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Lesson 2: No more explosions
The explosion is what set this event apart from other battery mishaps. When dozens of batteries caught fire in South Korea, they burned down but did not hurt people.

In Arizona, the explosion — not the fire — sent first responders to the hospital. It unleashed so much force that it threw one firefighter 73 feet through a chain-link fence.

But the explosion may also be the easiest failure mode to address: Prevention requires letting dangerous gases out, rather than holding them in.

“The APS event was a learning experience for the whole industry to come out with safer standards and practices,” Lu said. “It is [no longer] reasonable...to build a solution that doesn't have the ability to vent gases.”

Should explosive gases accumulate nonetheless, the use of a "deflagration panel" can channel the explosive force up and out of a structure, rather than outward horizontally where they are more likely to hurt people. Deflagration panels now come standard on storage enclosures such as Fluence’s new Cube design.

“The pressure release serves to minimize structural and mechanical damage, and more importantly, to minimize the safety risk to operators or first responders,” said Fluence COO John Zahurancik.

Ideally, batteries would never arrive at that scenario. To this end, Fluence added an “incipient gas detection system” that triggers a shutdown if it spots the kinds of explosive gases that lithium-ion cells are known to emit when heated. The combination of early detection systems and ventilation means that newly constructed storage plants should be able to identify the presence of gaseous buildup and expel it before there is any risk of it igniting.

The physical shape of the battery enclosure has evolved too. McMicken housed its battery racks in a large shipping container, with space for people to enter and walk around. That spaciousness set the scene for gas to build up and for firefighters to enter in order to figure out what was happening.

More recently, storage designs have shifted to smaller, modular, cabinet-based designs. The Fluence Cube is eight feet on each side. The Tesla Megapack is also tightly packed and cabinet-based. That leaves no room for responders to enter.

Lesson 1: Eliminate root causes
Multiple weaknesses made the McMicken Battery fire possible.

Something caused one lithium-ion cell to heat up, although what that something was remains a matter of dispute. APS concluded it was “an internal cell defect.” But battery manufacturer LG Chem challenged that conclusion, contending that the physical evidence suggests an external heat source, such as electrical arcing outside the cell, caused it to heat up. (For more on this, read the second part in this series, to be published later in the week.)

There is agreement on what came next: The clean agent fire suppressant did not stop the fire. The fire spread to neighboring cells throughout a single vertical rack. The heat caused the cells to release dangerous gases, which built up inside the container, which lacked ventilation or a means of detecting those gases. When the hazmat team opted to open the door, the environment inside the container shifted in such a way that it triggered an explosion.

To ensure that an explosion like McMicken never happens again, the people putting together grid batteries need to prevent this chain of events from ever being repeated. The energy density and chemical attributes of lithium-ion cells carry an inevitable risk of thermal runaway, but the choices a system integrator makes will determine if an unexpected event burns up one cell or explodes a whole facility.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arizona-battery-fire-already-prompted-safety-improvements-in-grid-storage

The energy storage industry didn't wait for the outcome of Arizona Public Service's year-long investigation into the battery fire that injured four firefighters in April 2019 to start improving the safety of grid batteries.

The McMicken fire set off a series of shadow investigations, as battery suppliers, developers and customers pieced together evidence to identify the risks posed by their own systems. New looks at potential failures prompted product redesigns, along with hardware and software updates to existing systems.

“Because of our own research into the causes of the APS event, we were aware of what the report was basically going to say,” said Danny Lu, senior vice president at storage integrator Powin Energy, in an email. “We had immediately started working on solutions to those problems about a year ago.”

By the time the APS battery report came out last month, leading energy storage providers, including Fluence, which supplied the McMicken energy storage system, had already adopted key safety improvements. They engineered systems to detect and remove dangerous gases so they cannot build up and explode. They also addressed the layout of battery cells so that if one heats up, the problem does not spread.

A high-profile failure like the McMicken fire might be expected to hold back construction of more grid batteries. Numerous startups hawk alternative storage technologies on the basis of being safer than lithium-ion.

But the U.S. energy storage market did not stop expanding as a result of safety concerns. Instead, the industry has experienced meteoric growth, with record procurements announced almost weekly this summer. An unprecedented number of utilities and power producers are investing in batteries as a pillar of a cleaner electric grid.

