US trade body Battery Council International (BCI) is launching a new body to promote long-duration energy storage: the Consortium for Lead Battery Leadership in Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES).
BCI said it will work with the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) to manage the programme and technical direction.
A $5 million grant was obtained from the US Department of Energy for this, it said. The new body will bring together eight US lead battery manufacturers and three national laboratories. They will work with BCI and the CBI on pre-competitive research aimed at improving lead battery performance. The idea is to develop lead batteries capable of over 10 hours’ storage with a pathway to $0.05/kWh levelised cost of storage by 2030.
This is the target figure set out by US Department of Energy for its LDES projects.
BCI member companies joining the consortium: Advanced Battery Concepts, C&D/Trojan, Clarios, Crown Battery, East Penn Manufacturing, EnerSys, Gridtential and Stryten Energy.
The national laboratories joining in are Argonne, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest.
The three-year programme will combine advanced techno-economic analysis with fundamental materials science research.
Researchers will construct new use-case models for LDES and study the behaviour of lead sulphate crystals to improve battery efficiency.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory will do advanced computer modelling of structurally similar barium sulphate crystals to help develop more efficient lead batteries.
Roger Miksad, president and executive director of BCI, said lead batteries have “a critical role to play” in enabling a reliable, resilient and affordable clean energy future.
Matt Raiford, CBI technical director, said the project will help demonstrate the technical capabilities of advanced lead batteries to develop energy storage.
In January, (CBI) said it joined the US National Consortium for the Advancement of LDES Technologies. Its goal is to commercialise LDES technology within the next 10 years. That consortium is led by Sandia National Laboratories and includes five other national laboratories – Argonne, Idaho, National Renewable Energy, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest.
Photo: BCI’s Roger Miksad said lead batteries have “a critical role to play”.
