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SPONSOR: HPQ-Silicon Resources HPQ: TSX-V aiming to become the lowest cost producer of Silicon Metal and a vertically integrated and diversified High Purity, Solar Grade Silicon Metal producer. Click here for more info.

Europe approves US$3.5bn for R&D in major push to create sustainable battery manufacturing ecosystem

• European Commission gave the nod to a €3.2 billion (US$3.5 billion) plan by major EU states to create a “pan-European” battery ecosystem via a coordinated research push alongside industry operators
• The so-called IPCEI – Important Project of Common European Interest, a status conferred to research schemes seen as key in the EU – will see Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden support their respective national battery industries with the Commission’s blessing

By: José Rojo Martín

The Commission’s MaroÅ¡ Å efčovič (right) hails the new IPCEI deal with Economy ministers of Germany (Peter Altmaier, left) and France (Bruno Le Maire, centre). Image credit: European Commission

European authorities have waved through a multi-billion-euro scheme to turn the continent into a global hub for green battery making, amid hints that barriers could be set for foreign imports.

This week, the European Commission gave the nod to a €3.2 billion (US$3.5 billion) plan by major EU states to create a “pan-European” battery ecosystem via a coordinated research push alongside industry operators.

The so-called IPCEI – Important Project of Common European Interest, a status conferred to research schemes seen as key in the EU – will see Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden support their respective national battery industries with the Commission’s blessing.

The €3.2 billion will bankroll projects by 17 sector players across the seven countries, from BASF to Eneris, BMW, Enel X and Fortum. At a respective €1.25 billion (US$1.38 billion) and €960 million (US$1.06 billion), German and French battery schemes will reap a sizeable slice of the funding.

The multi-country project will be structured along the four core steps of the battery chain, from the more efficient sourcing of ores to the development of cells and modules, the roll-out of software- and algorithm-powered battery systems and sounder recycling and dismantling practices.

The €3.2 billion pot will focus on lithium-ion batteries, both liquid electrolytes and solid-state systems, and seek to unlock a further €5 billion in private money. If backed projects exceed their revenue expectations, they will return the extra gains to their respective member states.

The IPCEI – to be overseen by a body integrated by all seven states – stems from months of talks between the Economy ministers of Germany (Peter Altmaier), France (Bruno Le Maire) and others. On social media this week, the Commission’s Maroš Šefčovič thanked all for their “coordination”.

In separate statements to the media, also this week, Å efčovič’s hinted that EU authorities may not stop at fostering an EU battery landscape; they could also act to set up hurdles to battery imports from outside the EU bloc.

Šefčovič, the Commission’s VP for Interinstitutional Relations, was asked whether Southeast Asia-made batteries could face EU bans if they breach green standards the EU is developing:

“I think that if they would not respect the standards, then yes,” he said, in comments reported by Euractiv.

Europe bets on batteries after PV defeat at the hands of Asia

The European Commission now rallying behind the IPCEI may have begun its term only this month but its battery manufacturing ambitions go back a longer way. Šefčovič, who was also part of the earlier cabinet, launched the European Battery Alliance in 2017 and continues to head the group.

Whether the new €3.2 billion research push and the broader Alliance that underpins it can make Europe a serious global contender remains to be seen. The continent has already waged, and largely lost, a similar pulse over solar manufacturing in the past decade.

Policymakers first acted to set up minimum import prices to shield EU module makers against cheaper Chinese rivals, but changed tack when the tariffs raised PV prices but were not the job creator they were hoped to be. Last year’s phase-out further crippled an already weak EU sector.

Attempts since to revive EU solar makers, including a vow by French president Emmanuel Macron to bring back the “champions”, have been greeted with scepticism. Approached for a recent PV Tech Power feature, BNEF analyst Jenny Chase said PV making in Europe “doesn’t make sense” anymore.

However, Chase and several other interviewees did feel battery making could prove a better wager for Europe. “Batteries are a bit more nascent and interesting. The complexity, the role of software, may create more potential to keep highly paid jobs in Europe,” she remarked.

The view emerged as various battery factory schemes made strides in Europe this year. Northvolt’s plans to create a 56GWh fleet of lithium cell factories in Europe have been followed by Tesla’s ambitions for a gigafactory near Berlin that would make “batteries, powertrains and vehicles”.

As the Commission itself insisted this week, Europe’s pitch for battery know-how comes with a specific focus on reduced environmental footprint. Its statement explicitly linked the efforts to nurture a battery sector to the EU’s broader transition towards climate neutrality.

