The green transition runs on batteries

Although it may not be in the media spotlight, battery capacity to store and manage energy efficiently is critical to transitioning toward electrical systems based on renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating new economic opportunities. According to the World Economic Forum and the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), by 2030, batteries could account for 30% of the carbon emission reductions required in the transport and energy sectors, provide 600 million people access to electricity, and create 10 million safe, sustainable jobs worldwide.

The expansion of renewable energy has accelerated in recent years. Nevertheless, this net zero emission future must overcome an inevitable challenge: large-scale storage infrastructure must be fully developed to power a decarbonized energy system. While automotive batteries are more established, battery energy storage systems (BESS) remain in the expansion phase on an industrial level.

These systems are designed to store the energy produced by renewable sources, such as solar plants or wind farms. The energy is collected during periods of low demand but high generation —in other words, when the wind and sun allow for more energy production than needed at the time. This energy is released during peak consumption or when weather conditions make energy production more difficult. Therefore, when we refer to BESS, we are referring not only to batteries such as those in a cell phone but also to a system capable of guaranteeing a renewable energy supply and providing operational continuity to the electrical system.

Batteries to electrify (and decarbonize) industry

Batteries will play a key role in meeting the commitments made by nearly 200 countries at COP28, which include a six-fold increase in global renewable energy capacity to 1.5 TW from 2024 to 2030. According to the International Energy Agency report Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions, lithium-ion battery capacity has increased by over 2,000 GWh worldwide, powering 40 million electric vehicles and thousands of battery storage projects. Although electric vehicles represent over 90% of battery use, more and more businesses are developing large-scale battery solutions for use in industrial and energy sectors.

Storage technologies are critical to achieving decarbonization targets for industrial systems that require heat —from metalworking to food industries. According to Eric Trusiewicz, CEO of Rondo Energy, “industrial heat accounts for 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.” In other words, preventing these emissions “would double the impact of electrifying all cars, motorcycles, buses, and taxis.” Specialized in thermal batteries, also known as Electric Thermal Energy Storage (ETES), Rondo manufactures its systems with durable materials that can be used in the industrial facilities of multiple sectors, such as the food, paper or textile industries, among others. “We decarbonize those sectors by directly replacing the fossil fuels used in boilers with heat generated from intermittent renewable electricity sources,” Trusiewicz explained.

But exactly how do these batteries work? “The simplest way to think of the Rondo Heat Battery is as a giant toaster oven with hundreds of bricks stacked like legos inside. We heat the bricks up to over 1,000 °C to generate continuous hot air or steam for industrial processes or power generation. Each brick in a Rondo Heat Battery stores more energy than a Tesla Model X when hot —without requiring hard-to-source critical minerals and with a much longer operational lifespan. Lithium-ion batteries chemically store electricity, which is not suitable for industry’s demand for heat, and require expensive critical minerals. The Rondo Heat Battery stores electricity as high-temperature heat in low-cost bricks, which can be flexibly dispatched as heat, electricity or in a combined heat and power configuration to serve a wide variety of industries and applications,” Trusiewicz described.

At the Breakthrough Energy Summit —a global conference that aims to accelerate innovation in clean technologies— a €75 million public-private partnership was announced between the European Investment Bank and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. This investment will go to three pioneering projects Rondo will carry out to contribute to European industrial decarbonization.

Inga Petersen (GBA): “Seeing the engagement by battery manufacturers gives us great confidence in the potential for international collaboration”

The first project will take place at the Covestro plant in Germany, where Rondo batteries will generate steam by replacing fossil fuel heat sources with renewable energy to produce chemical products. The second project will take place at a green industrial park in Denmark. One of its most significant aspects is that the park will have one single energy infrastructure. As Trusiewicz explained, “Rondo will supply Greenlab a 100 MWh heat battery that will draw power from an 84 MW hybrid wind and solar park.” Finally, Rondo will implement a third project to generate steam using solar power for a European food and beverage manufacturer. Although further details on the project are not yet available, Rondo assures that it will lead to significant decarbonization for the company. In short, these pioneering projects are expected to reduce one million metric tons of CO2 emissions by 2050. “It’s just the start for us and we plan on expanding these three projects across Europe more broadly,” Trusiewicz added.

International cooperation to overcome global challenges

International cooperation plays a critical role in accelerating the transition toward a sustainable energy future. The GBA, founded in 2017 by the World Economic Forum, has become vital in this context. This association is leading the development of grid storage batteries, bringing together governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, and other actors to promote sustainable battery production and management.

Its flagship project, known as the Battery Passport, was presented at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in January 2023. Both manufacturers and solution suppliers participated in this project, such as Audi, BASF, CATL, Eurasian Resources Group, Glencore, LG Energy Solution, Umicore, Tesla, Volkswagen AG, IndustriALL Global Union, Pact and Transport & Environment, as well as international organizations like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Inga Petersen, Executive Director of the GBA, explained: “The recent launch of our pilots, which engaged leading battery cell manufacturers (a battery cell is the main unit of a battery) including CATL, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and others, together representing 80% global EV battery market share in 10 piloting consortia, has afforded us invaluable insights and learnings, which we will actively apply in the next phases.” For the first time, cell manufacturers reported against harmonized sustainability performance expectations on seven key metrics: carbon footprint, human rights, child labor, forced labor, indigenous rights, biodiversity, and circular battery design.

The pilots are the world’s largest effort by battery cell manufacturers to establish comparable battery passports and represent a major milestone towards issuing product level sustainability scores and certifications which the GBA aims to issue by 2027 leveraging digital passports. The Executive Director of the GBA is therefore optimistic: “Seeing the engagement by battery manufacturers gives us great confidence in the potential for international collaboration,” she added.