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https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/parliament-cracks-eskom-whip-demands-stringent-conditions-for-r59bn-bailout-33244255

CAPE TOWN – Parliament has demanded stringent conditions for the R59 billion bailout to be given to Eskom ahead of the approval of the Special Appropriations Bill.
The government has issued guarantees of more than R570bn in the past few years and Eskom carries most of the guarantees.

The standing committee on appropriations on Wednesday demanded that Eskom must give them a full register of non-core assets that would be disposed.

In the presentation to MPs, Eskom has only mentioned its R10bn loan book, which will be sold, but the committee want the power utility to list all its non-core assets.

Chairperson of the committee, Sifiso Buthelezi, said they will not be security guards for the R59bn, but Eskom must be able to account for its funds.

“We don't want to sit here and be the security guards of the money.

"We encourage the National Treasury to look at other creative ways to fund Eskom and other state-owned entities and not always the fiscus.

"It can't be business as usual. There are other ways,” said Buthelezi.

Ashor Sarupen of the DA said that the government must be tough on the bailout.

“In terms of all we agreed on as the committee is that the conditions of this bailout must be stringent.

"We cannot give Eskom a blank cheque.

"The Parliamentary Budget Office told us that at this stage we are not headed for the International Monetary Fund because the bonds are purchased on the capital markets,” said Sarupen.

ANC MP Masarona Mathafa said Eskom must report regularly to Parliament on how it was using the money allocated.

He said that it would be appropriate for the power utility to report every quarter so that MPs could track on how the funds were used and if they were used correctly.

Mathafa said Eskom could not be be sustained in its current form.

Credit agency Moody’s in July put South Africa on notice that it might downgrade the country following the further bailout of Eskom, which is likely to widen the government's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) and put further constraints on the already burdened fiscus.

Moody’s, which is the only one of the major rating agencies that still has the country's sovereign debt above junk status, slammed the government's R59bn support for the power utility over the next two years in the absence of a credible plan to stabilise it.

Moody’s said if the additional support for Eskom was not compensated for, the country’s fiscal deficit would widen to 5.7 percent of GDP this year and 5.6 percent next year.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-battery-material-sector-cheering-040850408.html

Bloomberg) -- Lower prices of vanadium, a metal mainly known for strengthening steel, are key in the drive to increase its use in the booming battery sector, according to the developer of an Australian mine.

The metal’s retreat from a price spike in 2018 is being welcomed -- rather than lamented -- by producers as they seek to extend vanadium’s use in large-scale energy storage batteries, according to Vincent Algar, managing director of Australian Vanadium Ltd., which plans to bring its project into production by about 2021.

Vanadium can be used in redox-flow batteries that advocates argue are better suited than existing lithium-ion technology to store large amounts of energy to back up power grids, or to integrate more renewable energy assets. There’s potential for the battery sector to account for at least 20% of demand for the metal, up from about 2% now, Algar said.
Prices of vanadium pentoxide in China have declined about three-quarters from an October 2018 high to $8.50 a pound, according to Asian Metal Inc. data. A price between $8 and $12 should allow producers to prosper and also spur greater adoption in the battery segment, according to Algar.

“There’s a happy balance to be had,” Algar said Wednesday in an interview in Melbourne. “We want both the vanadium industry and battery industry to be robust, but also for the battery sector to be able to afford to enter into long-term agreements with us.”

Lithium-ion technology, though, continues to be preferred for utility-scale applications and accounted for about 60% of commissioned projects in the first half of 2019, BloombergNEF said in a Sept. 9 report.
Canada’s CellCube Energy Storage Systems Inc. expects vanadium redox-flow batteries to compete more with lithium-ion alternatives as costs fall, and as customers seek storage assets with longer duration, the company said in December.