The energy storage focus of the EU’s climate-minded policymakers has been apparent with earlier decisions this year. Last month, the European Investment Bank voted to shift its multi-billion-euro energy lending capabilities to prioritise storage batteries, grid upgrades and others.

Source: https://www.energy-storage.news/news/europe-wages-multi-billion-crusade-to-nurture-battery-ecosystem?utm_source=rss-feeds&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=general

SPONSOR: HPQ-Silicon Resources HPQ: TSX-V aiming to become the lowest cost producer of Silicon Metal and a vertically integrated and diversified High Purity, Solar Grade Silicon Metal producer. Click here for more info.

Huge Battery Investments Drop Energy-Storage Costs Faster Than Expected, Threatening Natural Gas

Jeff McMahon Contributor    From Chicago, I write about climate change, green technology, energy.

The global energy transition is happening faster than the models predicted, according to a report released today by the Rocky Mountain Institute, thanks to massive investments in the advanced-battery technology ecosystem.

Previous and planned investments total $150 billion through 2023, RMI calculates—the equivalent of every person in the world chipping in $20. In the first half of 2019 alone, venture-capital firms contributed $1.4 billion to energy storage technology companies.

“These investments will push both Li-ion and new battery technologies across competitive thresholds for new applications more quickly than anticipated,” according to RMI. “This, in turn, will reduce the costs of decarbonization in key sectors and speed the global energy transition beyond the expectations of mainstream global energy models.”

RMI’s “Breakthrough Batteries” report anticipates “self-reinforcing feedback loops” between public policy, manufacturing, research and development, and economies of scale. Those loops will drive battery performance higher while pushing costs as low as $87/kWh by 2025. (Bloomberg put the current cost at $187/kwh earlier this year.)

“These changes are already contributing to cancellations of planned natural-gas power generation,” states the report. “The need for these new natural-gas plants can be offset through clean-energy portfolios (CEPs) of energy storage, efficiency, renewable energy, and demand response.”

New natural-gas plants risk becoming stranded assets (unable to compete with renewables+storage before they’ve paid off their capital cost), while existing natural-gas plants cease to be competitive as soon as 2021, RMI predicts.

RMI analysts expect lithium-ion to remain the dominant battery technology through 2023, steadily improving in performance, but then they anticipate a suite of advanced battery technologies coming online to cater to specific uses:

Heavier transport will use solid-state batteries such as rechargeable zinc alkaline, Li-metal, and Li-sulfur. The electric grid will adopt low-cost and long-duration batteries such as zinc-based, flow, and high-temperature batteries. And when EVs become ubiquitous—raising the demand for fast charging—high-power batteries will proliferate.

Many of these alternative battery technologies will leap from the lab to the marketplace by 2030, the report predicts.

Some of these changes will be driven outside the U.S., specifically in countries like India, Indonesia and the Philippines that prefer smaller vehicles.

RMI analyzed the four major energy-storage markets—China, the U.S., the European Union and India—and found two major trends that apply to each: 1) “Mobility markets are driving the demand and the cost declines,” and 2) “the nascent grid storage market is about to take off.”

China dominates the market for electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic technologies, thanks to early, large and consistent investment. The RMI report notes that China also has an advantage in upstream ore processing, critical materials and component manufacturing.

The report does not, however, explore what happens should China weaponize those advantages in the trade war, restricting or embargoing imports of critical materials to the U.S.

“An expanded trade war looms large over all industries and the entire global economy and is not in the interest of either the U.S. or China, and it is unproductive to speculate on the potential scope or outcomes of a battery or minerals-related action,” two of the report’s four authors, Charlie Bloch and James Newcomb, told me in an email.

“China is no doubt aware of the long-term economic opportunity associated with being a reliable manufacturer of batteries and the risk that escalating trade war actions by either side could damage the US-China economic relationship in this important area.”

They added that manufacturers, investors, start-ups, and government officials are taking steps to mitigate the potential impact of such a risk, such as continued development of low- and no-cobalt batteries chemistries.

For more about China’s hold on critical minerals, read 4 Reasons The Developed World Is In Big Trouble With Critical Minerals.

Global cumulative energy storage installations. RMI image/BNEF data Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/10/29/huge-battery-investments-drop-energy-storage-costs-threaten-natural-gas-industry/#21494b5f7c3b

• HPQ and its partner Apollon Solar SAS have signed a non-disclosure agreement with a manufacturer of Li-ion batteries for the purposes of exchanging technical information and sending testing materials
• For industry competitive reasons, the name of the battery manufacturer will remain confidential.

