Future charge How a National Battery Strategy will help lay the groundwork for more sustainable practices across Australia Shannon O’Rourke, CEO, FBICRC, Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre
The world is racing to decarbonise. Renewable energy generation has doubled since Kyoto, primarily due to intermittent solar and wind generation, which now accounts for one-third of all renewable energy. Battery storage is essential, because it ensures intermittent renewables can provide the affordable, reliable, clean energy we all need.
$830 billion in today’s dollars will be spent each year. At present, Australia has a 50% market share in the raw materials, but only receives 0.5% of the total value across the battery value chain. Australia can capture its fair share of the battery market value by investing in manufacturing.
B
atteries are now significantly
can store energy anywhere with a low
cheaper. In fact, unit prices
environmental footprint.
We must reshape global value chains to be more sustainable at world scale. Australia
have decreased by 88% over
As an emerging industry, the battery
commonly exports spodumene concentrate
the last decade, just like solar,
industry’s development has been considered
(6% lithium) for overseas refining, consisting
which has seen 82% cost
holistically from day one. Advances in re-use
of 94% shipping waste.
reductions. Advances in battery technology
and recycling are creating the potential for
Human rights and the ethical and sus-
will lower costs even further.
a circular economy, which is significant for
tainable sourcing of battery materials must
Lower costs, high efficiency and en-
the mining industry, the impacts of which
ensure that the battery industry does not
ergy density make batteries the preferred
can be reduced by extending the life of,
flourish on the back of modern slavery in
technology for electric vehicles, massively
repurposing and recycling battery systems.
vulnerable communities.
ing increasingly competitive with internal
Nurturing a local battery industry
1% of lithium batteries being recycled, we
combustion vehicles. Batteries now account
By 2050, in a net-zero scenario, the IEA
mine more than we need and miss an op-
for almost half of all new stationary energy
expects batteries to account for 70% of
portunity to recycle. We need cheap, clean
storage projects. Batteries are efficient and
all renewable energy expenditure. Over
energy but it can’t come at any cost.
Finally, there’s recycling. With less than
outpacing hydrogen fuel cells and becom-
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