Altech Chemicals partners with Fraunhofer IKTS to commercialise new Cerenergy solid state battery

Altech Chemicals (ASX: ATC) has executed a joint venture shareholders agreement with world-leading German battery institute Fraunhofer IKTS to commercialise the revolutionary Cerenergy sodium alumina solid state (SAS) battery.

The partners will form a new company known as Altech Batteries GmbH (Altech 75% equity, Fraunhofer 25%) focused on the construction of a 100 megawatts per hour battery plant on Altech’s land in Germany’s Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park.

The plant is expected to produce up to 10,000 10-kilowatts per hour Cerenergy modules per year, which are expected to sell for up to $13,200 each (or up to $1,320 per kilowatt hour at final package costs).

The modules have been designed for the grid (stationary) energy storage market and have been undergoing extensive performance testing in Germany.

Fraunhofer has spent $51 million in research and development of Cerenergy technology over the last eight years at a $36 million pilot plant in Hermsdorf.

Table salt and nickel

Cerenergy technology employs common table salt (sodium chloride) and nickel and is free of lithium, cobalt, graphite and copper – eliminating exposure to critical metal price rises and supply chain concerns.

The batteries are fire and explosion-proof and are not prone to “thermal runaway” which occurs when the temperature inside a battery reaches the point that causes a chemical reaction (producing oxygen) to occur.

They have a life span of more than 15 years and can operate in extreme cold and desert climates.

Altech said Cerenergy batteries are in the final phases of product testing before being ready to commercialise and will be a “game-changing” grid storage alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

IKTS has estimated that the total cost of production for Cerenergy will be between 40% and 50% cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.

The joint venture partners have commenced planning for a bankable feasibility study required for the commercialisation process.

Grid storage market growth

The joint venture partners’ target market is grid storage, which is expected to experience a 28% compound annual growth rate in the coming decades, from $6.39 billion in 2022 to $21.9 billion by 2027.

This equates to around 20 gigawatts in 2020 to over 3000 GW by 2050.

Altech believes SAS batteries can provide high security at low acquisition and operating costs for the market.