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Batteries

  • Battery swapping: off to the races?

    Battery swapping: off to the races?

    Battery swapping has seen a sudden surge of interest, especially for cars in China, some heavy vehicles, and two-wheelers throughout emerging markets. Can the theme re-accelerate EVs? This 19-page report finds many advantages, controversies over costs, and profiles leading companies.

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  • Energy storage: top conclusions into batteries?

    Energy storage: top conclusions into batteries?

    Thunder Said Energy is a research firm focused on economic opportunities that can drive the energy transition. Our top ten conclusions into batteries and energy storage are summarized below, looking across all of our research.

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  • Solar plus batteries: the case for co-deployment?

    Solar plus batteries: the case for co-deployment?

    This 9-page study finds unexpectedly strong support for co-deploying grid-scale batteries together with solar. The resultant output is stable, has synthetic inertia, is easier to interconnect in bottlenecked grids, and can be economically justified. What upside for grid-scale batteries?

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  • Solar+battery co-deployments: output profiles?

    Solar+battery co-deployments: output profiles?

    Solar+battery co-deployments allow a large and volatile solar asset to produce a moderate-sized and non-volatile power output, during 40-50% of all the hours throughout a calendar year. The smooth output is easier to integrate with power grids, including with a smaller grid connection. The battery will realistically cycle 100-300 times per year.

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  • Lithium ion battery volumes by chemistry and use?

    Lithium ion battery volumes by chemistry and use?

    The lithium ion battery market reached 900GWH in 2023, representing 7x growth in the past half-decade since 2018, and 20x growth in the past decade since 2013. Volumes treble again by 2030. This data-file breaks down global ithium ion battery volumes by chemistry and be end use. A remarkable shift to LFP is underway, and…

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  • LFP batteries: cathode glow?

    LFP batteries: cathode glow?

    LFP batteries are fundamentally different from incumbent NMC cells: 2x more stable, 2x longer-lasting, $15/kWh cheaper reagents, $5/kWh cheaper manufacturing, and $25/kWh cheaper again when made in China. This 15-page report argues LFP will dominate future batteries, explores their costs, and draws implications for EVs and renewables.

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  • Pumped hydro: generation profile?

    Pumped hydro: generation profile?

    Pumped hydro facilities can provide long-duration storage, but the utilization rate is low, and thus the costs are high, according to today’s case study within the Snowy hydro complex in Australia. Tumut-3 can store energy for weeks-months, then generate 1.8 GW for 40+ hours, but it is only charging/dischaging at 12% of its nameplate capacity.

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  • Grid-scale battery operation: a case study?

    Grid-scale battery operation: a case study?

    Grid-scale batteries are not simply operated to store up excess renewables and move them to non-windy and non-sunny moments, in order to increase reneawble penetration rates. Their key practical rationale is providing short-term grid stability to increasingly volatile grids that need ‘synthetic inertia’. Their key economic rationale is arbitrage. Numbers are borne out by our…

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  • Renewables plus batteries: co-deployments over time?

    Renewables plus batteries: co-deployments over time?

    More and more renewables plus batteries projects are being developed as grids face bottlenecks? On average, projects in 2022-24 supplemented each MW of renewables capacity with 0.5MW of battery capacity, which in turn offered 3.5 hours of energy storage per MW of battery capacity, for 1.7 MWH of energy storage per MW of renewables.

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  • Compressed air energy storage: costs and economics?

    Compressed air energy storage: costs and economics?

    Our base case estimates for Compressed Air Energy Storage costs require a 26c/kWh storage spread to generate a 10% IRR at a $1,350/kW CAES facility, with 63% round-trip efficiency, charging and discharging 365 days per year. Our numbers are based on top-down project data and bottom up calculations, both for CAES capex (in $/kW) and…

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