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Another beautiful read. Now will the market re-rate for HUGE growth potential?
"We are delighted to have achieved this outcome two years ahead of our original timeline. The lithium-ion silicon sulfur battery programme provides the path to enabling a safe, high-energy density and lower cost battery, which is more effective than the best lithium-ion batteries currently available and a very exciting opportunity for Gelion."
That RNS slipped in late . Bodes well for the future
More real world progress ...
https://www.batteryenergy.com.au/news/safe-sustainable-batteries-made-in-australia
Maybe Acconia need to get their finger out and get the first batteries installed before we can real pictures? Although it has only been just over two months since the inspection release note was signed at Gelion, and it will have been a long transit.
I Agree at least one picture of a completed ZnBr battery or cell should have been in the report.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/02/01/zinc-bromide-batteries-to-store-solar-power-at-accionas-testing-field-in-spain/
Too many "Artistic impression" pictures for my liking - actual pictures of real progress would have been more persuasive.
Remains on a watch list of mine.
Closing Statement
"The world has changed significantly since becoming a public company in November 2021 with the
top agenda item for most countries being energy security and targets to net zero driven by
geopolitical events. These energy challenges have resulted in a search for alternative non-lithium
technologies, which are safe, long duration and highly recyclable such as the Gelion zinc-bromide
batteries. We believe that a combination of these factors will assist in reducing the gap between
expected sale price and production costs"
A very slick and persuasive report from what seems to be a company going in the right direction. Well done Gelion for at least trying in very very baffled investment landscape.
Top up.... Maybe?
GLA
I have been keeping a weary eye on this share as the company promises a brave new world. The key paragraphs from today's RNS seems to be:
'Balancing battery performance and cost competitiveness
During the process of commissioning of the manufacturing plant at Battery Energy, it became apparent that we must retain the benefits of close association between our technology / process engineering development activities and the preparation for our next stage of scaling.
The challenges with transferring technology to large scale production across different continents proved less efficient than we expected. After careful analysis of the costs and benefits, including the ability to protect our IP, we decided that our resources are better allocated to continue to first utilize the availability of the manufacturing plant in Australia. The proximity of the manufacturing plant to our development team, to progress both performance optimization and cost reduction, in the most efficient way is more valuable than reaching for immediate scale. As such, we are not currently progressing discussions with HBL in India.'
To me, this will remain uninvestable until large scale production at competitive prices can be achieved; in the interim it is just going to eat through cash resources.
Great RNS and considering the growth potential are still good value at these prices. This share could "light up" once sense returns to the market
Many thanks Tony I am presuming that will be pretty much the installed cost. Teslas 4680 cell when revealed at battery day was estimated by the knowledgeable commentators at around $75 KWh but thats the high nickel battery for cars not the alternative LFP cells. The Tesla batteries also need a sophisticated and quite expensive management and cooling system. They are very popular and Tesla cannot keep up with the demand waiting times now well over a year, a cheaper very durable more simple product must have great potential.
Good question, I had a dig. Around US$100 KWh compared to lithium at US$130.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/11/10/gelion-to-deliver-100-mwh-of-zinc-bromide-battery-storage-for-papua-new-guinea-project/#:~:text=Gelion%20is%20marketing%20itself%20as,such%20a%20low%2Dcost%20offering.
This early-stage tech might be of interest
https://www.bestmag.co.uk/hybrid-flow-battery-could-disrupt-stationary-storage-industry/
RFC Power part of IP Group PLC
I have spent some time looking for how much the product costs in comparison to other flow batteries and lithium -ion batteries without success.
I appreciate that the exact cost will not be known until large scale manufacturing commences but surely someone must know / at least have an educated guess. 5% is a cost saving but its not going to set the battery market on fire 50% or more cost saving well that's a different story altogether.
I'm new here I regularly watch this youtuber and try to stay up to speed with all things new energy and electrification of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QaZmoh4K7E
It has the appearance of being the 'holy grail' of grid scale and home storage.
1) Materials cheap and very widely available.
