EGEB: Hey, John Kerry – the renewable tech we need already exists

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

  • Climate czar John Kerry said emissions cuts will come from future tech, but a new study says we’ve already got what we need.
  • The Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition has kicked off – check it out.
  • UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

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Source: Charge Forward

Pensana plans $125-million rare earth separation facility in England

Pensana plans to build a $125-million sustainable rare earth separation facility at the Saltend Chemicals Park in Humber, UK. Targeted annual production is around 12,500 tons of rare earth oxides, including 4,500 tons of magnet metal rare earth oxides (NdPr), which would represent approximately 5% of the 2025 projected world demand.

The Saltend plant will purify rare earth sulfates imported from the company’s Longonjo mine in Angola.

Pensana says Saltend has the potential to become the first major separation facility to be established in over a decade—one of only three major producers outside China—at a time when Europe depends on China for 98% of its rare earth magnets.

Saltend has received first-phase progression from the UK government’s £1-billion Automotive Transformation Fund, which seeks to support the national transition to electric vehicles.

UK engineering experts the Wood Group designed the Longonjo mine in Angola to international standards, featuring hydroelectric power and a tailings storage facility to meet the recommendations of the Church of England Pensions Board and ICMM guidelines.

Pensana is also in active discussions with third parties for the additional supply of sustainably sourced rare earth carbonates. Once in production, Pensana will look to expand production capacity when additional feedstock becomes available.

Through teaming up with alloy makers and magnet manufacturers, the company is looking to establish a 3,000-ton-per-year metal facility at Saltend to supply European automotive and wind turbine OEMs.

Pensana is exploring the use of blue hydrogen generated by Equinor at Saltend Chemicals Park to recycle an addressable annual market of 4,000 tons of permanent magnets from end-of-life EV motors and wind turbine nacelles.

BMW and Ford invest in solid-state battery startup Solid Power

Solid Power, a producer of solid-state EV batteries, has announced a $130-million Series B investment round led by the BMW Group, Ford and Volta Energy Technologies. Ford and BMW have also expanded existing joint development agreements with Solid Power to secure all-solid-state batteries for future EVs.

“BMW and Ford now share leading positions in the race for all solid-state battery-powered electric vehicles,” said Doug Campbell, CEO of Solid Power. “Solid Power plans to begin producing automotive-scale batteries on the company’s pilot production line in early 2022.”

Solid Power has demonstrated its ability to produce and scale solid-state batteries using existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing infrastructure. The company delivered hundreds of production line-produced battery cells that were validated by Ford and the BMW Group late last year.

“Solid-state battery technology is important to the future of electric vehicles, and that’s why we’re investing directly,” said Ted Miller, Ford’s Manager of Electrification Subsystems and Power Supply Research. “By simplifying the design of solid-state versus lithium-ion batteries, we’ll be able to increase vehicle range, improve interior space and cargo volume, deliver lower costs, and integrate solid-state battery cell technology into existing lithium-ion cell production processes.”

“The development of all solid-state batteries is one of the most promising and important steps towards more efficient, sustainable, and safer electric vehicles,” said BMW Board Member Frank Weber. “We now have taken our next step on this path with Solid Power. Together we have developed a 20 Ah all-solid-state cell that is absolutely outstanding in this field.”

Solid Power is currently producing 20-ampere-hour (Ah) multi-layer solid-state batteries on the company’s continuous roll-to-roll production line, which uses industry-standard lithium-ion production processes and equipment.

Both Ford and BMW will receive full-scale 100 Ah cells for automotive qualification testing and vehicle integration beginning in 2022. Solid Power’s technology allows the production of unique cell designs for each automotive partner.

“Volta invested early in Solid Power when our team found they had not only promising technology, but also a fundamental focus on manufacturability—after all, a breakthrough battery will not find a place in the market if it can’t be produced at scale with acceptable costs,” said Dr. Jeff Chamberlain, CEO of Volta Energy Technologies, a venture capital firm spun out of the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. “The fact that Solid Power is already producing multi-layer solid-state batteries using industry-standard automated commercial manufacturing equipment is why Volta is excited to ramp up its earlier investment.”

Porsche and Shell to deploy charging network in Southeast Asia

Porsche Asia Pacific and Shell will partner to deploy public fast chargers at six Shell stations strategically located along Malaysia’s North-South highway, offering EV drivers the possibility of convenient travel between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang.

Each of the six Shell stations will be equipped with a 180 kW fast charger with two CCS Type 2 charging connectors, allowing a single vehicle to charge at up to 180 kW, or two vehicles to charge simultaneously at up to 90 kW. Four stations are to open in the second half of 2021, and two additional stations by the first half of 2022.

The automaker already has 175 kW chargers available at all Porsche Centres in Malaysia, and also operates the Porsche Destination Charging network at selected hotels, airports, sports clubs and other venues.

“The ASEAN markets hold strong potential for Porsche to unlock and we see an opportunity to shape electric mobility in the region,” says Porsche VP Matthias Becker. “Our high-performance charging network across Singapore and Malaysia will serve as a lighthouse project for other countries to follow.”