Editor's note

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 17:00

European batteries project: opportunities for Baltics

Eugene Eteris, BC International Editor, Copenhagen, 31.01.2020.Print version

The European “battery project” is a key element in the region’s long-term strategy for a climate neutral economy, reforming mobility and clean energy transformation. As an integral part of the EU’s “green deal” it requires the Baltic States to take adequate actions.

Demand for batteries in Europe is expected to increase to 800GWh by 2030. Initially, large part of the battery demand will be in the automotive sector (400 GWh by 2028) and the batteries will be the fastest growing storage type in the coming years to reach € 250 billion in 2025.


On some assessments (Bloomberg New Energy Outlook Report), about 57% of all passenger vehicle sales by 2040 will be electric and will represent 30% of the global vehicle fleet.


The Commission’s commitment to the “green deal” (adopted in December 2019) will be soon followed by a European “climate law” and higher CO2 emissions targets for 2030 (about 50%). These policy developments are linked with the electrification, increased renewable energy sources and consequently with the increasing batteries’ production and usage. In the core of the EU’s industrial strategy for the 21st century (to be adopted in March 2020) will be a strategic value chain in batteries. 

Batteries Europe platform

In October 2019, the Batteries Europe platform elected its governing board; it will work with the European InnoEnergy project, the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE).


Research and innovation is the guiding principle of the European “battery alliance”; it keeps close contacts with other sectors and through the whole value chain. For instance, scale-up issues will be solved with active participation of materials providers and battery manufacturers. Besides, “second use” and “vehicle-to-grid” issues require strong collaboration between automotive and energy sectors.


The European Batteries Alliance follows a success story in other EU’s cooperative sectors, such as the European Digital Infrastructure and Hydrogen project.


Reference: Speech of VP M. Šefčovič to Batteries Europe Governing Board in https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_20_121   

The Baltic’s potentials

In the new European batteries’ project the link between innovation and competitiveness is extremely important in getting fair share of the growing market for batteries. Presently, the batteries’ production is concentrated on batteries with higher energy density and better performance by using new and advanced materials. “Batteries Europe” project is fully embraced in the EU’s general strategy in research and innovation, so-called R&I direction. The project is going “to guide” industry and manufacturing sector in the Baltics.   


The Baltic States shall join the others in the European project by adopting sound technology policies and appropriate investments to succeed. For example, among most advanced investment policy lines could be improvements in lithium-based battery technologies as well as in research for the next generation of solid-state battery technologies.  


The following are the EU initiatives in supporting the Baltic States decision-making:

- The EU Horizon 2020 battery programs to finance long-term research in the Battery 2030+ initiative;

- The EU-member states industrial innovation project “Common European Interest on battery research”, the so-called IPCEI;

- Interregional (smart specialisation) innovation partnership on advanced battery materials: it already includes 28 EU regions and about 10 projects;

- The Business Investment Platform (BIP, with more than €20 billion) to channel private funding around innovative manufacturing projects in all segments of the value chain;

- SET-Plan to coordinate national research and innovation on batteries.

 

All of these European initiatives are complementary to the Baltic States’ authorities. However, some specific measures and efforts shall be undertaken by the ministries to achieve maximum synergies, which would secure the maximum share of the EU funding for the research on batteries. For example, the Baltic States’ leaders and sectoral ministries have to take into consideration closer connections between “smart specialisation” partnership and research in advanced battery materials.


The EU institutions, particularly the Commission and Horizon Europe program, will assist the Baltic States through additional grants and financing: i.e. during next seven years funding on batteries will be increased significantly! Already presently, the Horizon 2020 alone has envisaged grants in the amount of € 1.34 billion (including 2020) to projects for energy storage on the electricity grid in the member states and in low carbon mobility (support for projects in 2019-20 amounted to €114 and €132 million respectively).


More on global batteries’ issues in the report on “Raw materials, regional distributions, cost analysis and demand forecasts” in:

https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-report/the-li-ion-battery-supply-chain-2020-2030/697

 

 

 





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