siemens

LGES and Siemens partner to develop better battery manufacturing processes

Battery maker LG Energy Solution will collaborate with German technology company Siemens on battery manufacturing— particularly the digitisation of production process.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), LG Energy Solution (LGES) will implement smart battery manufacturing processes at its factories with advanced techniques starting with Ultium Cells— a joint venture of LGES and General Motors.

The Ultium cells facility in Tennessee, US is expected to begin production in 2023.

The firms will also collaborate on building digital twin roadmap to ensure stable operations at facilities, and develop training programs within Institute of Battery Technology (IBT) for academic students set to work for LGES.

MoU to build a battery plant

In October, Automaker Stellantis NV and LGES entered a MoU to build a 40GWh battery plant in North America.

The companies expect to break ground in Q2 of next year and the plant is expected to start production by Q1 of 2024.

Stellantis has also entered a MoU with South Korea's Samsung SDI for a battery plant to initially produce 23GWh, potentially rising to 40GWh.

LGES

siemens

battery

Invinity signs grid-scale flow battery development deal with Siemens

A $4.62 million agreement will see the subsidiaries of Invinity Energy Systems and Siemens work together on developing a commercially ready vanadium flow battery.

Invinity Energy Nexus, an Invinity subsidiary, has entered into a two-year joint development and commercialisation agreement (JDCA) with Gamesa Electric, a subsidiary of Spain’s Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

The agreement will see the development of a grid-scale vanadium flow battery, based on Invinity's technology and incorporating Gamesa Electric's power conversion systems.

The companies will cooperatively manufacture the technology upon achieving a jointly validated design, and will commercialise the system through both companies' sales channels.

However, Gamesa Electric may terminate the JDCA if the firms fail to advance through development stages.

The development program is expected to take around two years, during which time Gamesa Electric will fund Invinity's activities in instalments as development milestones are met.

Gamesa Electric also entered into an Option Agreement, which if exercised would include a Gamesa Electric— or its nominee—having the right to appoint a director to Invinity's board subject to the Spanish firm maintaining a minimum 5% shareholding.

Invinity Energy Systems

siemens

vanadium flow battery.

Fluence hires new CEO as it looks to accelerate energy storage adoption

Lithium-ion energy storage system firm Fluence, a joint venture of Siemens and AES, has chosen Manuel Perez Dubuc to be the company’s new chief executive officer.

Dubuc will succeed Stephen Coughlin on 1 May in a change the company said was a “strategic move intended to further accelerate energy storage adoption around the world”.

Lithium-ion

energy storage system

Work on ‘world’s biggest Li-ion ESS’ begins in Southern California

Work has begun on what it said to be the biggest lithium-ion energy storage system, with the ground-breaking of a 100MW/400MWh project for the Alamitos Energy Center in Southern California.

The system by AES Alamitos, a subsidiary of AES Corporation, will use Advancion 5 batteries and control systems from Fluence— the joint venture between Siemens and AES.

Lithium-ion

ESS

AES Alamitos Generating Station

Southern California Edison

Siemens opens BlueVault battery plant in Norway

Siemens has opened a battery module factory in Norway to assemble its BlueVault lithium-ion maritime battery systems.

The facility in Trondheim will assemble its liquid-cooled battery modules comprising cells manufactured in Asia, a Siemens spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing.

Each battery has nine modules, with each module comprising 28 battery cells “for a combined total installed power of 60 kilowatt-hours”, the spokesperson said.

Norway

lithium-ion batteries

battery manufacturing

Siemens installs battery storage at offshore oil rig

German manufacturing company Siemens will install its BlueVault battery solution on Northern Drilling’s West Mira offshore drilling rig, creating what Siemens refer to as the “world’s first drilling rig to operate a low-emission hybrid power plant”.

Siemens’ BlueVault system is an “advanced lithium-ion battery-based solution” that has been field-proven by installation on more than 60 marine vessels, including Norwegian electric car ferry (another “world’s first”) the MF Ampere.

Siemens’ Head of Offshore Relations described the move as “an important step towards improving the environmental sustainability of the offshore oil and gas industry.”

siemens

Marine batteries

lithium-ion batteries

Victoria readies for launch of first utility-scale BESS

The first utility-scale battery energy storage system in the Australian state of Victoria has entered the final phase of testing in preparation to start relieving pressure on the regional grid ahead of summer.

The 30-megawatt-hour lithium-ion BESS, funded by the Victorian government and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena), was inaugurated in Ballarat by state energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio (pictured centre).

Lithium-ion

battery energy storage

US urged to end ‘uncertainty’ over battery storage tax breaks

Treasury chiefs in the US have been urged to “end the uncertainty” over proposed tax breaks for companies rolling out energy storage projects.

The director for global market applications at US multinational Fluence, Kiran Kumaraswamy, told a US House Subcommittee on Energy hearing that battery storage developers are still waiting for guidance from the Inland Revenue Service (IRS).

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

120 MW BESS partnership deal for UK

US-based multinational Fluence is partnering with UK Power Reserve to commission the first phase of a 120-megawatt portfolio of battery storage facilities in the UK.

UK Power Reserve said the agreement with Fluence— a Siemens and AES company— “represents the single largest energy storage portfolio transaction with one technology provider announced in the UK to date”.

Mitsubishi Corporation

Tata Power

Siemens to partner with Northvolt for ‘Green LIB’ supplies

Siemens is to partner Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt in developing “next generation Green lithium-ion batteries”.

Siemens is investing EUR10 million ($11.6m) in the partnership— through which it will become the latest international firm to work with Northvolt— whose planned lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility is being financed by the European Investment Bank.

Northvolt

siemens

lithium-ion batteries

Sweden

digital systems technology

Peter Carlsson

Jan Mrosik