ENERGY
businesswire | March 28, 2023
Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, has signed a definitive agreement (“agreement”) for a global lithium-ion battery recycling partnership with the KION Group (“KION”), a leading global provider of industrial trucks and supply chain solutions. The Company is also pleased to announce plans to develop a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility in France, underpinned by regional commercial demand, including KION’s lithium-ion battery recycling needs.
Under the partnership, Li-Cycle will recycle lithium-ion batteries from KION’s global brands using its proprietary and innovative submerged shredding technology that is safe, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective. The agreement, which is for an initial period until 2030, has designated Li-Cycle as KION’s preferred global recycling partner to ensure that KION batteries are recycled sustainably.
“Li-Cycle is excited to be designated as KION’s preferred global recycling partner, as we continue to grow and diversify our customer portfolio to advance our expansion plans in Europe and help drive a sustainable and localized battery ecosystem,” said Tim Johnston, co-founder and Executive Chair of Li-Cycle. “Through our partnership, Li-Cycle expects to support both KION’s recycling needs and KION’s ability to align with the EU’s battery regulations. Together, we will build a circular battery supply chain and further support the clean energy transition.”
“With this strategic partnership, we are taking an important step towards the circular economy that we want to implement for our products,” said Henry Puhl, chief technology officer of KION. “The collaboration with Li-Cycle will further strengthen our position in the area of sustainability.”
“Li-Cycle's sustainable Spoke & Hub process enables up to 95 percent of the mass of a lithium-ion battery to be recovered and the critical minerals contained in those batteries to be used to manufacture new batteries,” commented Andreas Krinninger, member of the Executive Board of KION. “This makes us one of the pioneers in the material handling industry in the field of recovery and recycling of lithium-ion batteries.”
KION currently has a global fleet of more than 1.7 million industrial trucks, which includes forklift and warehouse trucks, and is the largest industrial truck manufacturer in the EMEA region. Through the partnership, batteries from KION’s electric industrial trucks will be recycled in a safe and environmentally friendly manner to support the development of a sustainable, innovative, and localized battery supply chain in Europe. Li-Cycle expects to commence recycling of KION’s batteries at its Spoke in Germany, with start-up expected in mid-2023.
Li-Cycle Expands European Spoke Network Plans to France
The Company is expanding its planned European Spoke network with the development of a new recycling facility in France. The growing lithium-ion battery ecosystem in France represents one of Europe’s largest battery end-of-life and cell manufacturing markets. This Spoke will be located in Harnes, in the Northern part of the country, where large global automotive OEMs have an established presence, and where plans to build three battery gigafactories have recently been announced.
As Li-Cycle continues to expand its operations in Europe, it is leveraging a highly replicable business model that the Company has proven in the North American market. The Company continues to strategically deploy Spoke recycling capacity in close proximity to key sources of supply of lithium-ion batteries and leverage its patented technology to continue to build upon its first mover advantage with an environmentally sustainable process.
Johnston commented, “Consistent with our strategy, Li-Cycle continues to scale in lockstep with our customers. As we advance the deployment of our highly replicable and proven Spoke & Hub model into the European market, our Spoke in France will better position us to support KION and the accelerating market growth in the country.”
Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France region where the France Spoke will be located, commented, “Hauts-de-France is proud to have been chosen by Li-Cycle to set up its first Spoke in France. This investment is very good news for our Region. Firstly, because it will create jobs, but above all, because it represents a new milestone for the ‘Battery Valley’ we are building in Hauts-de-France.”
Li-Cycle’s Spoke in France will be constructed in an existing building site with access to renewable energy. The plant is expected to have initial processing capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material per year, with optionality to expand to up to 25,000 tonnes per year. The France Spoke is expected to leverage Li-Cycle’s ‘Generation 3’ Spoke technology, which has the capability to directly process full electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage battery packs without any manual dismantling to enhance safety and cost-effectiveness. The France Spoke is expected to become operational in 2024 and is expected to bring Li-Cycle’s future planned capacity across its global Spoke network to more than 100,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material per year.
Li-Cycle’s first European Spoke will be located in Germany and will leverage the Company’s ‘Generation 3’ Spoke technology. The Germany Spoke is expected to be the Company’s largest Spoke facility to-date, with processing capacity for 30,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material per year, including main line and ancillary processing capacity. Li-Cycle is also developing a ‘Generation 3’ Spoke in Norway, which is expected to have processing capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material per year.
About Li-Cycle Holdings Corp
Li-Cycle is on a mission to leverage its innovative Spoke & Hub Technologies™ to provide a customer-centric, end-of-life solution for lithium-ion batteries, while creating a secondary supply of battery-grade materials. Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are increasingly powering our world in automotive, energy storage, consumer electronics, and other industrial and household applications. The world needs improved technology and supply chain innovations to better manage battery manufacturing waste and end-of-life batteries and to meet the rapidly growing demand for critical and scarce battery-grade raw materials through a closed-loop solution. For more information, visit https://li-cycle.com/.
