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Japanese electronics maker Kyocera has launched a lithium-ion energy storage system using semi-solid electrode battery technology from US company 24M.

The companies announced the launch of the residential ‘Enerezza’ ESS on 6 January as Kyocera extended its commitment to the Massachusetts’-based firm with plans to start full-scale mass production of the system at the end of the year.

Inorganic battery technology firm Innolith plan to build two grid-scale energy storage systems in Maryland, US, to compliment its lithium-ion Gridbank system from the now defunct Alevo. 

The two new battery storage facilities– 4.8MW and 7.3MW–should be operational in Washington County by late 2020 or 2021, according to local press reports who quoted Stephen Wiley, vice president of Innolith’s US business development.

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.

BCI’s biennial report on the recycling rate of lead batteries in the US to mark America Recycles Day on 15 November. 

Lead batteries are used in more than 275 million vehicles in the US and account for more than 70% of the world’s rechargeable power, according to the report produced by SmithBucklin of Chicago and commissioned by BCI.

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.

Larry Zulch will become the new chief executive of RedT subject to finalisation of the merger as Jeff Kenna and Scott McGregor prepare to leave the company on 31 December. 

An investigation has been launched into a fire started by a lithium-ion battery that destroyed a recycling facility in the US on 24 October.

The fire, coupled with 60 mph winds, has meant recycling firm Republic Services has had to close its facility at the Salt River Pima landfill in Fountain Hills, Maricopa County, Arizona.

A spokesman for the Arizona firm said: “We are working with our municipal partners to identify short-term and long-term recycling processing solutions that will help us continue serving our customers with minimal interruption. 

“The cause of the fire is under investigation, and the recycling center is currently closed.”