ENERGY
Apex Clean Energy | January 31, 2023
On January 30, 2023, Apex Clean Energy signed an Environmental Attribute Purchase Agreement (EAPA) with Meta to generate total renewable energy in the Angelo Solar Project with a 195 MW facility, supporting the regional operations in Tom Green County (Texas).
The Angelo Solar Project will generate around $31.7 million in tax revenue for the local community, approximately $22 million in landowner payments, and about 400 jobs during construction, with commercial operations expected in early 2024.
The other earlier declared transactions would continue to manifest between Apex and Meta, like an 80 MW EAPA with Altavista Solar, 197 MW with Jayhawk Wind, 175 MW with Lincoln Land Wind, 200 MW with Aviator Wind East, and 225 MW with Great Pathfinder Wind, along with this agreement.
President and CEO of Apex Clean Energy, Mark Goodwin, said, “The success of our company and our mission, to accelerate the shift to clean energy, relies on partnerships with first movers like Meta that have set ambitious standards driving the energy transition. He added, “As we advance our sixth project alongside Meta, this portfolio, now totaling more than a gigawatt, represents a diverse set of best-in-class wind and solar projects in markets across the United States.”
(Source – Business Wire)
Urvi Parekh, Head of Renewable Energy at Meta, said, “We appreciate Apex’s partnership in helping us bring a total of one gigawatt of new renewable energy to the grid across Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Kansas, and Iowa.” She added, “This new solar project will support our commitment to 100% renewable energy and will help bring jobs and investment to the local community.”
(Source – Business Wire)
About Apex Clean Energy
Apex Clean Energy generates clean energy with a diverse portfolio of about 40 gigawatts. At its headquarters in Charlottesville (Virginia) and nationwide, 400 specialists are working on its projects. Its renewable frontiers are wind, solar, storage facilities, distributed energy resources, and green fuel technologies in North America. Established in 2009 as a modest start-up, the company has grown into a successful business that encourages employee initiative and autonomy.
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TRANSPORTATION
Octopus Energy | February 16, 2023
Octopus Energy U.S. recently announced Intelligent Octopus for E.V., a smart-rate that will provide drivers in Texas with cheaper electricity rates when they smart-charge their electric vehicles. Customers can now pair Intelligent Octopus with their E.V.s to automatically determine the best, most cost-effective time to charge and save up to 20% on their monthly residential electricity bill.
Intelligent Octopus, powered by Octopus Energy's proprietary Kraken Technology, is a smart device management feature that incentivizes customers for helping to balance the grid during grid constraints, so long as the device is connected. By enabling customer flexibility, Octopus Energy can provide the best price electricity rates on the market.
Customers of Octopus Energy will be able to sign up and connect their electric vehicles via a mobile app that responds to multiple grid signals. By allowing Octopus Energy to smart charge their car, customers will receive a discount on their standard residential electricity rate. Intelligent Octopus will handle the necessary tasks based on the preferences set by the customer.
With widespread adoption in the U.S., Intelligent Octopus manages over 100 megawatts (M.W.) of E.V. charging power, which is greater than the largest battery on the U.K. grid. This solution is the most recent step in Octopus Energy's mission to enable a brighter and greener future throughout the United States market, which it entered in 2020. The company also recently announced that it would offer customers the option to incorporate home batteries into their energy plans. This will enable it to aggregate home batteries to establish a Virtual Power Plant and further minimize energy rates customers pay.
About Octopus Energy
Octopus Energy Group is an innovative, renewable energy retailer based in London, UK. It directly supplies approximately 4.9 million customers with 100% green electricity at a lower cost and emphasizes exceptional customer service. The company expanded in the U.S. market in 2020, creating Octopus Energy U.S. and fueling the company's global expansion. It comprises ten companies spanning six countries and three continents, including Kraken Technologies, Kraken Flex, Octopus Energy Retail, Octopus Electric Vehicles, Octopus Energy Generation, and the Octopus Centre for Net Zero. Founded in 2016, the company has a nearly $5 billion valuation and is one of the fastest-growing private energy technology companies.
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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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