Italy’s battery market was worth $2.23 billion in 2022 and is forecast to hit $7.64 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 16.6% from 2023 to 2030, according to consultants Next Move Strategy Consulting. This covers all chemistries.
Italy became a major market for residential energy storage after the government introduced a generous subsidy scheme in 2020 called ‘Superbonus’. According to analysts BNEF, the country represented 20% of world additions in 2021 and 2022, with attachments of batteries to rooftop solar reaching 77% in 2022 (up from 11% in 2018). It provided 110% of costs related to home energy improvements. The uptake fell sharply after 2023, when the government scaled the scheme back quickly.
Analysts point to the development of renewable energy in the south of the country, where there is significant transmission constraint. Timera Energy said, while all storage technologies are eligible, the mechanism will in practice prioritise longer-duration lithium-ion batteries and smaller volumes of pumped hydro. It said 2025 is set to see the start of a surge in Italian storage asset investment, led by BESS.
Number two for energy storage in Europe – from zero to hero
Aurora Energy Research puts Italy in second place for capacity in the energy storage market in Europe, thanks to its new subsidy scheme. Rising from 7.1GW of grid-scale battery capacity installed in Europe in 2023, Aurora sees capacity increasing in Europe by 54GW by 2030 and by 78GW by 2050, with the pace slowing in the 2030s. Italy alone is aiming for a 9GW addition of eight-hour capacity by 2030 and another 9GW by 2050.
Senior research associate Eva Zimmermann told BEST there is strong international interest in the Italian market. “If you compare these numbers, like the 0.1 in Italy to where we see Italy in just 2030, we will ramp up from basically nothing at the beginning of this year or beginning of last year to 10GW in just a couple of years.
“And we also see quite an increase in the UK as well, but there we already have quite an established industry in everything. Whereas in Italy, it really goes from zero to hero.” The batteries are mostly four hours’ duration, so representing 40GWh capacity, she said.
Italy has good sunshine for its solar power industry, but the regulator’s capital expenditure scheme, Mechanism for the Acquisition of Storage Capacity (MACSE), is a “really strong incentive” for building the battery market in Italy.
In December 2023, the European Union approved Italy’s €17.7 billion ($19.4 billion) energy storage plan to assist the country in building more than 9GW/71GWh of energy storage facilities. The plan is due to run until the end of 2033 and provide annual payments to energy storage developers, in the form of renewable energy auctions.
However, the scheme has yet to be rolled out, and Zimmermann said this is causing some market uncertainty. Developers and investors are waiting to move into the market, but will not do so until there is certainty, she said.
It is also unclear how the MACSE scheme or the amount of batteries going into the system through the scheme will affect the market for the batteries not in the scheme, she added.
Despite the uncertainty, the 9GW Italian target is way ahead of most other countries, who are mostly aiming for a couple of hundred megawatts or so. “I think generally it is one of the most attractive markets that we currently see in Europe.”
Bold lead ambitions inspired by pasta and coffee
Andrew Draper paid a visit to lead-oxide equipment manufacturer CAM. They aim to be smart and innovative with bold ambitions rooted in the lead battery industry…and inspired by pasta and coffee.
CAM, based in Fossacesia, in Italy’s Abruzzo region, is owned by the Marfisi family. The sons, Francesco and Matteo, are in the driving seat as they prepare to take over formal control from the previous generation – their father Fernando and uncles Armando and Bruno. They are modernising the company and factory, and introducing new flexible ways of working and thinking.
While they are anxious not to put all their eggs in one basket and are considering different market applications (including household heating) for their engineering products, the brothers are keen to remain faithful to the lead-acid battery roots of Costruzioni Assemblaggi Metalmeccanici (CAM), founded in 1967 by Armando.
CAM used to be a supplier of spare parts and line equipment for Stellantis auto manufacturing plants in Italy until Stellantis decided they no longer needed them.
“In my opinion, the lead battery never ends,” said sales manager Francesco enthusiastically, adding the lithium battery market is a Chinese, not European, one. “In European lead-acid batteries, we have knowledge and skills and have an advantage. The lead battery is very old technology but it’s still working. CAM’s 27 employees design, build, assemble and test all the equipment internally, apart from at peak capacity times, when they are serviced by external suppliers.