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ENERGY
businesswire | March 24, 2023
AVANGRID, a leading sustainable energy company and part of the Iberdrola Group, has announced today the signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Meta to procure renewable energy from True North, a 240 MW solar farm under development in Falls County, Texas, and AVANGRID’s first solar facility in the state.
“We are proud to sign this agreement with a partner like Meta who, like us at AVANGRID, has a strong commitment to accelerating the energy transition in the U.S.,” said Pedro Azagra, AVANGRID’s CEO. “With projects like True North, we continue our mission of helping the country meet its ambitious clean energy goals, while also creating quality jobs and strengthening our local economies.”
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with AVANGRID to help bring new solar energy to support our local operations in Texas,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “True North will support our commitment to 100% renewable energy and represents additional investment and jobs for the region.”
Since 2020, Meta’s global operations have been supported by 100% renewable energy. The True North project will support Meta’s upcoming data center in neighboring Temple, their second data center facility in Texas.
True North, AVANGRID’s first solar farm in Texas, will deliver 240 MW of clean, renewable energy once it reaches commercial operations, which is expected by early 2025. During its construction and operation, True North will create over 200 local jobs and is expected to pay over $40 million in property taxes over 25 years in this state, in which the company already operates more than 1,250 MW of onshore wind facilities.
With more than 8.6 GW of installed renewable capacity, including 1.1 GW of solar projects operating and under construction, AVANGRID is the third largest renewable energy operator in the U.S. In total, the company has a strong pipeline of more than 25 GW under development, encompassing solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and battery energy storage.
About AVANGRID
AVANGRID, Inc. aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, AVANGRID owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, AVANGRID owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs more than 7,500 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2023, AVANGRID ranked first within the utility sector for its commitment to the environment. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. AVANGRID is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A.
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SOLAR+STORAGE
businesswire | March 27, 2023
Amprius Technologies, Inc. a leader in next-generation lithium-ion batteries with its Silicon Anode Platform, is once again raising the bar with the verification of its lithium-ion cell delivering unprecedented energy density of 500 Wh/kg, 1300 Wh/L, resulting in unparalleled run time. At approximately half the weight and volume of state-of-the-art, commercially available lithium-ion cells, the all-new battery cell delivers potential industry-disrupting performance with barrier breaking discharge times. Amprius’ next-generation cells are well positioned to power products in the fast-growing aviation and, eventually, electric vehicles markets, estimated to be collectively over $100 billion in battery demand by 2025.
“These cells provide a run time of 200% compared to state-of-the-art graphite cells, while being lighter and smaller than other batteries with the same energy content,” said Jon Bornstein, President of Amprius Lab. “This latest validation continues Amprius’ track record of producing the world’s most powerful battery cells and sets an industry benchmark for next-generation battery technology that will ultimately revolutionize how high we fly, how far we travel and how long we can use our devices.”
The 500 Wh/kg battery platform significantly expands boundaries for customers and is a tailored solution for applications that require maximum discharge times without compromising key features such as aircraft payload and without having to increase vehicle weight. The new batteries demonstrate both high gravimetric energy density (Wh/kg) and volumetric energy density (Wh/L) with exceptional adaptability. The customizable platform allows customers to select the option to either increase energy content in a battery pack without increasing weight, reduce weight in applications that target a fixed energy content, or combinations of both. Higher energy is important for longer run times, range and endurance, while lighter packs increase energy efficiency – even for the same battery energy content.
“We look forward to taking advantage of Amprius’ 500 Wh/kg cell to further develop Zephyr’s unrivalled stratospheric endurance capabilities,” said Pierre-Antoine Aubourg, Chief Technical Officer at AALTO HAPS, the Airbus subsidiary developing the 100% solar-electric High Altitude Platform Station for connectivity and earth observation applications. “Amprius is a valued current supplier with a great track-record, and we are confident that Amprius’ battery will deliver the capability we need.”
The record 500 Wh/kg energy density performance was verified by Mobile Power Solutions, a leading testing house offering comprehensive battery regulatory compliance, safety, and performance testing. The results indicate that this cell model provides >504 Wh/kg and >1321 Wh/l at 25°C.
About Amprius Technologies, Inc.
Amprius Technologies, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-energy and high-power lithium-ion batteries producing the industry’s highest energy density cells. The Company’s corporate headquarters is in Fremont, California where it maintains an R&D lab and a pilot manufacturing facility for the fabrication of silicon nanowire anodes and cells. To serve significant customer demand for its high-performance silicon anode lithium-ion batteries, Amprius recently signed a letter of intent for an approximately 774,000 square foot facility in Brighton, Colorado that initially provides a potential of up to 5 gigawatt-hours (GWh) manufacturing capacity.
Amprius’ commercially available batteries deliver up to 450 Wh/kg and 1,150 Wh/L, the industry’s highest known energy density cells available on the market today. Based on Amprius’ current level of battery performance and pilot production, the Company will be able to use its proprietary anode technology to deliver battery cells that contain energy density levels that approach 2x the performance of current commercially available graphite cells.
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