The steel industry, which accounts for about 90% of vanadium demand, is also lifting use of the metal as prices fall, Evraz Plc, a key producer, said last month. Prices jumped in 2018 as larger amounts of vanadium were added to some steel products to comply with new rules in China to raise the quality of products used in the construction sector. Steelmakers have since partially substituted the metal with alternatives including niobium and titanium.

Co-location of utility scale solar and storage may accelerate subsidy-free deployment of renewables in the United Kingdom by reducing investment risk, according to a report by U.K. market research company Aurora Energy Research Ltd.

The economics of merchant solar co-located with battery storage systems states the pace and scale of deployment of merchant PV will be determined by investor confidence. According to the study, the co-location of energy storage with such projects would hedge the risk of price cannibalization, which occurs when the mass deployment of merchant solar drives down wholesale power prices so low investor returns are affected.

The phenomenon has only been observed for solar in northern Chile, where a large concentration of PV projects selling power to the spot market depressed wholesale prices in the region which fell to zero in some locations during the peak daily periods of solar production.

Large scale energy storage offers investors different revenue streams from grid balancing services, demand for which will be driven by the ever higher penetration of renewables. “Co-location of new solar assets with battery storage systems can unlock additional revenue streams and reduce the risks of merchant business models,” Aurora Energy wrote. Mass deployment of such assets can be expected to improve the technology used and the associated business models as a further bonus.

In good company

Uniting solar plants and storage will be decisive for the construction of profitable subsidy-free renewable energy in the U.K., claimed the report. “We find project internal rates of return [IRRs] of between 6.6% and 7.6% for hybrid assets deployed in 2020 in our base case market scenario, compared with 4% for standalone solar and battery assets,” the analysts wrote. Co-location of PV and storage can also reduce balance-of-system battery costs by up to half.

The report’s authors said the British regulatory environment is now more favorable for storage projects and if electricity network operator National Grid raises its procurement of flexible capacity – implying higher ancillary service revenue for batteries – more opportunities will be opened to investors. According to the study, the rising penetration of renewables in the U.K. is increasing price volatility as well as the need for flexible assets, including demand-side response, storage and gas peaking.

The latter is a controversial option. Tom Vernon, MD of gas peaking plant provider Statera, recently told pv magazine such fast-acting facilities are vital to back-up a renewables grid. However, German thinktank Energy Watch Group this week stated the destructive effect of methane leakage from natural gas extraction means that fossil fuel is an even more damaging choice than coal or oil.

But those figures are only for scenarios in which solar and wind meet power demand 100 percent of the time. If other sources meet demand just 5 percent of the time, storage could work at a price tag of $150/kWh. Which technologies could hit that target?

Lithium-ion batteries are within reach of the $150/kWh target, and their share in the utility-scale energy storage is growing. Yet they face materials scarcity challenges exacerbated by a rising electric car market. But, says Chiang, the technology is “unlikely to meet the cost requirements for long-duration storage, so for deep decarbonization, there is a critical need to develop low-cost, long duration storage technologies.”

Pumped hydro and compressed air, which use extra power to pump water uphill or to pressurize air, both of which can be used to turn a turbine and generate electricity when needed, already have a low energy cost of $20/kWh, the researchers say. But these systems need a large amount of space and special geological features such as mountains or underground caverns, so cannot be used everywhere.

Another viable technology is flow batteries that would use abundant, low-cost chemicals to store energy in large tanks. But not all flow battery chemistries are inexpensive. One of the main types, vanadium redox flow batteries, have an estimated cost of $100/kWh, the researchers say, but more development could bring down costs.

Chiang is betting on sulfur batteries. He has recently developed an aqueous sulfur flow battery that could cost as little as $10/kWh. The technology has what it takes for long-duration, low-cost storage, and is now being developed by Form Energy, a company he co-founded in 2017 and that has recently gotten extensive financial backing.

There are other battery technologies to keep an eye on. High-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries cost $500/kWh, but with more development, their costs could fall by up to 75 percent by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Meanwhile, the cost of sodium nickel chloride batteries could fall from $315 to $490/kWh at present to $130 to $200/kWh by 2030.

