Achieving a sustainable development is the top priority decision-makers and politicians are faced with today. A particularly critical area here is the transformation of the energy sector. It is crucial to steer away from fossil fuels and find alternative modes of energy production. Most of these alternative sources produce energy in the form of electricity. In the near future, this shift in energy generation should make our energy system climate-friendly, less geopolitically dependent and generally more environmentally friendly.
The problem with renewable energy
The production of renewable energy is gaining traction. Solar energy and wind parks will be central to the transformation of the energy market. There is still one important obstacle, though, hindering this process: these sources of electricity production are fluctuating. The problem is evident: the amount of electricity produced depends on the ever changing strength of the wind and solar radiation.. This creates a challenge for the electricity grid, as the electric voltage in the grid needs to be kept at a constant level. To balance out these fluctuations, electricity needs to be stored and released as needed. We also need batteries to make electrical energy mobile, especially for transport. So we can see that across the board, storage solutions need to be available for the implementation of renewable energy.
What’s wrong with conventional lithium-ion batteries?
The best available storage solution for electricity is the lithium-ion battery. From a sustainability and practicability standpoint, this is not an optimal solution. For one, conventional lithium-ion batteries require problematic raw materials during the production process, cobalt being one of them. Furthermore, they lose performance capabilities over time and due to the danger of flammability they pose a security risk. This is why lithium-ion batteries are delicate to use in sensitive environments, and a mass production of them could create serious resource and environmental problems.
The next generation of batteries
A promising new technology in this field is the solid-state battery. One of these batteries was developed by the company High Performance Battery. Their battery is able to avoid using problematic raw materials and has various other advantages, extreme longevity and excellent performance being two of them. On the one hand, the batteries can be recharged for nearly an infinite amount of time, avoiding waste and the unnecessary production of batteries and allowing for new resource-efficient applications. On the other hand, they hardly lose any of their performance capacity. Another important advantage of this kind of battery is that they're not flammable. This improves their safety tremendously.
Decentralisation and cooperation as leading principles
High Performance Battery is convinced that the best strategy for the rollout of its product is to licence it. This plan of action means that they allow other companies to produce their product in a certain market, against a royalty fee. The first company that obtained this licence is Swiss Clean Battery. Swiss Clean Battery is in the process of building the first gigafactory for solid-state batteries worldwide. Choosing this decentralised strategy is a reflection of the philosophy that drives both companies: large-scale actions against climate change should be approached with a cooperative mindset.