The recent changes to top-tier battery offerings have reduced the odds of a repeat of the destructive event at the APS facility, which came online in 2017. APS now applies stricter criteria to the batteries it buys, and other utilities may follow suit.

“Overall fire safety is without a doubt a key priority, and we are satisfied by the progress around standardization of safety features,” said Benoit Allehaut, managing director for clean energy infrastructure at Swiss asset manager Capital Dynamics, which is currently constructing 1.9 gigawatt-hours of storage.

https://twitter.com/VSUNEnergy/status/1295949130041196552?s=20

https://www.mysteel.net/article/5017872-0501/MYSTEEL--China-vanadium-nitride-price-uptrend-may-end.html

An important part of the MEA is the flow field plates, sandwich layers through which the electrolyte is pumped to the electrodes where the electrolytes are oxidized or reduced. The performance of the battery, i.e. power and efficiency, depend strongly on how well the flow fields are organized. Therefore, researchers often select different types of fields to optimize battery performance, but now this is a very labor-intensive task: flow fields are milled in dense graphite plates, which is time-consuming procedure. Russian researchers have proposed a different approach.

"We form flow fields by using several thin layers of flexible graphite materials: the necessary patterns in them are cutted by a laser and then these layers are superimposed on each other to get the required field", says the first author of the work, researcher at Mendeleev Univeristy, Roman Pichugov. "The procedure to create flow fields takes only a few minutes, which is much less than traditional milling of graphite. Plus, cheaper materials are used, and as a result, there is more scope for variation and selection of flow fields."

From cell to stack

Flow batteries can operate with different types of electrolytes. The most common (including those that are installed in China and are being introduced in other countries) utilize vanadium electrolytes, namely solutions of vanadium salts. Exactly on this electrolyte Russian scientists tested their cell design. They sorted out various types of flow fields, varied the electrolyte flow rate and obtained results that on a qualitative level coincide with the best world studies and on a quantitative level even slightly surpass them: the power of tested MEA slightly exceeded the power of similar cells on graphite.

Thus, the new design of MEA is greatly simplifying laboratory test and in the future can be used in real energy storage systems for distributed power grids. Now Russian scientists in collaboration with InEnergy LLC are developing and testing a vanadium flow battery composed of 10 such cells with a total power of 20 watts. The construction of the cell itself and the stack of 10 cells are protected by patents, the last of which belongs to ADARM company, created by the employees of MUCTR. In addition, scientists develop other types of flow batteries utilizing different electrolytes on the basis of the proposed design of MEA.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/mu-rcp081820.php

In 2020 China plans to launch the largest battery complex in the world with a capacity of 800 MW*h (approximately this amount of energy per year is consumed by a household with 200 apartments). This complex is based not on the usual lithium-ion or lead-acid batteries, but on the redox flow battery where the electricity is stored in the form of chemical energy of solutions - electrolytes. Battery consists of two tanks in which electrolytes are stored and membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) - solutions are supplied to MEA by pumps where they undergo electrochemical reactions which provide charging and discharging of the battery.

Due to this setup, redox flow batteries, unlike many other energy storage devices, enable independent scaling of power and capacity of the battery, which are determined by the size of MEA and electrolyte volume, respectively. In addition, redox flow batteries exhibit minimal self-discharge over extended periods and their electrolytes do not degrade even after tens of thousands of operating cycles, making them promising candidates for storing large amounts of energy in the smart power grids. For example, they can store excess electricity generated by photovoltaic solar cells during daylight and generate back-up electricity at night or in cloudy weather.

"Flow batteries are being actively integrated into the power grids of China, Germany and other countries, on one hand, and on the other hand, are continued to be developed and refined in laboratories", comments one of the authors of the work, researcher at the NTI Competence Center at IPCP RAS, Dmitry Konev. "We have proposed a completely new design of MEA, which will facilitate the research process and greatly reduce entrance threshold for new research groups into this area. In the future, this will help to achieve significant progress and will bring distributed energy resources from niche positioning to very high level of commercialization, including in Russia".

The MEA is the heart of the flow battery. It looks like a sandwich of different sheets materials, divided into two symmetrical parts supplied with its own electrolyte. When the battery is connected to a power supply, the one electrolyte is oxidized, while another is reducing and so the battery is charging. After that, the power source can be disconnected and replaced with energy consumer - the electrolytes will undergo reverse processes and the battery will begin to discharge.

