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The Lithium Market

Sorica Minerals

Lithium Market | Sorcia Minerals
 

Renewable Energy of the Future

Lithium demand will increase from 181kt Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) to 535kt LCE by 2025.*
In addition, over 60% of the new energy capacity addition in 2020 and over 75% in 2030 is expected to be in renewable and clean technologies, a majority of which would require energy storage and the batteries for energy storage. 

*Deutsch Bank Research

Energy Storage

Modern life is full of energy storage. From the batteries that start your car, power our laptops and smartphones; to electric hot water tanks at home or businesses - we're surrounded by it.

Energy storage technologies are classified as follows:

  • Mechanical Energy Storage (i.e. pumped hydro)

  • Electrochemical Energy Storage (i.e. batteries of various types)

  • Thermal Energy Storage (i.e. molten salt)

  • Chemical Energy Storage (i.e. energy converted and stored as hydrogen)

Energy Storage | Sorcia Minerals
 

Clean Energy

Energy storage is seen as the key to achieving a global transition towards clean energy, with some analysts believing it will eventually be incorporated into our smart grids and homes.

 

Electrochemical Batteries

Electrochemical batteries are the way of tomorrow - they're small, lightweight and powerful. The market for these portable power devices has been growing at an incredible pace in recent years with costs falling as scale increases. This rapid growth can be attributed largely due to their flexibility, which allow them to fill various needs across many industries.

 

Storage Market

The Bloomberg report says that batteries will be as widespread in 12 years from now, revolutionizing the way consumers use energy. The market for power storage may reach $250 billion or more by 2040 and it expects 25 GW worth of devices to operate on grid-scale systems around world within next few decades - less than 1% is currently installed.

 

Future Industry

By 2040, the industry will mushroom, storing and discharging 759 GWh. There are several larger-scale battery projects in the works, according to S&P Global. They include a 90-MW system in Germany being built by Essen-based STEAG Energy Services GmbH and Edison International's 100-MW facility in Long Beach, California. Utility-scale storage is the new emerging market for batteries, similar to where electric vehicles were five years ago.

Batteries for Energy Storage

McKinsey Research has found that storage is already economical for many commercial customers to reduce their peak consumption levels.

Lower prices today are causing storage to play a broader role in energy markets.

Markets are moving away from niche uses (such as grid balancing) to broader ones (such as replacing conventional power generators).

Increased reliability, providing power-quality services, and supporting renewables integration are a few reasons why broader storage is growing.

Combining solar with storage to enable households to make and consume their own power on demand is beginning to be an attractive opportunity for customers.

Partial grid defection is growing instead of exporting power to the grid, given regulatory changes to pare back incentives for solar in many markets.

Expanding markets will continue to increase, creating a significant challenge for utilities faced with flat or declining customer demand (McKinsey Research).

Economic sense is trending towards combining solar with storage and a small electrical generator (known as full grid defection) —in a matter of years, not decades, for some customers in high-cost markets.

Sustainability

Learn how the lithium market is revolutionizing  sustainability and efficiency. 

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About Lithium

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal.

Standard Conditions

Lithium is a lightweight metal that has many uses. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, which makes it difficult to store in mineral oils or other common materials like water bottles with an acidity level too high for safety purposes (lithiasilicon). When cut open - as happens when you split these compounds apart- its luster can be seen; however, this quickly fades away due top moist air corrosion so what we're left seeing after time goes by may just look like dull silvery gray, then black tarnish.

Extraction Methods

Lithium is a mineral that can be found in water and on earth. It has many different sources, but it's most common form comes from lithium salts, which are extracted at the springs or brine pools where they get their name "salt." One potential place we may find more Li than ever before is along with salt deposits near geothermal wells. The Lithium recovery process requires a filtration system to separate lithium from other mineral deposits nearby.

Industrial Applications

Lithium and its compounds have many industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass. Its lithium grease lubricants are also used in the production of flux additives for iron, steel aluminum etc., which consume about 75% of all produced Lithia. A few other common uses include batteries (with over 30 million cells manufactured per year) or even most scanners.

Lithium Batteries

Late in the 20th century, lithium became an important component of battery electrolytes and electrodes, because of its high electrode potential.

Lithium's high charge and power-to-weight ratio makes it a popular choice for powering electronics. A typical lithium ion battery can generate approximately 3 volts per cell, compared with 2 or 1 ½ voltages found in other types of batteries, such as lead acid and zinc carbon based ones. Respectively Lithium Ion Batteries (which are rechargeable) should not be confused with primary disposable ones that use Lithium metal itself; these have much lower energy densities but still suffer from capacity fade when used over time because their anodes becomes less efficient at capturing electronic charges due both external factors like physical damage.

Increase in Lithium Demand

Market research analysts at Technavio have predicted that the global lithium market will grow steadily at a CAGR of almost 8%.

The increasing demand for Electric vehicles (EV) from China is considered to be one of the primary drivers behind this market. Mainly driven by government subsidies, electric car sales are expected grow exponentially in just four years time! This will lead us onto an even greater step towards developing more sustainable methods on how we use energy sources while also reducing our carbon footprint at its fullest potentials.

The growing demand-supply gap in the electricity sector has led to an increase lithium ion batteries. Since these battery can store large amounts power and be used during peak hours, their popularity is on the rise with grid connected storage systems becoming one major trend for this market report says that will gain traction within the forecast period.

According to research from Deutsch Bank, battery consumption worldwide is expected to increase 5x over the next 10 years, placing substantial pressure on the battery supply chain. The same report indicates that lithium demand will increase from 181kt Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) in 2015 to 535kt LCE by 2025.

Direct Lithium Extraction

Read more about the advancement of lithium extraction technology. 

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