There are many other ways to store renewable energy that the researchers didn’t consider, such as with flywheels, supercapacitors, thermal storage in molten salts, and using excess electricity to liquefy air or to make fuels such as hydrogen and methane.

The Eland project and others announced recently show that renewables combined with storage are already starting to make economic sense. Advancing energy storage technologies and economies of scale should help drive down costs further and allow renewables to meet their full potential.

“The key is to develop storage technologies that can reach those low capital costs [of $20/kWh],” Chiang says. “I believe this kind of storage can be demonstrated at a pilot scale within the next five years.”

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/what-energy-storage-would-have-to-cost-for-a-renewable-grid

Last week, the city of Los Angeles inked a deal for a solar-plus-storage system at a record-low price. The 400-MW Eland solar power project will be capable of storing 1,200 megawatt-hours of energy in lithium-ion batteries to meet demand at night. The project is a part of the city's climate commitment to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.

Electricity and heat production are the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Carbon-free electricity will be critical for keeping the average global temperature rise to within the United Nations’ target of 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst effects of climate change. As world leaders meet at the United Nations Climate Action Summit next week, boosting renewable energy and energy storage will be major priorities.

Wind and solar skeptics are quick to point out that such systems are expensive and can’t keep the lights on 24/7. The first argument is wilting as renewables become cost-competitive with fossil fuels. The second one also boils down to cost: that of energy storage, which will be essential for sending large amounts of renewable energy to the grid when needed.
Low-cost storage is the key to enabling renewable electricity to compete with fossil fuel generated electricity on a cost basis,” says Yet-Ming Chiang, a materials science and engineering professor at MIT.

But exactly how low? Chiang, professor of energy studies Jessika Trancik, and others have determined that energy storage would have to cost roughly US $20 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the grid to be 100 percent powered by a wind-solar mix. Their analysis is published in Joule.

That’s an intimidating stretch for lithium-ion batteries, which dipped to $175/kWh in 2018. But things look up if you loosen the constraints on renewable energy, the researchers say. Then, storage technologies that meet the cost target are within reach.

The team picked four locations—Arizona, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Texas—and gathered 20 years of data on those solar and wind resources there. Such resources can change considerably with the seasons and over the years, and their longer-term analysis—while previous studies had used data from just a year or two—captures the variations that may occur over the lifetime of a power plant, the researchers say. They modeled the costs of wind-solar-plus-storage systems that would reliably meet various grid demands, such as providing baseload energy 24/7 and meeting peak-hour spikes in demand for a few hours.

Energy storage would have to cost $10 to $20/kWh for a wind-solar mix with storage to be competitive with a nuclear power plant providing baseload electricity. And competing with a natural gas peaker plant would require energy storage costs to fall to $5/kWh.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/09/16/solar-plus-storage-vs-grid-enhancement-part-iii/

