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The giant battery boom is here — This Week in Cleantech

The giant battery boom is here — This Week in Cleantech
Two battery energy storage systems developed by Convergent Energy + Power in Orange County, California, are now operating, providing grid resilience for Southern California Edison. Convergent said it would operate and maintain both lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. The systems are 9 MW/36 MWh and 6 MW/24 MWh.(Courtesy: Convergent)

This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Lara Hamsher, Director of Stakeholder Relations, Social Impact and Sustainability for AES Clean Energy. Lara participated in a panel discussion at CLEANPOWER about messaging clean energy projects effectively. As community opposition and misinformation continue to slow the deployment of clean energy, this topic has become crucial for developers to learn more about. Congratulations Lara!

1. Battery Recycling Shatters the Myth of Electric-Vehicle Waste — Bloomberg

Electric vehicles require more critical minerals than typical combustion engine cars and it takes a lot of energy to mine and refine those minerals. So much energy that Bloomberg NEF estimates it takes 25,000 miles of driving to make up for that extra embodied carbon.

But that’s changing. A new analysis found battery recyclers like Redwood Materials can use recycled materials to cut that number down closer to 15,000 miles. Battery recycling is still in its youth, but can already recover over 95% of key materials.

2. Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply — The Guardian

Climate think tank Ember recently came out with a report stating that renewable energy has officially passed 30% of our global electricity supply, up from 19% in 2000. Solar power is scaling faster than any known power source to date — 2024 marks the 19th consecutive year it has been the fastest-growing electricity source. 

Carbon pollution from the power sector was predicted to peak in 2023— and that’s turning into a reality. The report projects a 2% global decrease in fossil fuel generation next year, driven by the growth of renewables.

At COP28, world leaders agreed to target 60% of global electricity from renewables by 2030. To pull that off, countries will have to triple their renewable capacity in the next six years.

3. A Century-Old Company The Government Owns Wants To Solve A Big Energy Problem — HuffPost

The Biden Administration wants to triple the global nuclear power supply with U.S.-made reactors to reduce reliance on Russia and prevent China from dominating yet another green energy sector. But the U.S. isn’t building reactors here.

We’ve seen cost overruns and delays last over a decade for a nuclear reactor to connect to the grid in the U.S., making it hard for investors to shell out the money. One potential lever for Biden is the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally-owned electric utility. But Congress hasn’t adjusted the TVA’s credit limit in 45 years, despite inflation.

Efforts to increase TVA’s budget are now underway, but now there are questions as to whether they should prioritize nuclear or look into solar, wind, and batteries.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

4. Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity — New York Times

California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere in the world apart from China – largely because the state pulls so much electricity from the sun during the day and needs to quickly make up that gap when the sun sets. That’s typically been done with natural gas peaker plants, but batteries are playing an increasingly important role. Between 7 pm and 10 pm on April 30th, batteries supplied over one-fifth of California’s electricity.

We’re seeing rapid growth in other states as well; over the past 3 years, U.S. battery capacity has grown tenfold to 16 GW — and that number is expected to double again this year. 

5. Biden’s tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel allow a big role for corn ethanol — Semafor

New Biden Administration rules allow corn-based ethanol to qualify for tax credits under the category of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). This could bring investment to SAF production facilities, but with corn as a major contributor, environmentalists argue this will convert land into cornfields and increase food prices. 

The tax credit also pushes SAF suppliers to prove their product’s emissions, which could push the ethanol industry to transition to a more sustainable role. Plus, Wall Street still deems SAF’s as “very risky,” since SAF production requires building big factories that use new and unproven tech. And no airlines have committed to signing long-term offtake agreements.

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Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.

This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.