting the benchmarks set in the 2016 Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Act. The state legislation sets the goal of more than 80 percent of electricity coming from renewable and clean sources by 2040.

“We are making the grid more efficient, cleaner, and more reliable,” Stefan Bird, Pacific Power president and CEO, said. “We are bringing even more renewable resources online in a smarter, more resilient grid that will reduce emissions from our power supply while keeping costs low. And, we are helping clean the air in a new way by fostering a new age of transportation less dependent on fossil fuels.”

Most of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector.

Dyson is going all in on cordless vacuums. The company revealed the new Dyson Cyclone V10 at a tri-city event on March 6, and while Dyson will continue to sell its old corded models, it’s focusing all future research and development on battery-powered vacuum cleaners.

As a technology journalist with plenty of experience using battery-powered gadgets, my first question was whether the built-in rechargeable battery would wear down over time. After all, lithium batteries have a limited number of charging cycles, and even before you hit that wall, battery life generally tends to degrade pretty significantly in the first year of use.

According to James Dyson, who founded the company back in 1987, that won’t be an issue for the Cyclone V10.

“Fifteen years of daily use might get you down to 80% battery,” he said at a roundtable discussion with journalists after the New York City unveiling. He added: “But by then you’ll probably want to upgrade to our new model anyway.”

Secret to longevity

If you want to get more specific, the Cyclone V10’s battery is good for 800 charge cycles, but based on how most people will use the vacuum, it should last a lot longer.

“That’s when it’s fully discharged, which rarely happens,” Dyson said.

The secret to Dyson’s long-lasting battery is actually one of the new vacuum cleaner’s coolest features: the trigger. Instead of turning the Cyclone V10 on and off with a switch, you pull a trigger on the handle (which looks a bit like a space-age laser gun) to activate its digital motor.

So, you might vacuum for a few seconds in one spot and then let go of the trigger while you reposition. This gives the battery small moments of respite, even while it’s being used, so it won’t drain as quickly.

The trigger control also helps stretch out each individual battery life cycle. The Cyclone V10 packs a 2,600mAh battery (that’s 500mAh more than the previous DC59 model), and, according to James Dyson, you’ll get about an hour of cleaning per charge – even if the battery is only rated to last for 40 minutes.

He added that thanks to its powerful motor, you’ll never need to vacuum for a full hour anyway. That means the battery will rarely get completely depleted as long as you remember to recharge it after every use (which takes 3.5 hours to do, according to Dyson).

As for those old, corded vacuums, these aren’t going away just yet. So, if you’re not comfortable with the idea of a wireless vacuum, Dyson still has you covered. The company claims that its new Cyclone V10 is just as powerful as any wired model, though, and its founder is confident that consumers will make the leap with him.

South Australia is laying claim to another “world’s biggest” storage project, this time with wind and solar-powered hydrogen storage to add to its world’s biggest lithium-ion battery storage installation (the Tesla big battery), and the world’s biggest virtual power plant (Tesla again).

The state Labor government has announced plans to provide initial funding, and ultimately a loan, to help French renewable energy developer Neoen build a 50MW hydrogen “electrolyser” that would be powered by a new wind and solar complex at Crystal Brook, north of Adelaide.

The complex will combine a new wind and solar production facility totalling 300MW, along with a significant amount of battery storage, and lay the foundations to export large quantities of “renewable hydrogen” to Asia, competing as a green alternative to LNG.

Neoen, of course, is the operator of the Hornsdale Power Reserve, the official name of the Tesla big battery, and also has another wind project with battery storage in the pipeline for Nectar Farms, (and again with Tesla) providing 100 per cent renewable energy for the country’s biggest greenhouse.

This new development, at the proposed Crystal Brook energy park , just south of Port Pirie in the state’s mid north, and about 40kms from the Hornsdale complex which houses its 315MW wind farm and the 100MW/129MWh Tesla battery, is of another scale.

It would include 150MW of solar, about 150MW of wind, as well as up to 50MW hydrogen plant along with up to 400MWh of battery storage, again most likely with Tesla.

South Australia will provide a $1 million grant to help Neoen complete its feasibility study for the so-called Hydrogen Superhub, and would then provide a further $4 million grant, and a $20 million loan should the $600 million project go ahead.

These monies would be made available through the Renewable Technology Fund, the same mechanism that has provided funding for the Tesla big battery, and numerous other storage-related projects announced in recent months, including this new micro-grid for University of Adelaide unveiled today.

State energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says the hydrogen plant – 5 times bigger than another facility proposed for Port Lincoln – would produce up to 20,000kg of hydrogen per day, which could open up renewable hydrogen exports to Asia.

“Our hydrogen roadmap has laid the groundwork for South Australia to become a world leader in the emerging hydrogen production industry, and to benefit from the economic opportunities that flow from it,” he said in a statement.

“More renewable energy means cheaper power, and I’m pleased the state government can partner with Neoen to once again develop a world-leading renewable energy and storage project following the construction of the Tesla battery at Jamestown.

“The Superhub will enable Neoen to produce renewable hydrogen for overseas export markets, and create 300 construction and ongoing jobs for South Australia.”

The Labor government, of course, is in full election mode, with a state poll due on March 17 and the results on a knife-edge. It has made a string of project and funding announcements, and unveiled a 75 per cent renewable energy target for 2025, along with a 750MW storage target.

The state already sources 50 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar, and the Australian Energy Market Operator says this could rise to 73 per cent as early as 2020/21, and up to 80 per cent by 2026/27.

Franck Woitiez, the head of Neon’s Australian operations, says the project will aim to produce hydrogen at internationally “cost competitive” rates, allowing for the export of hydrogen gas, which will compete with LNG.

“This project aims to take South Australia made renewable electricity in the form of hydrogen based compounds to important national and international markets in Asia and beyond,” he said.

“It has the potential to reach beyond our electricity grids, and supply South Australia’s locally produced clean energy to other states and to our nearby trading partners.”

Neoen is already committed to a hydrogen project for the ACT government, part of its winning tender for stage 3 of the Hornsdale wind farm, which will contribute towards the territory’s 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2020 target.

Neoen and Megawatt Capital agreed to invest $55 million in partnership with Siemens and Hyundai to establish a small 1.25MW hydrogen electrolyser, which converts electricity to hydrogen.

That initiative will include a refuelling station and service centre and an initial fleet of 20 hydrogen fuelled cars, including a technical support and research program.

Woitiez says the South Australia feasibility study will look at the best way to integrate the hydrogen facility, and identify the best size of the facility, and the best size for the best battery storage.

“It’s a very interesting opportunity for South Australia to use the renewable energy that it produces in the state. It’s very exciting,” Woitiez told RenewEconomy. He sees opportunities for hydrogen both in exports and in domestic transport.

Woitiez says the study should be completed – and an investment decision made – by the end of the year. The wind and solar component will likely go ahead in any case.

Neoen has quietly developed its plans for Crystal Brook – which until now had proposed only a combination of wind, solar and storage, although it has been facing some resistance from locals against the wind turbines.

At a meeting last year, Neon’s Garth Heron reportedly told residents that the battery – as then planned – could supply 18 per cent of the state’s households for four hours in a blackout. He said Tesla technology was likely to be used in the lithium-ion battery installation.

As carmakers gear up to electrify their fleets, they face challenges to secure supplies of raw materials used for battery production and to prove the environmental benefits of a lifecycle perspective, according to a report.

Given global environmental pressures and governments’ ambitions to remain sustainable, the electric vehicle (EV) and battery markets are poised for massive growth, according to independent research organisation A T Kearney Energy Transition Institute.

The Middle East region, particularly the GCC, is one of the world’s most receptive new energy vehicle markets, due to strong government support around the region and growing customer acceptance.

However, the report highlights the need to look at the holistic life-cycle management of EVs to ensure the desired reduction of CO2 footprint is indeed achieved. This will require nations to consider which energy sources are used to charge electric car batteries.

According to the report, cobalt is in particularly short supply globally and reserves could be depleted completely by the time 300 million EVs are produced—a modest proportion compared to the 1.2 billion cars on roads today.

It also noted that lithium production has risen seven percent a year since 2018, but to keep up with demand, miners need to accelerate production to more than nine percent a year. Rising demand and tight supplies have also led to price increases.

Romain Debarre, managing director, A T Kearney Energy Transition Institute, said, “Electric car batteries rely on a host of rare materials—from lithium and nickel, to cobalt.

“Battery makers around the world are struggling to secure supplies of these key ingredients as demand outstrips supply. This undoubtedly places pressure on carmakers, so the hunt for alternative technologies is on,” Debarre said.

Kurt Oswald, board member, A T Kearney Energy Transition Institute and Partner, A T Kearney, said, “The region is transforming and supporting the move to electric vehicles. As renewable energy expands throughout the Middle East, electric vehicles are poised to be the next big trend as eco-friendly cars becomes more affordable.”