Al Gore visits Trump, and now this? Hmmmhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2016/12/05/how-made-in-america-battery-technology-can-help-make-america-great-again/4/#677630137bfc
How Made-In-America Battery Technology Can Help Make America Great Again
by Matt Roberts, Executive Director, Energy Storage Association
Guest Editor, Contributor
December 5, 2016
FORBES MAGAZINE
The U.S. is facing a tremendous, once-in-a-generation economic opportunity to seize an emerging $450 billion global market over the next 25 years in advanced energy storage manufacturing. At a time when our nation’s economic recovery is paramount, we cannot allow other countries to cement their position as the suppliers of the advanced energy economy while the United States drives market demand.
Demand for energy storage systems – both in vehicles and stationary grid-connected systems - is already transforming how we generate, distribute, and consume energy and creating billions of dollars of annual market demand around the globe.
More than 500,000 Americans and rising are already driving electric and hybrid vehicles, accounting for more than 30% of global demand. Surging US markets for ‘stationary’ storage that make the grid more flexible, efficient, and resilient spurred 256% growth in system deployments - with more installed in just the last quarter of 2015 than the previous two years combined.
These two thriving markets are intrinsically entwined, both critical to the transformation of the power sector and the modernization of our energy economy. More Americans driving EV’s is creating new dynamic demands on our electric grid and transforming load curves, while stationary systems are creating a more reliable and responsive grid, increasing system efficiency, and allowing us to better utilize all of our energy infrastructure.
It is not a question of when - energy storage is here today. Beyond just ensuring backup power, energy storage drastically improves the performance and flexibility of the entire grid, balancing all types of dynamic generation and demand and better enabling the integration of solar and wind energy systems.
By scaling up energy storage manufacturing, any remaining price disadvantage can be overcome by benefits from co-locating manufacturing with innovative RD&D, capturing our immense domestic demand, and cost improvements from rebuilding our nation’s supply chain.
Over the last 15 years, the advanced battery market has grown from a $4-billion-per-year in 2000 to more than $20-billion-per-year today based almost exclusively on lithium-ion adoption in consumer electronics. But with the added global appetite for batteries from the vehicle and grid sectors, the advanced battery market is projected to grow beyond $450 billion over the next 25 years.
The major energy economies of the world are laying the foundations to seize this global opportunity – one borne of US innovation, and currently led by US markets. We can capitalize on the opportunity today to attract new investment and expand our current battery manufacturing capability to meet the growing domestic and export demand.
Innovative Manufacturing Starting Here at Home
The United States is already home to numerous market leaders that manufacture proven battery storage systems for the grid and electric vehicles. Established global leaders like Saft in Jacksonville, FL and East Penn Manufacturing in Lyons, PA are churning out batteries and supporting high-paying jobs and veteran employment. But the market opportunity ahead is drawing a global race to meet the staggering demand that is projected in the years to come.
Alevo, based in Charlotte, NC, refurbished a 2,000 acre manufacturing campus in 2014 with the goal of delivering more than 16 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries each year. And few have not heard of Tesla’s ambitious plans to produce more than 35 GWh’s of lithium ion battery systems per year by the end of the decade and create more than 6,500 jobs. (A single gigawatt hour could power a lightbulb for more than 7600 years, or fuel ten trips to the moon in an EV)
Outside of these large factories, many other companies are commercializing new and innovative battery chemistries – creating a robust and diverse domestic industry driven by technology performance and competition.
Recharge American Manufacturing, Energize Job Growth
Manufacturing is the foundation of a strong economy and the advanced energy storage sector is one of the few examples of a new, exponentially growing industrial manufacturing opportunity. America is already driving demand growth, but we can also position ourselves to be the suppliers of a burgeoning global industry and stem our advanced energy manufacturing deficit.
By investing in our manufacturing capacity for energy storage systems that can power both our cars and our grid, we can spur our economic recovery and create tens of thousands of advanced manufacturing jobs.
We can enable mass market affordable electric vehicles and a clean, distributed, and resilient electricity grid built upon the foundation of American innovation and manufacturing.