Large-scale, front-of-the-meter stationary storage could significantly reduce investments in peak generation and grid reinforcements, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) new Utility-scale batteries – Innovation Landscape Brief report.
The document, predicts that global storage capacity from large-scale batteries could grow from about 11 GWh at present to between 100 GWh and 167 GWh in 2030, highlights how big batteries are ideally positioned to serve as capacity reserves, as they can displace peak-generators and eliminate the need for additional investments in peaking plants.
The authors of the paper say grid congestion only occurs in specific situations and for very limited periods of time, which makes grid-reinforcement investments a less-than-ideal solution. Large-scale batteries can instead be easily installed at congestion points as “virtual power lines” to enhance the performance and reliability of a system, IRENA said.
Big storage systems offer geographical and sizing flexibility, so they can provide black start services in cases of grid failure, as well as frequency regulation and flexible ramping. “As opposed to conventional plants that can take several seconds to minutes to respond to system operators’ instructions, battery storage systems can typically respond to such requirements within milliseconds,” IRENA said.
Large storage facilities can be an alternative to upgrades. If controlled by system operators, batteries can provide an immediate response during the few hours each year when existing network substations might be overloaded.
One example of storage replacing grid-enhancement investments is a 35 MW storage project that Terna runs next to a 150 kV grid in southern Italy, where a huge amount of solar power has been deployed. Other projects include the Tesla 100 MW/129 MWh Li-ion battery storage system at Hornsdale Wind Farm in Australia, a 90 MW/120 MWh battery storage project that Steag is developing in Germany, and a 34 MW/204 MWh battery storage system connected to a 51 MW wind farm in northern Japan.
Although monetizable and nonmonetizable benefits are already outweighing the upfront costs of deploying big batteries, investors are still reluctant to accept utility-scale storage as a real alternative to costly grid infrastructure upgrades. Clear regulations that define ownership and operating models could enable a wider range of revenue streams for storage providers, IRENA says.
However, a number of regulatory constraints are still preventing the storage business from growing. These include a lack of policy incentives and a dearth of long-term contracts, which can help define revenue streams over the amortization period of a project.
Large-scale batteries should be included in long-term expansion plans for power networks, along with traditional grid and generation investments, IRENA says.

https://in.reuters.com/article/asia-ironore/update-1-china-steel-hits-1-1-2-month-peak-as-deepening-slowdown-raises-stimulus-hopes-idINL3N2671EN

MANILA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Chinese steel futures hit 1-1/2-month highs on Monday as investors hoped that Beijing would roll out more stimulus measures after latest economic indicators showed deepening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

The most-active construction steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 2.1% to 3,575 yuan ($505.71) a tonne, its highest since Aug. 1. It closed up 1.8% at 3,564 yuan.

Hot-rolled coil, the steel used in cars and home appliances, jumped as much as 1.7% to a 1-1/2-month peak of 3,581 yuan a tonne, before closing 1.2% firmer at 3,564 yuan.
China’s industrial production grew at the weakest pace in 17-1/2 years in August, a sign of increasing weakness in an economy lashed by trade headwinds and soft domestic demand.

Monday’s data followed downbeat remarks by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, saying it is “very difficult” for the domestic economy to grow at 6% rate or more because of the high base from which it was starting and the complicated international backdrop.

The dismal industrial output figures raised the likelihood of further stimulus from Beijing, which could boost demand for construction and manufacturing materials, said Helen Lau, metals and mining analyst at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.

Monday’s weak data print “falls short of expectations, and signals that China’s domestic consumption is not yet ready to be the key economic growth engine,” ANZ Research said in a note.

Possible tighter steel output restrictions in China ahead of the nation’s National Day holidays next month and during the winter season later this year are also providing further support to prices, Lau said.

Beijing is desperate to minimise pollution across northern parts of the country and keep the Chinese capital safer before celebrations of its 70th anniversary on Oct. 1.

https://www.energy-storage.news/news/battery-storage-systems-at-the-edge-of-profitability-according-to-rtwh-aach

The dramatic fall in cost, occuring alongside the mass roll-out of home storage systems in Germany since 2013, has highlighted the potential of decentralised batteries in virtual power plants to utility companies and grid operators.

Since 2017, every second residential PV installation in the European state has been accompanied with a battery pack, and there are now roughly 150,000 home storage systems with an estimated capacity of about 1GWh in circulation. Decentralised batteries are "one of the hottest topics in energy research," according to Dr Kai-Philipp Karies, Jan Figgener and David Haberschusz, energy storage researchers at RTWH Aachen University in Germany.
In an article for Volume 20 of PV Tech Power, the quarterly technical journal from our publisher Solar Media, the researchers argue that battery storage systems are at “the edge of profitability” across several market segments today. The article looks at the emotional and economic drivers behind Germany's residential storage boom and unpacks the complex business case for commercial storage. It also highlights the role multi-megawatt batteries could have in supporting national transmission grids and phasing out fossil fuel generation.

