New battery technology produces 50% less greenhouse gas emissions than lithium-ion batteries

Altech Batteries (ASX: ATC) is making significant progress on the development of its CERENERGY battery – a sodium-chloride-based solution that serves as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries in the grid storage and renewable energy market.

The Centre of International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) was engaged to evaluate the green credentials of the CERENERGY battery project. The independent studies evaluated the greenhouse gas emission profiles of different battery types, including lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries and the sodium-chloride CERENERGY batteries.

The life cycle assessment found that CERENERGY batteries exhibit a “greenhouse gas emissions footprint of at least 50% lower than that of lithium-ion batteries.”

“This outcome aligns with the fact that CERENERGY batteries do not rely on critical metals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, and manganese, which are associated with high greenhouse gas emissions from mining and extraction processes,” Altech Batteries said in a statement.

CICERO was previously engaged for a green accreditation for the company’s Silumina Anodes Project in Germany, which received a “Light Green” rating. Managing Director Iggy Tan expressed his confidence in obtaining a green accreditation based on previous experience and interactions with CICERO: 

“There is clearly an environmental advantage of the CERENERGY® battery and proposed factory. Considering the GHG footprint evaluation conducted by independent groups, we anticipated from the outset that our batteries would be classified as 'green batteries.' We are currently in the official accreditation process.”

The 100MWh Battery Plant

Altech is developing a 100 MWh battery plant on its land in Saxony, Germany, focused on the stationary grid energy storage market.

The company says that the battery plant has been “meticulously designed to minimise its greenhouse gas footprint by leveraging renewable energy sources.” This will be achieved by:

• Sintering of ceramic tubes will be powered by electricity instead of natural gas

• Negotiations are currently underway to secure a renewable power supply

• An expansive factory roof space dedicated to solar panels

• Employ multiple banks of 1 MWh GridPacks to store excess energy during the day

• An integrated recycling facility to recycle both off-spec battery units and returned battery units from the field

Altech’s joint venture partner Fraunhofer estimates that CERENERGY batteries should be approximately 40% cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries because they do not require critical metals such as lithium, graphite, copper or cobalt. The Definitive Feasibility Study that Altech is currently preparing will confirm these estimates.

Altech Batteries 12-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

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