New Energy News Roundup

SHANGHAI, Jul 26 (SMM) - A weekly update on the trending stories from the New Energy sector. 

1. British mineral processing company Green Lithium has recently successfully produced the first batch of battery-grade lithium hydroxide products. It is reported that the plant possesses an annual production capacity of 50,000 mt of lithium hydroxide. When it is fully put into operation in the near future, it will be able to support the production of electric vehicles with an annual output of more than 1 million mt.

The company produces battery-grade lithium products through its exclusive processing technology, which uses a sulphate-free and acid-free process. Heat recovery can also be utilised to reduce the carbon intensity in the process of refining and hydrogen can be introduced into its energy mix. Establishing and operating plants in the UK helps to optimise electric vehicle supply chain.

2. China Mobile published the centralised bidding of LFP batteries in 2021-2022. The target is 923 million Ah of 3.2V single LFP batteries, with a total amount of about 2.95GWh.

The total amount of the bids stood at 2.186 billion yuan, with average price at 0.74 yuan/Wh. Ten companies won the bid, including PLB, Shuangdeng Group, Zhejiang Narada Power Source and Great Power. Among them, Great Power, Topband, Linkdata Tianyi and GBS won the bids for the first time. Base stations demand higher battery energy density and cycle use performance amid the maturity and large-scale use of 5G technology, coupled with increasing energy consumption. Lead-acid batteries are no longer suitable for 5G base station applications. China has already assembled the world's largest 5G independent networking network, with a total of 961,000 5G base stations in operation, which has also promoted the market's demand for LFP batteries to a certain extent.

3. According to data published by SNE Research on July 19, LG Energy Solutions ranked No.1 in the global battery installed capacity of electric vehicles in May, while CATL ranked the second.

LG Energy exceeded CATL, Panasonic and other large factories to rank No.1 in the installed capacity of motive power battery market in May with an installed capacity of 5.7Gwh. However, CATL still topped the list in the global motive power battery market with an installed capacity of 22.1Gwh and 27.1% market share in January-May, while LG New Energy ranked second with 21.7Gwh installed capacity. Market share of LG and SDI is expected to increase due to the current US government’s emphasis on the field of NEVs, and extensive cooperation with local energy storage manufacturers, car companies as well as battery companies.