When it comes to the latter, the researchers note that Germany and the UK are the two “most important” markets in Europe. The UK – which is more susceptible to energy instability due to its island grid – can “prevent, or at least mitigate” national grid blackouts like the one incurred in late August by deploying “increasing amounts" of utility-scale battery storage systems. In Germany, three of the four grid transmission operators have submitted bids to the German grid regulator to test ‘grid-boosters’ – in other words, battery systems with a total capacity of 1.3GW.

Practical insights gained from the operation of grid-operated battery systems will provide lessons for a future which must cater to an increasing number of electric vehicles, according to the academics

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1895586/world-must-adapt-inevitable-climate-change-warns-report

Nations rich and poor must invest now to protect against destructive climate change impacts already in the pipeline or pay an even heavier price later, a global commission led by former UN head Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday.
Spending $1.8 trillion across five key areas over the next decade would not only help buffer the worst impacts of global warming but could generate more than $7 trillion in net benefits, the report from the Global Commission on Adaptation argued.
"Global actions to slow climate change are promising but insufficient," the report concluded. "We must invest in a massive effort to adapt to conditions that are now inevitable."
Investing now in early warning systems, climate-resistant infrastructure, mangrove protection, better agriculture, and improving fresh water resources would pay for itself several times over, it said.
Mangroves -- tropical tidal water forests -- protect, for example, against storm surges and act as nurseries for commercial fisheries, but at least a third of them globally have been uprooted for tourism or aquaculture.
Without action by 2030, Ban told journalists, "climate change could push more than 100 million people in developing countries below the poverty line".
"People everywhere are experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change," said Microsoft founder Bill Gates, co-chair of the report along with World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.
In the 25-year history of UN climate negotiations, adaptation has trailed far down the agenda compared with "mitigation", or the reduction of carbon emissions.
It was long seen as an issue only affecting poor and developing nations.
But recent massive inland flooding and a string of record-breaking hurricanes in the United States, along with ferocious heatwaves in Europe and Japan, have shown that wealth is not an adequate shield.
"This is not just in the developing world but the developed world too," said Dominic Molloy, a co-author of the report from Britain's Department for International Development.
But a new focus on adapting should not detract from the need to slash carbon pollution, he added.
"We absolutely need to do both, reduce emissions and adapt," Molloy told AFP. "The purpose of this commission was to raise the visibility of adaptation, not shift away from mitigation."
Cost of failure
Failure to curb the greenhouse gas emissions slow-roasting the planet has already unleashed a crescendo of deadly heatwaves, water shortages, and superstorms made more destructive by rising seas.
The Bahamas was devastated this month by one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record.
Earth's average surface temperature has gone up 1C since the late 19th century, and is on track -- at current rates of CO2 emissions -- to warm another two or three degrees by century's end.
The 2015 Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming at "well below" 2C, and 1

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mps-to-discuss-debt-ridden-eskoms-cash-crisis-32553548

Cape Town - The Eskom crisis faces attention from members of Parliament with the public representatives set to grill the bosses of the power utility.

The programming committee heard that Eskom’s senior officials will appear before the public enterprises committee on Tuesday.
Eskom has recently received an injection of R59 billion as it faces a cash crunch.

This was an emergency provided by government after it realised the power utility would not be able to operate if there was no money from the fiscus.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has said part of the conditions for Eskom’s bailout was that it would sell some of its non-core assets. He said the power utility would have to sell its loan book and get R10bn.

The sale of non-core assets has been a subject of discussion for some time.

But now the government has also sent in a chief restructuring officer to monitor the funds of Eskom.

Several state-owned entities are in serious financial trouble.

They have received a bailout of more than R570bn in the last few years and Eskom was sitting with the largest debt, of R440bn.

