The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has today announced $4.8 million in conditional funding to Gelion Technologies Pty Ltd (Gelion) to implement its Advanced Commercial Prototyping Centre (ACPC) facilitating development of its unique battery technology at its site in Sydney.
The $9.6 million project will enable testing with prospective customers to inform the investment decision on a future pilot manufacturing plant. The project will commence once Gelion secures appropriate co-funding.
ARENA Acting CEO Chris Faris said the project will drive the next generation of battery technology, delivering more efficient, less expensive and more sustainable energy storage solutions.
"Energy storage is a critical component in the clean energy transition, and this project which aims to demonstrate the potential of alternative battery chemistries, could be a game changer," Mr Faris said.
"The clean energy transition is dependent on batteries for energy storage and transport. It is therefore critical that we explore and commercialise innovations that make batteries perform better through improved energy density and at a reduced cost," Mr Faris said.
The project will focus on development of two different battery chemistries: lithium-sulphur (Li-S) and silicon-sulphur (Si-S) which have significant potential as high energy density battery chemistries. Higher energy density batteries are able to store more energy per unit of weight, which makes them advantageous in applications such as electric vehicles and electric aviation as it can support longer ranges.
ARENA funding will help to accelerate the commercialisation of Gelion's sulphur batteries and expand Australia's battery cell development and advanced manufacturing capabilities.
Gelion aims to validate the performance of its sulphur batteries and highlight that its technology has overcome the key challenges. If the Project is successful, Gelion will seek to scale up the manufacture of its sulphur batteries.
Gelion CEO John Wood said: "We are really grateful to ARENA for their support of this important project."
"Australia has developed a small but strong community of battery innovators attaining global recognition. Gelion is part of this community, and this project is key to our own growth and will also continue to develop battery technology development and commercialisation capabilities in Australia."
Global demand for batteries is projected to grow from 194 GWh of annual demand in 2020 to 2,045 GWh by 2030 with electric vehicles expected to be 87% of the demand and stationary storage 7%.
This project aligns with ARENA's strategic priority to improve the economics of energy storage through the use of novel battery chemistries. It also has alignment with the objectives of ARENA's Battery Breakthrough Initiative, which will be launched in late 2024 or early 2025.