Lead shaver
The machine, first designed and built in 2005, is capable of shaving a 44kg ingot in 52 seconds to produce three tonnes of shavings per hour (previously two tonnes ). Francesco explained the improvement: “The old system had an ‘L’ shaped bar to lift the ingots. Now it is ‘S’ shaped, so gives a faster turn. We gain 10 seconds per cycle.” The new arm rotates fully.
The technical department, headed by Matteo, did a lot of testing and prototype building to come up with the latest model (it has a new logo too). CAM claims its system is safer, more environmentally friendly and is cheaper to make feed material. The XL shaver model can handle one-ton hogs.
Technical director Matteo said the ‘S’ shape is a symmetric shape of the ‘L’ shape. The shaver allows production of lead oxide without a melting pot, cylinder caster, exhaust chimneys or gas burners. It requires only an electrical connection, water for cleaning the cutting tools and air to move pistons. The lead shavings are cold milled from ingots, measure approximately 25x30mm, and weigh some 120g. CAM claims up to 90% reduction in energy consumption.
The shaved shape allows air to pass around and through it, providing greater surface area to be oxidised compared to traditional lead slugs.
Pasta and coffee inspired
Italians are famous for their love of food, so it is fitting that pasta inspired the shaver. Armando and Fernando were on a road trip and stopped to eat. Watching the waiter grate Grana Padano cheese over their pasta, they came up with the idea of the lead shaver which grates ingots into regular shaped flakes with no need of traditional melting.
“It came about from making coffee,” said Francesco. “One day I was making a mocha coffee on the gas for my wife. I thought induction would be much faster.” The Fasmelt is in its first year. The company has sold one and is in negotiations with three prospective clients for more orders.
Factory revamp
The brothers are looking to revamp the factory, which was bought in 1993, and are also hoping to buy the factory next door and expand production. Solar panels on the roof produce all the electricity the plant needs, including in the winter. They are looking to transform the workforce into a multiskilled one to avoid reliance on a handful of single area experts, or masters.
“We are investing to be the first lead oxide equipment company in the world,” said Francesco. “My dream is to become the world’s leading manufacturer of ball mills, curing chambers and all the ancillary machinery for the lead-acid battery industry.”
Steam curing
Matteo said his vision for next year is to have steam curing based on an induction heating system without using gas. “We want to switch from gas on our equipment over to the induction system for the curing chamber,” he said. That will reduce time required to start up. Automation also means the machine will adjust itself, and only need input from an operator once a day.
Matteo is a mechanical engineer with many ideas and attention to detail. He showed BEST a prototype household heating device based on the Fasmelt, and a sketch for an idea he has for another project.
Sovema provides battery know-how
A broad approach in lead, lithium and power electronics has the company’s markets covered. Andrew Draper visited and found out more.
Engineering and equipment manufacturer Sovema sees its role as providing the battery know-how to the Andritz group, to which it belongs after Andritz subsidiary Schuler acquired Sovema in 2022. Sovema rides at least two horses in terms of chemistry, with long experience of the lead-acid battery industry, and for the last 12 years, power electronics systems. This is both for testing and formation, and equipment for lithium cell and module manufacturing too.
The Schuler deal took Sovema, based in Villafranca di Verona, into the gigafactory market for the mass production of lithium-ion batteries. It has already sold 50 machines to Korean gigafactories.
Talking about the changes that followed Sovema’s acquisition by Schuler, Sovema’s marketing and communications manager Susanna Beltrame, said: “Every project has a high level of control, in terms of costs and so on. We’re happy about it, it’s quite exciting.” The integration into the group was pretty fast, she said. Schuler has some 5,000 employees in 40 countries, while Austria’s Andritz headcount is some 30,000.
Turnkey projects
The lead battery activities make up 40–50% of Sovema’s business. Lithium-ion accounts for 30% while 20% of the revenue is from services and support.
“Lead is stable and growing a bit,” said Beltrame. She said some of their lead-acid battery machines have been in service for 40 years or so, and they have quite a business in supplying spare parts.
Projects cover oxide production, grid making, pasting, curing, assembling, formation and finishing lines.