State arms manufacturer Denel two weeks ago announced that it received a bailout of R2.8bn from government.

The first tranche of R1.8bn has been released with another tranche of R1bn to be released in the next financial year.

But SAA and the SABC still need funding with the airline requiring billions of rands.

The government had warned that Eskom was the single biggest risk to the economy and that if it defaulted on its loan it could trigger a cross-default in all entities.

Subsequently, the county would not have the money to settle the billions of rands owed to creditors by the entities.

But Mboweni has drawn a line in the sand that no entity would get a bailout without conditions.

Eskom is also facing the unbundling with the company set to split into three entities.

This has been opposed by the unions saying they feared that workers would lose their jobs.

Eskom’s built programme has been delayed by several years after numerous problems at Medupi and Kusile. The costs have ballooned from less then R79bn each to more than R165bn.

The coal-fired power stations were built in 2008 but they have not come on stream with only a few units online.

The power utility announced huge losses in the past two years. The irregular expenditure has also impacted on the funding operations of Eskom.

https://www.pv-tech.org/news/polish-solar-goes-big-with-1.1gw-dual-announcement

Poland’s still-nascent solar market could witness a colossal boost in the future if two schemes unveiled this week succeed in reaching the finish line.

On Thursday, a consortium signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a 600MW solar complex in the Przykona commune, a two-hour drive to the west of capital Warsaw.

The installation, set to be delivered in instalments, is a partnership between Energia Przykona – a unit of private equity group NeoInvestments – China Sinogy Electric Engineering, as well as the latter’s European partner Strategic Swiss Partners.

In statements widely circulated by local media, the consortium explained the first two phases of the 630GWh-a-year complex are ready to secure grid connection points, with building permits due to follow in early 2020.

Jacek Rusiecki, board member at Energia Przykona, took to social media to explain the complex in eastern Wielkopolska will start with a 200MW first batch. “And that’s not all,” Rusiecki went on to say. “We are planning to build energy storage there.”

Separately speaking to local outlet Gramwzielone.pl, Rusiecki explained the plan is to underpin Przykona's revenues via corporate PPAs. He declined naming any offtakers but said the agreements will cover a 15-year period.

Contacted by PV Tech, Rusiecki later said: "We anticipate that we will obtain building permits in March 2020 and we would like the power plant to be built within 18 to 24 months after that point, meaning it would start operating in March 2022 at the latest."

A 500MW solar push by Poland's second top energy user

Should Przykona be delivered as currently designed, it would mark a sizeable boost for Poland’s as-of-yet budding PV scene, with IRENA recording last year an installed capacity of 487MW.

The country is increasingly drawing foreign eyes as it readies an update of its renewable support scheme, meant to bolster PV capacity between 2020 (900MW) and 2040 (20.2GW). Financiers are starting to come on board but the pipeline to date – save for exceptions such as SIG’s 600MW push – remain modestly sized.

The momentum could gather further steam under a second, separate PV scheme, also unveiled this week. In a statement, mining giant KGHM Polska Miedz said it has inked a deal with state-run utility group PGE for the roll-out of up to 500MW of solar near its mining sites.

The pipeline, to be deployed under a joint venture, is meant to help offset the power needs of copper and silver operator KGHM. At an annual 2.5TWh, the mining group claims to be Poland’s second top energy user, surpassed only by the country’s state railway group.

The partnership was well received by top government figures, with Energy minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski describing it as a sign that the administration’s work to foster renewables-friendly legislation is “positively received.”

Led by the University of St Andrews, this project aims to accelerate the development of sodium ion batteries and put a safe sodium ion battery with high performance, low cost and a long cycle life onto the path to commercialisation.

A £55 million fund has been earmarked for five projects looking at developing the next generation of battery storage technology.
https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/next_generation_battery_storage_research_receives_55_million_boost

The Faraday Institution has allocated the funding to five consortium-led projects with the aim of overcoming battery challenges, in particular by improving performance and cost characteristics. The projects will look at battery chemistries, systems and manufacturing methods of batteries used for grid storage, electric vehicles and other applications.

