RE: Eurometaux letter to President Von der Leyen26 Jan 2023 12:40
ip - in the context of reducing the cost of energy though, it does not reduce the cost of energy. However efficient any battery or energy storage is, it comes at a cost. The cost of the storage medium itself (including it's mining and manufacture) just adds to the overall cost.
High energy costs in Europe are directly attributable to the reliance of European energy policies on questionable foreign sources. Having an energy policy reliant mainly on intermittent resources does require energy storage to smooth out supply issues, but don't pretend that the production of lithium batteries is in any way the answer to either the supply of energy, or the cost of it. The cost of providing lithium battery based energy storage in sufficient capacity to deal with any extended shortfall of current renewable supplies just doesn't bear thinking about. We don't have capacity for even the EV market at this point.
Your analogy highlights one already accepted and common way of supplying backup energy supplies - hydroelectric. There are others, including less efficient battery technologies as this application doesn't require the energy density advantage of lithium. Lower cost reliable production of energy has to be the immediate focus.
The EV market is the primary driver for lithium, not energy storage, and at the moment it may well be that lead feet (unfortunate terminology) in getting to production, and hence short term supply issues and concomitant price rises, could well stall EV uptake.
Tick tock.