SolarHub will develop – in what the government says is a first for NSW – a 6MW “virtual power plant” by aggregating the energy from a group of distributed batteries in order to “strengthen the NSW electricity network and lower electricity costs for consumers.” The batteries will be used to lower grid pressure during peak energy demand, such as summer, when the grid struggles due to high air-conditioning use.

The other projects that will receive “pre-investment” funding – potentially to leverage $2 billion of investment for another 2.1GW of firm supply – include another three big battery storage projects.

These include a 250MW big battery proposed by Renew Estate at Buronga to provide network services, a 100MW big battery at the Walcha renewable hub, also loosely linked with Renew Estate and the UPC/AC battery mentioned above, and a 30MW big battery proposed by Firm Power for western Sydney.

There are also three pumped hydro projects. A 400MW pumped hydro planned for Uralla proposed by UPC/AC, the 400MW Dungowan Dam pumped hydro project put forward by Walcha Energy near Tamworth, both linked to that enormous renewable energy hub, and a 600MW facility near Armidale proposed by Ovens Mountain (OMPS) and Alinta Energy.

There is also the CAES project put forward by Canada’s Hydrostor and supported by network operator Transgrid to create one of the world’s biggest renewable energy micro-grids at Broken Hill. That will involve storage of up to 200MW and 1500MWh.

Kean has recently unveiled plans and called for expressions of interests for two of the three huge renewable energy zones planned for NSW, including in northern NSW where many of these projects are located and in the central west. These will seek to co-ordinate network investment and renewable and storage projects to ensure that the grid congestion now being experienced in the south-west of the state is not repeated elsewhere.

NSW – because most of its coal generators will retire over the next 10-15 years – is facing the most biggest and quickest transition in the country, which the Australian Energy Market Operator says will experience the “fastest” energy transition to renewables in the world.

It has mapped out a 20-year blueprint to ensure the grid can manage a renewables share of between 70 and 94 per cent by 2040. See: World’s fastest energy transition: AEMO maps path to 94 per cent renewables

“NSW has a strong pipeline of dispatchable projects including eighteen (18) batteries approved in our planning system. This clearly shows NSW is the go to state for energy investors in Australia,” Kean said in a statement.

“Our modern grid will be made up of a whole range of tech – from massive pumped hydro projects like Snowy 2.0 right through to local rooftop solar and battery systems.”

Kean said that electricity grids across the world are seeing an influx of low-cost wind and solar generation, helping to improve competition and drive down energy prices.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/reneweconomy.com.au/nsw-to-fund-four-new-big-battery-projects-as-it-flicks-switch-on-transition-from-coal-82272/amp/

The New South Wales Liberal government has announced funding support for four new big battery projects in the state as it flicks the switch on the transition from coal to a grid dominated by “on demand” renewables and storage.

State energy minister Matt Kean unveiled the four chosen “construction” projects on Saturday morning. They include big batteries at the Sapphire wind project and the Uralla renewable energy hub in New England, another fast-start gas project, and a 6MW “virtual power plant” featuring multiple batteries on the south coast. All are negotiating for more funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The NSW government is also supporting another six large scale storage projects in “development”, including the newly announced compressed air energy storage project at Broken Hill, three large pumped hydro projects, also in northern NSW (Barnaby Joyce will be thrilled!) and another two big batteries.

In all, it will produce more 2,200MW of “on demand” capacity. For the energy wonks, the hours of storage are not revealed and will presumably be decided once the studies are completed on the opportunities for the location and the “value stack” for the individual projects.

The announcement comes just a day after AGL Energy announced it was looking to build a big battery of up to 500MW at the site of the ageing Liddell coal generator, which will retire by 2023. That is part of plans by AGL to build up to 1.2GW of big battery and distributed battery and demand management projects across the main grid, including another 200MW/400MWh in NSW.

The NSW government said four projects identified from the 14 shortlisted in its Emerging Renewables program will receive a combined $37.5 million funding that will leverage $230 million of private investment and 170MW of capacity.

These are a 30MW battery at the CWP Renewables Sapphire wind farm near Glenn Innes that will “store excess renewable energy and put it back into the grid when it’s needed most, providing clean energy at a lower cost.”