The projects are expected to run over a four-year period and are split into four focus categories:

Next generation lithium-ion cathodes

Two projects will explore this focus. The first, dubbed FutureCat, is being led by the University of Sheffield. It is looking to deliver cathodes that hold more charge and are better suited to withstanding prolonged cycling, as well as promote ion mobility. This would increase the durability of the battery and the range and acceleration of an electric vehicle.

The second project, CATMAT, is to be led by the University of Bath, with the intention of discovering novel cathode materials, scaling up the synthesis of the most promising materials and assimilating them into fully integrated battery cells to demonstrate performance.

Lithium-sulfur technology

UCL is to lead this project, which aims to enable “rapid” improvements in lithium-sulfur technology, which it says could take batteries beyond the “inherent limitations” of lithium-ion, which is the current dominant chemistry in electric vehicle batteries.

Next generation sodium ion

Next generation electrode manufacturing

The Nextrode project – led by the University of Oxford – will develop new manufacturing tools to create a new generation of smart, high performance electrodes in the hope of enabling EVs with longer range and more durable batteries.

This is the second round of funding from the Faraday Institution, having awarded £42 million to four projects in 2018.

The four existing projects are focused on improving current generation lithium-ion battery chemistry, performance and recyclability and addressing the scientific barriers facing the commercial realisation of sold-state batteries.

The Faraday Battery Challenge is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Neil Morris, CEO of the Faraday Institution, said the research is being done with “a sense of urgency”.

“It is imperative that the UK takes a lead role in increasing the efficiency of energy storage as the world moves towards low carbon economies and seeks to switch to clean methods of energy production,” Morris continued

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/vanadium-resources-meets-with-potential-partners-offtakers-in-big-chinese-marketing-drive/

Special Report: Vanadium Resources’ (ASX:VR8) advanced Steelpoortdrift vanadium project is a genuine global standout. Now, VR8 is headed to China – the world’s largest vanadium consumer – for all-important meetings with potential customers in the steel, alloy and battery industries.

VR8’s Steelportdrift project has the largest, highest grade in-ground resource within the vanadium-rich Bushveld Complex of South Africa.

At 169 million tonnes, it also boasts the largest +1 per cent high-grade V2O5 resource in the world.
The orebody itself outcrops at surface and dips shallowly (making it ideal for very low cost, open pit mining) and simple processing yields high quality, low impurity +2 per cent V2O5 concentrates.

This chart shows how the size and grade of Vanadium Resources’ (ASX:VR8) Steelpoortdrift project – both in situ and concentrate – compares to some of its peers.
Not even close. VR8 managing director Bill Oliver says the company is in an enviable position.

“With permits in place we feel we are well ahead, with a resource that is absolutely world-class by any comparison,” he says.

VR8 is aggressively moving Steelpoortdrift towards production. The next big step is meeting with prospective customers and project partners.

In September, VR8 management and consultancy Mastermines will visit China to launch an all-important project marketing campaign.

Mastermines’ David Gillam has travelled to China numerous times over the last few years, but this is the first visit that looks to be fully booked before they leave Australia.

“Our blanket marketing began just this week and the response has been extremely encouraging,” he says.

“Our intention is to bring VR8 quickly into early [offtake/ partner] discussions and we believe we have the best contacts in vanadium throughout Asia to do just that.”

VR8 will attend a major three-day vanadium conference to create a blanket awareness of just how impressive the Steelpoortdrift vanadium project really is.

There, meetings are scheduled with major companies – and potential future customers or project partners — within the steel, alloy and battery industries.

The reaction from these groups to the recent investor presentation has already been very favourable, VR8 says.

And while they are there, management will look at using facilities in China for future test work.