MONTREAL, Nov. 07, 2019 — HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. – TSX-V: HPQ; OTCPink: URAGF; FWB: UGE (“HPQ” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that HPQ and its partner Apollon Solar SAS, acting as one party, have signed a non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) with a manufacturer of Li-ion batteries for the purposes of exchanging technical information and sending testing materials. For industry competitive reasons, the name of the battery manufacturer will remain confidential.

MEETINGS WITH INDUSTRY PARTICIPANTS LEAD TO NDA WITH BATTERY MANUFACTURER

In its’ press release dated August 19, 2019, HPQ announced it would be meeting with industry participants and end users in H2 2019 about our unique capacity to produce high purity Silicon (Si) in one step. The NDA is a result of the manufacturer showing an interest in evaluating porous silicon wafers made using Silicon (Si) produced by HPQ PUREVAP™ Quartz Reduction Reactor (“QRR”) and Apollon Solar patented process. Specifically, the cased use is to explore using our porous silicon wafers as the anode for their next generation Li-ion Si batteries.

“We are very happy to be in discussions with an innovative Li-ion battery manufacturer and look forward to now having more substantive technical discussions. More than four years of great technical work culminated in the assembly of a world-class technical team in 2019 to demonstrate the potential of silicon materials produced from the PUREVAP™QRR as high-capacity anode materials for Li-ion batteries” said Bernard Tourillon, President and CEO HPQ Silicon. “Silicon’s potential to meet energy storage demand is undeniable and generating massive investments, as well as, serious industry interest, so our timing could not be better. Suffice it to say, we are very pleased to have attracted such early interest. However, I must caution investors that although this agreement does signal the interest in our products, we are still at the very preliminary stages and there is no guarantee that anything, of any commercial value, will materialize from these efforts. It does however demonstrate the potential for new and exciting advances by HPQ and partners in the silicon energy space.”

GLOBAL ENERGY STORAGE MARKET READY TO EXPLODE

A recent report projects that energy storage deployments are estimated to grow 1,300% from a 12 Gigawatt-hour market in 2018 to a 158 Gigawatt-hour market in 2024. Meanwhile, at current growth rates of 2% per year, global energy consumption will be an estimated 125,000 Terawatt-hours, which is 800,000 times more than the estimated storage capacity. An estimated US$71 billion in investments will be made into storage systems where batteries will make up the lion’s share of capital deployment. Research suggests that replacing graphite materials with Silicon anodes in Li-Ion Batteries promises an almost tenfold (10x) increase in the specific capacity of the anode, inducing a 20-40% gain in the energy density of Li-ion batteries.

About Silicon

Silicon (Si) is one of today’s strategic materials needed to fulfil the renewable energy revolution presently under way. Silicon does not exist in its pure state; it must be extracted from quartz, one of the most abundant minerals of the earth’s crust and other expensive raw materials in a carbothermic process.

About HPQ Silicon

HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. is a TSX-V listed company developing, in collaboration with industry leader PyroGenesis (TSX-V: PYR) the innovative PUREVAPTM “Quartz Reduction Reactors” (QRR), a truly 2.0 Carbothermic process (patent pending), which will permit the transformation and purification of quartz (SiO2) into Metallurgical Grade Silicon (Mg-Si) at prices that will propagate its significant renewable energy potential.

HPQ is also working with industry leader Apollon Solar to develop: Porous silicon wafers manufacturing using PUREVAP™ Silicon (PVAP Si) that can be used as anode for all-solid-state and Li-ion batteries; and a metallurgical pathway of producing Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG Si) that will take full advantage of the PUREVAPTM QRR one-step production of high purity silicon (Si) and significantly reduce the Capex and Opex associated with the transformation of quartz (SiO2) into SoG-Si.

HPQ focus is becoming the lowest cost producer of Silicon (Si), High Purity Silicon (Si), Porous Silicon Wafers and Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG-Si). The pilot plant equipment that will validate the commercial potential of the process is on schedule to start in 2019.

This News Release is available on the company’s CEO Verified Discussion Forum, a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders. 

Disclaimers:

The Corporation’s interest in developing the PUREVAP™ QRR and any projected capital or operating cost savings associated with its development should not be construed as being related to the establishing the economic viability or technical feasibility of the Company’s Roncevaux Quartz Project, Matapedia Area, in the Gaspe Region, Province of Quebec.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words “may”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “continue”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect”, “in the process” and other similar expressions which constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s current expectation and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company’s on-going filings with the security’s regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information contact
Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman, President and CEO Tel (514) 907-1011
Patrick Levasseur, Vice-President and COO Tel: (514) 262-9239
http://www.hpqsilicon.com Email: [email protected]