There is the 50MW battery proposed by UPC/AC Energy next to the planned 720MW New England Solar farm near Uralla, which the government says will be the largest solar/battery hybrid project in the country.

Goldwind will integrate a 12MW battery with a 72MW highly flexible gas reciprocating engines at an “existing renewable energy farm”, but it doesn’t say where. Goldwind operates the White Rock wind and solar project in New England and also the Gullen range wind farm and solar farm in southern NSW.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200810103239.htm

Sars-Cov-2 viruses can be inactivated using certain commercially available mouthwashes. This was demonstrated in cell culture experiments by virologists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Jena, Ulm, Duisburg-Essen, Nuremberg and Bremen. High viral loads can be detected in the oral cavity and throat of some Covid-19 patients. The use of mouthwashes that are effective against Sars-Cov-2 could thus help to reduce the viral load and possibly the risk of coronavirus transmission over the short term. This could be useful, for example, prior to dental treatments. However, mouth rinses are not suitable for treating Covid-19 infections or protecting yourself against catching the virus...

https://seanews.co.uk/features/the-cruise-industrys-covid-19-crisis-how-bad-is-it-really/

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 was first reported on the Diamond Princess Cruise, operations throughout the world have come to a virtual standstill. Using VesselsValue’s new Trade service for Cruise ships, analysts researched journey counts, port calls, average speeds, passenger miles and supply & demand to shed light on the situation. Here is a detailed analysis of the impact of the pandemic on cruise shipping.

Suggestions for a new name anyone.........as a bit of fun.

https://patch.com/new-york/farmingdale/li-biotech-startup-test-coronavirus-vaccine-humans-reports

Business
LI Biotech Startup To Test Coronavirus Vaccine On Humans: Reports
Codagenix's vaccine trial will include roughly 50 paid young adult volunteers, according to reports.
By Michael DeSantis, Patch Staff Patch Staff Badge
Aug 13, 2020 5:01 pm ET

FARMINGDALE, NY — Codagenix, a Long Island-based biotechnology startup, will conduct a human trial of the coronavirus vaccine, according to reports.

Roughly 50 paid young adult volunteers will test the vaccine's safety, Newsday reported. The trials will be performed in London by Dublin-based Open Orphan plc. The Codagenix vaccine is made from a live, but weakened, version of the coronavirus that is altered to slow its ability to copy itself, according to Newsday.

The healthy volunteers will be infected with the COVID-19 virus, and the trial is expected to begin in fall, BioWorld reported. Data is expected to be collected by the end of the year. The vaccine contains all SARS-CoV-2 proteins but replicates slowly, the company said.

"Based on our animal data, we expect this vaccine to be effective with a single dose, but will also evaluate a repeat dose to assess potential for boosting and as a model for protection from wild-type challenge," Sybil Tasker, Codagenix's chief medical officer, Codagenix BioWorld.

Codagenix is located at the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park in Farmingdale.

He continued: "On the market front, Chinese V2O5 prices strengthened by approximately 15% to $6.95 per lb during Q2 2020 as a result of increased steel sector demand. We continue to receive inquires for our products from end users and remain very optimistic about expected future demand growth as a result of recently announced stimulus programs, globally. Additionally, despite experiencing a period of low demand within the aerospace industry, we continue to prioritize increasing our high purity vanadium customer portfolio, particularly following the completion of our vanadium trioxide plant next year. Our focus remains on capturing these high value sales when demand returns to normalized levels as well as additional sales opportunities in new jurisdictions as the preferred producer and supplier of high purity vanadium."

He concluded: "I am also very encouraged by the support and dedication shown by our entire team during these challenging times while at the same time achieving operational targets. Since March 2020, our team has supported local seamstress businesses who have produced over 230,000 protective masks which have aided in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in Maracás. Going forward, we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our workforce and extend our support to our local communities as we proactively manage the circumstances related to the global COVID-19 pandemic."