China is the world’s top producer of vanadium and the country’s local expertise is often overlooked, VR8 says.

This modern test facility, visited by Mastermines in late 2018, is where China’s top professors assist local miners test vanadium along with recommending suitable or innovative processing paths:

https://www.tandoresources.com.au/sites/default/files/2019-aug-08%20VR8%20MM%20Final%20Presentation%20CN.pdf

I would like to invite your companies to participate in our second Investment Conference, which is being held in Johannesburg on 5-7 November.

It is a unique opportunity to see what other companies in South Africa are doing and what the country has to offer.

We recognise that these support measures are only meaningful if we create a conductive environment for business to thrive.

To that end, we have embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at creating what we call an Entrepreneurial State.

This is a state that can work with the private sector to promote competitiveness and assure the success of our business partners.

We are implementing a revitalised industrial policy, which will see more effective support to a wide range of sectors, from automotives to metals fabrication and renewable energy.

We are hard at work reviewing our visa regime, to smooth access for businesspeople, and are undertaking key reforms to promote certainty in areas like mining and telecommunications.

We continue to offer a comprehensive set of incentives and support measures, including a growing network of special economic zones, and targeted support for those investing in new infrastructure and new technologies.

Our aim is to create quality jobs for our people and address the inequalities that we have inherited from our past and which continue to undermine inclusive economic growth.

It is for this reason that we have pursued policies over the last 25 years that have sought to provide black South Africans with skills, assets and opportunities that were denied to them under apartheid.

As we intensify these efforts – by, for example, refining our black economic empowerment policies and accelerating land reform – we continue to strengthen the rule of law, ensure regulatory certainty and offer extensive protections for investors.

We ask those who come to South Africa to join us in building a fair and equal society and to recognise our vision of shared prosperity.

With your support, we hope to extend that vision across the African continent.

As these projects are realised, they will create new opportunities for investors.

The investment potential of African projects is immense, but projects are too large and complex to be undertaken alone.

South African firms have decades of experience working on the continent, and are ideally positioned to assist new and established investors in Africa.

As the most diversified economy on the continent, South Africa has the skills, resources and manufacturing capability to help drive the development of productive infrastructure in Africa, and enable the participation of global partners like Japan.

Our natural resource endowment – which includes some of the best grades of platinum, vanadium, nickel, copper and manganese – remains relevant for the green and sustainable economy of the future.

As is our fast-developing renewable energy industry - which makes the prospect of beneficiation in the value chains for fuel cells, batteries and other emerging technologies - a commercial reality.

The coming infrastructure revolution, combined with the Continental Free Trade Area, means that manufacturing in Africa is the best way to sell in Africa.

African’s GDP is already US$3 trillion and is projected to be US$5 trillion by the end of 2030 , and a new generation of consumers will be looking to purchase automobiles, televisions, cellphones, food products and so much more.

This consumer market gives manufacturers in South Africa and on the African continent an incredible base from which to develop.

It offers a source of growth and development that, when combined with a competitive and low-cost environment for production, can be used to then extend the reach of manufacturing to the rest of the world.

As the most advanced industrial economy on the continent, South Africa is well positioned to serve as the launch pad into Africa and the global market.

We are taking steps to support investment and local manufacturing in our country.

Last year, I launched our investment drive, which aims to attract US$100 billion in new investment over five years.

This target is an ambitious one, and we realise that in order to achieve it we need to offer much support to investors.

To assist in this effort, I appointed five Presidential Investment Envoys, including Ms Phumzile Langeni, who joins us today.

The envoys are at the frontline of our investment drive and serve as one of the first points of contact in exploring opportunities in South Africa.

Our investment promotion agency, Invest SA, offers a comprehensive package of support through their one-stop shops.

These are a single point of contact that can assist with everything you need to invest in South Africa.

Last year, we held the inaugural South Africa Investment Conference, at which South African and international companies together announced nearly US$20 billion in new investments.

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