COVER STORY: THE ROAD TO 2020
Energy storage to unlock European opportunities The EC’s package for a legislative framework of energy storage proposes the much needed definition of energy storage — Alfons Westgeest, EUROBAT cent analysis by Citigroup and Navigant forecasts an astonishing growth of battery sales in the coming years.
Alfons Westgeest Executive director, EUROBAT
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atteries are rapidly becoming an important solution for grid services, energy storage and integration of renewables. Installed battery energy storage is going up worldwide. Re-
In 2017 the industry will see more advanced battery storage products. At such an early stage of the market basic user incentives make sense. Germany, for example, is developing as an important market for households systems, thanks to an incentive programme by the government. The European Commission’s package for a legislative framework of energy storage proposes the much needed definition of energy storage, removal of double grid fees and creation of a market for balancing services that will
allow access for small players as well as independent energy aggregators. Europe must unlock that market because other regions, like the US, are deploying battery solutions in significant amounts. In turn it will create opportunities for European cell manufacturing and research and development. Taking full advantage of the energy and transport revolutions will add value and jobs. All battery technologies — lead, lithium, sodium, nickel — offer excellent services for various segments of the energy market. We advocate letting the market choose the most efficient solution on a case-by-case basis.
Daramic: innovation the key innovations across the energy storage categories.
Dawn Heng Marketing director, Daramic
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aramic is the world largest PE separator manufacturer in lead-acid battery industry and our sister companies, are the world’s largest li-ion battery separator makers. This positions us to provide full solutions for automotive battery applications from basic SLI to start-stop to hybrid and electric vehicles and also allows us to track the
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We do see the trend of lead-acid battery industry is undergoing an innovation revolution in the next five to10 years that was not seen decades ago. New emerging applications and technical requests eg start-stop/enhanced flooded battery (EFB), partial state of charge, higher power output are driving the industry from a stagnant development to a pioneering innovation To lead on this innovation, Daramic has invested significantly in last two years with the support of our new holding company, Asahi Kasei, a $18 billion company and a specialist in chemicals. With new tools and methods such as computer modeling
we have a chance to deliver the solutions to really lead the improvement in the lead-acid batteries. One good example of this is a set of new products and test method we developed, which have applied for this year’s BCI Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz Innovation Award. Using advanced computational fluid dynamics, Daramic has developed a set of new solutions including Daramic EFS and Daramic RipTide to significantly enhance start-stop battery performance under partial state of charge. Furthermore, Daramic is also working with battery partners to develop new test method and equipment with leveraging vehicle movement to best simulate the working conditions of those batteries in vehicle.
“Using advanced computational fluid dynamics, Daramic has developed a set of new solutions including Daramic EFS and Daramic RipTide to significantly enhance start-stop battery performance under partial state of charge” — Dawn Heng, Daramic Batteries International • Winter 2016/2017 • 75