A summary of the operational and financial performance for Q2 2020 is provided in the tables below. Effective May 1, 2020, the Company's Canadian and Irish entities have changed their functional currency to the U.S. dollar and the Company has changed its presentation currency from Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar. Prior period comparative information is restated in U.S. dollars to reflect the change in presentation currency.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/largo-resources-announces-second-quarter-2020-results-highlighted-by-continued-low-cost-operations-overall-sales-and-trading-performance-in-line-with-expectations-827524478.html

Q2 2020 Highlights

Production of 2,562 tonnes (5.6 million pounds1) of V2O5, an increase of 2.0% over Q2 2019
Two consecutive months of V2O5 production above nameplate capacity: 1,052 tonnes in May 2020 and 1,030 tonnes in June 2020
Global V2O5 recovery rate2 of 80.8%; Second quarter of strong global recoveries in 2020
Solid financial position: Cash at June 30, 2020 totaled $78.2 million
Record low cash operating costs excluding royalties3 of $1.89 per lb of V2O5 , 44% decrease over Q2 2019 (after tax credit benefits of $2.2 million)
Revenues of $8.4 million (net of the re-measurement of trade receivables / payables of $2.4 million on vanadium sales from contracts with customers of $10.8 million)
Net loss of $7.0 million and a loss per share of $0.01
Company maintains its 2020 sales, cost and production guidance
Other Significant Highlights

2019 Sustainability Report released: Including improved performance metrics and new reporting standards
Nameplate capacity increase by 10%: Planned kiln upgrades and cooler maintenance scheduled for Q4 2020 with a capex of $1.3 million
2020 drilling program underway following delays caused by COVID-19
TORONTO, Aug. 13, 2020 /CNW/ - Largo Resources Ltd. ("Largo" or the "Company") (TSX: LGO) (OTCQX: LGORF) today announces its second quarter 2020 financial and operating results with revenues of $8.4 million from vanadium pentoxide ("V2O5") equivalent sales of 1,018 tonnes. Production from the Maracás Menchen Mine in Q2 2020 was 2,562 tonnes (5.6 million lbs1) of V2O5 produced at an average global recovery rate4 of 80.8%.

Paulo Misk, President and Chief Executive Officer for Largo, stated: "The Company's balance sheet and financial position remains solid exiting Q2 2020. Operations performed well during the quarter following our preventative maintenance program and the Company's cash balance at the end of Q2 2020 was $78.2 million. Although profitability was impacted by lower recognized sales during the quarter, the Company's working capital investment was necessary to fill our sales pipeline and build strategic global V2O5 stockpiles in order to fulfil customer demand going forward. Also, despite some minor delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, our sales and trading performance remains in-line with expectations. We continue to maintain the Company's 2020 sales guidance of 9,500 to 10,000 tonnes of V2O5 as we realize the economic benefits associated with our commercial independence. Largo has demonstrated substantially lower unit costs versus Q2 2019, despite the fact that such costs now include sales and distribution costs (while under the previous off-take agreement, the Company's sales and marketing commissions were netted off against revenue)."

Unfortunately we were a bit late Snott :)
Maybe one or two useful contacts in these links though.

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2018/january/europes-largest-community-battery-installed-at-trent-basin.aspx

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/faraday-funding-announcement

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-42774558

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-keys-to-speed-in-race-for-vaccine-and-its-perils/2020/08/13/2c4986e6-dd44-11ea-b4f1-25b762cdbbf4_story.html

https://favershamsociety.org/cleve-hill/

https://www.favershameye.co.uk/post/cleve-hill-update-2-1

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-08-12/south-africa-is-being-pushed-to-the-edge-of-economic-and-political-disaster#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s

South Africa Nears the Point of No Return
The continent’s dominant powerhouse is being pushed to the edge of economic and political disaster...

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.biznews.com/briefs/2020/08/12/cape-town-eskom-electricity/amp

(Bloomberg) — The City of Cape Town’s attempt to secure South African municipalities the legal right to select their electricity suppliers has been set back by a court ruling that it must first exhaust negotiations with the government on the matter.

The city currently has to buy all its electricity from national utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which generates most of its output from coal and is struggling to keep pace with demand. A lawsuit aimed at enabling it to tap more renewable energy from independent producers was initially filed in the High Court in 2017 and was heard in May.

“Essentially the judge didn’t deal with the substantive constitutional decision. It does mean more delays,” said Nicole Loser, a lawyer with the Centre for Environmental Rights, which presented evidence to back up the city’s case. “It’s a procedural judgment.”

Had it won the case, the city of four million people had planned to set up its own power-purchasing office, which would secure supplies within six years. That would have paved the way for other municipalities to follow suit and eroded revenue for Eskom, which is already failing to generate enough revenue to cover its costs and is reliant on government bailouts to continue operating.