It takes a combination of innovation and government support for alternative energy to take off. Look around at the significant success stories, and you will find that this formula holds. Look at Denmark, where wind power supplies 20% of the electricity now. Many governments considered change when they were hit by the 1973 oil shock, but this one stayed on course, maintained policy commitment to diversifying energy supply. Can it afford to rest on current technology laurels? Nope. That?s the other formula component, a constant upgrade. The key challenge facing the Danes today is, just as the sun doesn?t always shine, so the wind doesn?t always blow. It may not come through when demand is peaking. When the wind blows at non-peak hours, storing electricity can cost more than making it, what with building transmission grids, interconnecting regions and even countries et al. Enter electricity in a box. From amidst various experiments on utility scale, efficient batteries taking place across the world, we highlight one from across the Atlantic.
Electrovaya is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It designs and develops lithium-ion batteries and related products, with over 150 patents worldwide. CEO Sankar Das Gupta says its energy storage system provides a critical bridge between supply and demand, dramatically increasing the viability of renewable energy sources. To explain the charms of lithium, he points to the periodic table. A light metal with high energy densities, lithium lends itself to batteries that are not heavy but have efficiencies of more than 90%. Cost is a factor right now, but this will change as volumes expand, climate change becomes an even more forceful a factor and fossil fuel prices go up further. With a partnership with the major US utility ABB under its belt, Electrovaya is hoping to get more feed from government-supported programmes in the neighbourhood. Note that not only did President Obama?s State of the Union speech lay down the goal of getting to 80% clean energy by 2035, his energy secretary Steven Chu supports new-age energy storage systems. New York is also getting one of these.
Electrovaya boasts that its clean manufacturing technology makes it stand apart from the pack. But the thing that Mr Gupta can?t be sure of is whether this technology will really take off in the utility or in the auto sectors. In the latter space, no less than the Renault and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn is a fan. As for Electrovaya, not only has it made a lot of buzz with Exxon-partnered Maya 300, it has also been building a strong India connect. It is on board the electric version of Tata?s Indica hatchback. There is also an MoU in place with Hero Electric, whose managing director Naveen Munjal has acknowledged that the lithium-ion battery really outperforms the lead acid one. Plus, lead acid batteries don?t like the Indian heat, and degenerate really fast. No wonder Reva is also jumping on the lithium-ion bandwagon.
Electrovaya is also lucky that it?s headquartered where the provincial government is fully on board the green innovation platform. Not only has the Ontario government invested in this particular company, it has also come out with an ambitious 1 in 20 by 2020 programme whereby citizens are getting lots of incentives to switch to electric vehicles.
In racing with the hounds, why hasn?t Mr Gupta taken a look at the likes of mobile phones and laptop computers, where the lithium-ion battery has already convinced the consumers. Because this would inevitably mean getting involved in production in China, where technology ?moves very fast? (ahem). Remember the Middle Kingdom is already dotted with lithium-ion installations the size of cargo containers. After all, it generally does a jolly good job of minting the resources of the world.