Industry news

The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has appointed electrochemical systems engineer Robert Kostecki as head of its energy storage division.

A trading partnership will see Sanyo Trading Company market UK battery developer Oxis Energy’s lithium-sulfur and battery systems in Japan.

In recent weeks the US lead battery industry has taken some blows to its environment claims, but a new Battery Council International (BCI) report has ratified the widely held understanding that lead batteries– at 99% recyclability– are the most recycled consumer product in the country.

China firm GCL System Integration and US company Powin Energy have formed a joint venture to target Asia-Pacific’s front-of-the-meter energy storage systems market.

German vehicle OEM BMW has secured long-term supply deals worth a total of €10 billion ($11 billion) from lithium-ion cell manufacturers Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Samsung SDI.

Just over two years since Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk announced a ground-breaking energy storage project, with the type of Twitter fanfare only he can muster, the world’s biggest lithium-ion system is about to get 50% bigger.

Harmony Energy is set to double energy storage capacity at one of its UK substations to handle 2.4GW of offshore wind generation connected to the site.

Lead battery firms Gridtential Energy and Hoppecke Battery have entered into a technology evaluation agreement to test the performance capabilities of bipolar batteries.

Fast charging ability along with energy density is part of the holy-grail of battery technology, typically difficult to achieve with standard lithium-ion technology due to temperature rise, safety and cycle life degradation.

UK-based vanadium redox flow battery firm RedT will integrate the chief executive officer of US energy storage firm Avalon Battery Corporation on the successful completion of a merger between the two firms.