2) Easy to manufacture in existing lead acid battery factories (with some modifications) but essentially using the same methods and equipment.
3) Very tolerant of abuse and and temperatures up to 50 degrees and can be safely discharged to zero and stored in that state.
4) Cannot catch fire does not require pumps or moving to work or be kept cool.
5) Long cycle life 5000 cycles and can be re-cycled easily and cheaply at the end of life again using same equipment as for re-cycling lead acid batteries.
Whats not to like?
Presumably there are some downsides anyone want to prick the bubble.
How cheap is cheap is one I can think of.
maybe there is factuality to someone who is an egghead!
Tony,
Thanks for pointing out my mistake... they are similar looking YouTubers. And, if anything, Dave is more credible when it comes to energy stuff.
this is dave borlace. like matt ferrell (american), has lost his hair which is far better than losing one's head :)
Thanks for adding the link - Matt Ferrell is a wise YouTuber. This is an interesting company, but judging how much it is worth is another question. The batteries [with their thermal stability] seem to be a useful option for home energy storage, as the extra size and weight compared to a Powerwall or similar is insignificant.
Gelion has now signed a test and supply contract with Acciona Energía, one of Europe's largest sustainable energy companies, to integrate its Endure battery technology into one of Acciona's solar PV plants for a six- to 12-month period starting Q3 2022. If this trial integration is successful, the Endure battery is expected to form part of Acciona Energía's supplier portfolio as a renewable energy storage provider.
Baby steps - should see a spike once this gets in the news. A good bottom drawer prospect. buy and hold at these prices
No guarantee of success, read the IEEE Spectrum article I posted. Sentiment will be soured by the downward path of EOSE Nasdaq. Am out, the sp could fall below 80p without news. Not intending to buy back in.
30 Nov - trading starts at 150p
06 Dec - spike tops out at 270p with an intraday high of 312p
24 Jan - down to 111.50p.
A rather rocky start to listed life. And yet the company behind the 100 MWh order for its zinc-bromide batteries for PNG is still at the same price. I do not know where the bottom is but this seems worth keeping an eye on.
Part 3:
To enable a fast ramp-up in production, Maschmeyer hit on the idea of going with a sealed lead-acid battery format that has been established for over 30 years. "It means we are able to have the zinc-bromide chemical advantages within the advantages of lead-acid packaging. Meaning our battery is made and looks like a lead-acid battery—a non-flow solid block of energy."
A major benefit of this decision is that Gelion can use existing manufacturing lines for lead-acid batteries by converting them at relatively low cost to zinc-bromine manufacturing lines, Maschmeyer points out. Gelion is also able to utilize a factory's materials handling, production operations, and the way batteries are stored and shipped, etc.
He says that their partner in India expects that with around a $16 million investment in CapEx, Gelion can change a gigawatt hour a year of the existing lead-acid production capability to the equivalent zinc-bromide production capability. That compares well, he says, to the $135 million it costs to build a greenfield gigawatt hour per year lithium-ion factory.
As for Gelion's prospects, Noack says there are many competitors with different technologies in the stationary storage sector. At the same time, the need for storage is growing exponentially. "No one technology will be able to cover all needs. I think that if the [Gelion] technology can achieve low lifetime costs, and considering its safety and environmental friendliness, then it will be able to take a share of the market."
Part 2:
The downside of the technology compared to flow batteries is that whereas every component of the latter is serviceable or replaceable, the Gelion battery has to be entirely replaced with a new one, should it break down.
Another general disadvantage is that it is heavier and larger than lithium-ion batteries. On the other hand, lithium-ion is temperature sensitive and state-of-charge sensitive. Zinc-bromide, by contrast, "is much more robust," says Maschmeyer. "From -15 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius, no problem. Zero state of charge is also no problem, so we serve a completely different market to that of lithium-ion."
