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As america continues to transition to wash power, strengthening the home provide chain by growing the supply of vital supplies is paramount to enabling better home manufacturing.
This give attention to securing the clear power provide chain—particularly domestically—is a key a part of the Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory’s (NREL’s) analysis supporting the power transition. NREL researchers throughout clear power expertise areas examine methods to optimize provide chains by way of information assortment, assessments, benchmarking, and value/sensitivity analyses.
NREL’s help was vital to the current U.S. Division of Power (DOE) report, “America’s Strategy to Secure the Supply Chain for a Robust Clean Energy Transition,” which outlines key areas for strengthening provide chain resiliency, together with growing the supply of vital supplies and increasing home manufacturing capabilities. As well as, NREL is partnering instantly with business on lithium-ion batteries—one of many vital analysis areas recognized within the report—to advance collaboration between U.S. non-public sector industries throughout the availability chain.
As a part of ongoing efforts to map the battery panorama, NAATBatt Worldwide and NREL established the Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain Database to determine each firm in North America concerned in constructing lithium-ion batteries, from mining to manufacturing to recycling and all the things in between. NREL and NAATBatt have not too long ago launched a brand new model of this first-of-its-kind database—first launched in 2021—with extra entries and a web based interface that makes it even simpler to map and filter the a whole lot of entries detailing firms and their amenities and numerous segments within the provide chain.
“In response to industry requests, we have made this release of the database more intuitive, with easy- to-find information about companies involved in any aspect of the supply chain,” stated NREL’s Vicky Putsche. “We’ve even added an online version of the North American map to show a visual representation of where these companies are located.”
“We added filters to find companies working in different parts of the supply chain, allowing industry to identify competitors and collaborators and to help policymakers understand the current state of the U.S. industry,” stated NREL’s Maggie Mann, provide chain analytics group supervisor.
Scoping the Early Provide Chain Panorama
The lithium-ion battery manufacturing cycle interlinks amenities collaborating in particular phases of battery growth like mining or processing uncooked supplies. The U.S. Federal Consortium of Superior Batteries’ National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries developed a blueprint to ascertain and broaden the home provide chain for lithium-ion batteries, shifting away from counting on world dependence for such batteries. Each the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and the Inflation Discount Act handed by the U.S. Congress in 2021 and 2022, respectively, are investing billions of {dollars} in help of the battery and electrical autos industries to develop a robust manufacturing provide chain in america.
The NREL-developed-and-managed Lithium-Ion Battery Provide Chain Database showcases key areas for coordination between provide chain firms, akin to linking end-of-life amenities with midstream manufacturing capabilities.
“This database is an important step in better understanding the lithium-ion battery market and its North American players,” stated NREL’s Ahmad Pesaran, the laboratory’s chief power storage engineer. “The new online interface makes it even easier for companies in the supply chain and individual companies to find and connect with other players in this space, ultimately strengthening our supply chain security.”
As of March 2024, the database now affords a listing of practically 700 firms and 850 amenities in North America throughout lithium-ion battery provide chain segments, together with mining, materials processing, cell and pack manufacturing, analysis and growth, providers, end-of-life administration, and product distributors.
It additionally consists of vital data on every facility, together with firm, location, workforce, and kind of services. Critically, the database summarizes key data akin to put in battery manufacturing capability and materials manufacturing functionality, plans for future capability, varieties of chemistries and processes, and enlargement plans by section (e.g., upstream and downstream). An Excel model of the database can also be obtainable with detailed supply data.
Moreover, the up to date database consists of different new and improved options:
- A straightforward-to-use interactive map to discover amenities, firms, and segments throughout the database listing, providing customers the power to look and filter merchandise and firms by key phrase, location, and provide chain segments and sub-segments
- Quite a few new firms and amenities
- Adjustments to current amenities, akin to updates in quantity manufacturing or workforce
- A brand new section for skilled providers akin to authorized, funding, consulting, and insurance coverage providers which might be knowledgeable within the battery area.
Within the span of below three years, the variety of firms/amenities within the North American lithium-ion battery provide chain has doubled—growing from greater than 400 to over 800 from September 2021 till March of 2024, Pesaran added. This improve has been essentially the most notable for uncooked materials manufacturing amenities, leaping from solely about 25 to greater than 80.
“We’re proud that we’ve been able to strengthen the database’s offerings to provide a more comprehensive picture of the supply chain landscape in lithium-ion battery material processing, manufacturing, and recycling,” Pesaran stated. “We have received a lot of compliments on the value and usefulness of the database.”
Assist Us Replace the Database
Because the lithium-ion battery provide chain panorama grows, the online database will preserve tempo with that development.
Click on on “Access Database” on the website to entry the brand new on-line interface and/or obtain the Excel model of the database.
The database is commonly up to date. So as to add your organization or replace your data, fill out the database questionnaire. All firms within the database are inspired to assessment these updates and email NREL with any corrections.
Study extra about NREL’s supply chain manufacturing, energy storage and sustainable transportation analysis. And join NREL’s quarterly transportation and mobility analysis publication, Sustainable Mobility Mattersto remain present on the newest information.
By Justin Daugherty, NREL.
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