POWER September 2021 - 13

GLOBAL MONITOR
RP CONSTRUCTION SERVICES CONGRATULATES THE
WINNERS OF POWER'S 2021 TOP RENEWABLE PLANTS
6. The KOREPlex, a 1-million-square-foot battery manufacturing facility
in Arizona, is being developed by KORE Power. Groundbreaking is
scheduled by the end of this year. Courtesy: KORE Power
tery cells optimized for the two automaker's battery EV models. "
Bakar Sadik Agwan, a senior automotive consulting analyst
at GlobalData, a data and analytics company, in an email to
POWER wrote, " Indonesia, which has reserves of nickel and
cobalt used in Li-ion cell batteries, is well positioned to meet
that demand amid advancements in EV technology. As a result,
the 50:50 JV [joint venture] will be of high strategic importance
to Indonesia from an EV perspective and surely a win-win for
both LG and Hyundai. Hyundai, which aims to expand the portfolio
of EVs to 44 models by 2025, will secure adequate supply
for its future EVs and LG will strengthen its global presence in
the EV market. "
The Hyundai-LG announcement comes as global automakers
maneuver to secure their own battery supply chains to
cope with growing demand for EVs. Ultium Cells, an Ohiobased
battery manufacturer and a joint venture of LG Energy
Solution and General Motors, in April announced a more than
$2.3 billion investment to build a battery cell manufacturing
plant in Tennessee.
A recent report from Praxis Global Alliance, a consultancy
based in India, said the stationary storage market within battery
energy storage systems (BESS) will experience major
growth over the next decade. The group said BESS installations
will continue to utilize lithium-ion technology, and said it
expects battery prices will fall an average of about 6% each
year until at least 2030. The report cited information from the
International Energy Agency that said India would lead the
battery storage market, deploying more than one-third of all
global storage systems over the next 20 years, mostly because
the country is ramping up its use of renewable energy,
particularly solar-with the expectation solar farms will be
paired with energy storage.
Investors have been pouring money into the lithium mining
and battery production sectors, in part due to the growth in
BESS installations but also due to projections that EVs are on
a rapid growth trajectory. The Solactive Global Lithium index,
which tracks the performance of the largest and most-liquid
listed companies active in exploration and/or mining of lithium,
or production of lithium-based batteries, jumped more than
34% from year-end 2020 through the end of July 2021. EV
sales in China and Europe have surged this year; almost one of
every five new passenger vehicles sold in Europe in June was
a plug-in EV.
Expect that growth to continue, as the European Union in July
said it may ban cars powered by diesel or gasoline by 2035. Volkswagen,
the largest global carmaker, recently said its EV sales
jumped 165% in the first six months of 2021. BYD Auto, the
automotive subsidiary of China's BYD Co., said its sales rose
154%. In the U.S., the Biden administration recently announced
a goal of having EVs account for at least half of all vehicles sold
by 2030.
September 2021 |POWER
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POWER September 2021

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