Yet Gelion's very inventiveness may make some potential customers hesitate. "The energy sector is very conservative," says Jens Noack of the Redox-Flow-Battery-Group, Fraunhofer-Institute for Chemical Technology, Germany. "New technologies generally have a hard time entering. However, they can be accepted if the lifetime price is right." He adds that non-flow technologies likely "have lower investment cost but the energy throughput is lower. So we will have to see."
“What we are good at is energy shifting. Our aim is to firm renewables, making solar and wind into baseload generation."
—Thomas Maschmeyer, Gelion Technologies
As for applications, with a charging rate sweet spot of 4 hours and a discharge rate of between 2 to 36 hours, the Gelion Endure is not suitable for quick bursts of high power, as is needed in electric vehicles or to stabilize the voltage in an electric grid.
"What we are good at is energy shifting," says Maschmeyer. "Our aim is to firm renewables, making solar and wind into base load generation." He gives the example of running a solar electrolyzer for producing green hydrogen. The Gelion battery recharges during the day, then takes over when the sun doesn't shine. "We can run electrolyzers so they operate at peak performance 24/7 with our batteries running day in day out at full charge-discharge in high temperatures. Any other battery would break down under such conditions."
"There is a need for inexpensive storage to cover the gaps caused by fluctuating renewable energies," says Noack, who is also an adjunct associate professor at UNSW Sydney. "Zinc-bromine technologies can do well due to the low cost of materials."
To commercialize the technology, the company is preparing to list on the London Stock Exchange to raise 16 million pounds sterling (US$22 million). The Gelion Endure battery will go into pilot production next year with the help of two partners, Battery Energy Power Solutions, based in Sydney, and a second larger-scale partner in India. After customer trials around the world in 2022, commercial production is expected to start in 2023. Initially, the battery is expected to have a usable energy density of at least 47 Wh/L with a specific energy of at least 37 Wh/kg. The company is also forecasting these metrics could double with further optimization.
The article (27 Oct 2021) below is from the www.ieee.org website. Therefore an unbiased honest qualified assessment of Gelion's non-flow battery technology.
Maybe flow batteries aren't always everything they're cracked up to be. A new technology from Australia is certainly raising this prospect, offering a novel approach to stationary energy storage—whose packaging at least harkens back to the old, familiar car battery.
Flow batteries use liquid electrolytes held externally in tanks and which circulate through the cells using pumps and piping. Their capacity is proportional to the size of the tanks, making them easily scalable. In theory, they should be a good choice for applications, such as storing surplus energy from renewables. But their reliance on mechanical components and intricate design presents drawbacks, including highly specialized maintenance needs, while flow batteries' electrolytes can be costly, corrosive or toxic. This has inhibited flow batteries from gaining widespread deployment, despite increasing improvements.
Now, Gelion Technologies, a startup based in Sydney, Australia, has found a way to dispense with the pumps and plumbing, and to eliminate other drawbacks common with conventional flow batteries by creating a non-flow zinc-bromine battery. Gelion founder and inventor of the new technology, Professor Thomas Maschmeyer at the University of Sydney, describes how it works.
"Instead of circulating fluids, the battery uses a proprietary gel, hence the company name gel plus ion." The gel enables molecular encapsulation of the bromine in a manner that is reversible, so that the bromine is still available for electrochemistry. To explain, he uses the analogy of Velcro. The “Velcro"-like gel sticks to the bromine, yet it can separate from it with a little pull when needed. "That pull in the battery is a little bit of its potential," he says.
Gel batteries, say its advocates, deliver robust, durable, non-flammable storage made from materials that are inexpensive, readily sourced, and recyclable.
Equally important, the gel ensures the bromine, which is heavy, stays well-distributed throughout the battery, reducing stratification and the formation of undesirable zinc plating called dendrites, which can cause short-circuits. In turn, fewer dendrites reduce gassing and pH drift (unwanted change in the acidity or alkalinity in the electrolyte).
"By keeping everything homogenous within the gel, it's basically dealing with all the issues addressed by flow so that they don't really arise," says Maschmeyer. Or if they arise, "they can be dealt with in the existing paradigms of battery technology. This makes for a super safe battery."