There are an increasing number of unfunded lithium-ion projects looking for investors, which makes for a more challenging market, she added. There was, in the past, more funding available from the German and French governments, for example.
The Sovema group divides its output into four business product lines:
- Sovema: customised and turnkey solutions for lead-acid battery manufacturing
- Solith: equipment for lithium-ion cell production
- Sovel: high-performance formation systems for lead-acid and lithium-ion energy storage
- Bitrode: testing equipment for batteries, cells, modules and packs.
Finding solutions
The company operates in a fiercely competitive market in which technological knowledge pays dividends. Beltrame points to what she sees as Sovema’s edge: “We are really supporting our customers in what they want to do. We’re very good at finding solutions that meet all requirements they are after. We do a lot of R&D.”
It faces tough competition in the lead battery segment from Turkey in particular. China has been a difficult market, where Sovema’s equipment has been copied. The company’s share of turnover from China used to be 20–30%, but it has been reduced.
Patents alone would not have prevented the copying, she said. “It’s very complicated. What we can see is they found a way to reproduce our technology.” The Chinese are also very demanding customers, in terms of pricing and performance, she said.
Some markets are facing geopolitical uncertainty, such as Iran and Russia, and the company always considers all factors before entering new arrangements.
Lithium
The company’s lithium business is newer and faces much less competition than the lead-acid. “The market is big enough for everyone to swim easily,” said Beltrame, adding that they do, however, face Chinese competition on the bigger projects managed by Schuler’s battery division. She said Sovema always provides customer support, which the Chinese do not always give.
It focuses on assembly lines, but can also provide ageing and formation systems. The company’s Solith unit designs equipment both for laboratory pilot lines and for medium-sized automated manufacturing plants.
Customers are experienced lithium-ion battery manufacturers in consumer electronics and the automotive industry, as well as research laboratories.
Sovema has customers worldwide and Beltrame said R&D is moving towards manufacturing processes, which means they are being asked for a higher degree of automation in the machinery they supply. “What we see now is there’s a look for very high quality. They have to turn these quality requirements into a process that maintains a certain quality.”
Italians are very good at customising and finding solutions when others cannot, she believes. “If we don’t have specific experience, we will find someone who does. That’s appreciated by our customers.” That thinking also stretches to its service and staying on the job until issues are fixed. “We try to do our best and that can happen, especially when we have new machines that aren’t tested as much.”
This is reflected in its €1.6 million ($1.8 million) 382 square metre dry room facility, which it uses to host customer equipment during the testing stage. It also rents it to customers, perhaps to fill a gap in their own provision. “The initial idea was to test modules in the dry room,” Beltrame said. “We had the opportunity and a customer needed to use this so we provided this service.”
Engitec’s new ingot casting line
Engineering company Engitec has unveiled a new lead ingot casting line featuring a high degree of automation and quality control, which it reckons will pay for itself in around four years. It was shown to “the most important operators” (secondary and primary) of the lead industry during the European Lead Battery Conference. BEST was invited along too.
The machine costs some €2 million ($2.2million). Dross is skimmed from the liquid lead metal by the latest generation of anthropomorphic robots, and a camera inspects the cast ingot for irregularities such as size and colour, and can reject it if needed to be remelted and recast.
The machine can make three different sized ingots. Only 3–4 are rejected from a batch and output is 20 tonnes per hour. A robotic arm made by Rahm lifts the ingots into position on a pallet and adds straps ready for dispatch.
The company emphasises no operators are needed to run the machine. This stops people getting burnt during skimming, which is also done faster, but of course potentially impacts on jobs.
The dosing is synchronised with the chain mould speed, and the skimming by the latest generation of anthropomorphic robot produces ingots with consistent dimensions and weights. Engitec emphasises that, most importantly, it gives the best metallic yield available with an open top ingot caster.
It estimates recovery of 0.1% of lead over an output of 100,000 tonnes/year implies an extra gross income equal to 100 tonnes at $2,149/tonne (LME 2024_Oct_06) = $214,900/year. The robot skimming promises to save much more than this, it said.
A laser marking head, programmed from the control room, allows users to engrave the requested traceability data such as heat number, alloy type and date onto each bundle. Production recipes can be stored in the machine’s programmable logic controller.
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