Altech Chemicals has unveiled a 60KWh battery that uses garden variety table salt instead of lithium and other critical metals typically found in a lithium battery. The Subiaco-based company is looking to muscle into the multi-billion-dollar renewable energy and grid storage market. The battery is designed to fill the need for middle and long-duration power sources that provide sustained power over long periods.
Altech says its new battery pack, to be known as ABS60, will take about six hours to charge – either from renewable energy sources or the grid – and about the same time to discharge.
The ABS60 is formally known as the CERENERGY sodium alumina solid state 60-kilowatt hour, or “KWH” battery pack.
Altech believes CERENERGY batteries represent a “game-changing” alternative to lithium-ion batteries when it comes to grid storage.
One key advantage according to the company is they are free of lithium, graphite, cobalt and copper and instead use just table salt and nickel, making them less exposed to supply chain and geo-political concerns.
Management says it will also shield it against fierce price fluctuations in critical metals.
Altech’s new battery also boasts wider temperature ranges which means they can withstand the freezing European winters, they are weatherproof and can be installed outdoors and they are fire-proof, making them safer for indoor use.
The ABS60 is also projected to last longer and Altech says the production cost will be about 40 per cent cheaper than lithium-ion competitors, primarily because there is no need for lithium, copper, cobalt or graphite. The company intends to confirm its cost advantage definitively in a bankable feasibility study it is undertaking that is about 10 months away from completion.
The ABS60 battery pack will stand 2.6m tall, 0.4m long and 1m wide. It will comprise 240 CERENERGY cells rated at 2.5V each
The 60KWh pack replaces the company’s previously proposed 10KWh battery pack and is rated with a higher voltage of 620 volts and 100 amp hours. It will now be the standard product produced at Altech’s proposed battery plant on its land in Schwarze Pumpe, Germany. It will be produced by a joint venture between Altech and leading German materials and performance research centre Fraunhofer IKTS.
Fraunhofer has spent eight years and almost €35 million on research and development of a sodium alumina solid state, or “SAS” battery. It currently operates a €25m pilot battery plant in Germany.
A key part of Fraunhofer’s battery is a ceramic tube which forms the solid state part of the battery. Instead of the liquid electrolyte in a typical lithium battery, Fraunhofer’s solid state technology uses sodium ions of the salt that are almost as reactive as lithium.
Altech holds a 75 per cent stake in the JV with Fraunhofer known as “Altech Energy Holdings” which will own the IP and battery technology rights.
Altech says the global grid energy storage market is expected to grow by an impressive 28 per cent compound annual growth rate in coming years – from US$4.4 billion this year to US$15 billion by 2025.
The company’s share price popped almost 7.5 per cent to an intraday high of 11.5 cents on the back of its announcement of the upgraded battery pack. With renewable energy again in the spotlight as the world drills down into climate change strategies at the COP27 conference in Egypt this week, Altech’s feat of producing power from basic table salt is remarkable and is bound to create interest amongst the climate glitterati gathered in Egypt.
With the security of Europe’s energy supplies also under intense strain as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the market will no doubt be watching the progress of Altech’s ambitious battery plans closely for signs of a viable alternative energy solution.
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