At COP26, Ambri, Along with 24 Other Technology Companies, Form Long Duration Energy Storage Council to Accelerate Carbon Neutrality

The Long Duration Energy Storage Council is being formed by 24 technology companies, users and investors to achieve grid net-zero by 2040. This will see ~10% of all energy being stored in 8 hour+ storage technologies, requiring 85-140TWh of deployed capacity

Glasgow, 04 November 2021 – The launch of the Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Council is announced today at COP26 with a mission to replace the use of fossil fuels in meeting energy imbalances with zero-carbon alternatives. The Council has united to provide guidance to governments and grid operators, and will publish a strategic report on LDES technologies, with the aim of enabling the global deployment of 85-140 TWh of long duration energy storage by 2040. This would see dispatchable renewable energy used to eliminate the 1.5 to 2.3 Gt of CO2 produced annually from fossil fuels to meet grid energy imbalances, equivalent to 10-15% of total emissions in today’s power sector.

The LDES Council is a CEO-led organization being established by 24 founder members including Alfa Laval, BP, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, ESS Inc., Form Energy, Highview Power and Siemens Energy. The LDES Council comprises technology providers, equipment providers, renewable energy companies, utilities, grid operators, investors, and end- customers.

Energy generation with renewables is unpredictable due to the nature of wind and solar power, while energy consumption sees daily peaks around early morning and evening. This misalignment creates periods of shortfall in electricity supply which is currently largely met by burning fossil fuels, especially natural gas. Lithium-ion batteries offer an alternate solution by storing renewable electricity but become too expensive for long storage durations beyond eight hours. The LDES Council has thus been formed to support Governments, grid operators and major electricity users in the most cost-effective adoption of energy storage to replace the use of fossil fuels.

On November 23 2021 the LDES Council will publish its first annual report on the need for long duration energy storage to reach NetZero carbon emissions. The report, based on extensive research and collaboration of Council members, concludes that 1.5-2.5 TW and 85-140 TWh LDES could be deployed globally by 2040. This will cover around 10% of global electricity consumed, require between USD 1.5 and 3 trillion in investment, and would represent between four and seven times the total TWh global lithium-ion deployment today and between five and 11 times the total investment in renewable power in 2020. Long duration energy storage is already increasing momentum with over USD 3 billion invested in technology providers in the last five years. In the near future, building the momentum to reach NetZero will require 1 TWh of capacity to be deployed globally by 2025 with over USD 50 billion investment. Globally only around 7% of this required storage capacity exists today.

“The world is not on track to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5° Celsius,” explains Ramya Swaminathan, CEO, Malta Inc., a founder member of the LDES Council. “To achieve the necessary decarbonization, significant efforts must begin immediately to reduce emissions across all sectors. The power sector, which accounts for roughly one-third of global emissions, will be central to global decarbonization and will need to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Long duration energy storage is the lynchpin to decarbonization as it can inexpensively store the electricity from wind, solar and other renewables and make it available when needed.”

“The future of decarbonization depends on developing and deploying cost-effective, long-duration energy storage. Ambri is proud to partner with this talented group of market leaders, so we can leverage our experience together to solve such a critical energy challenge and do our part to address the biggest challenges facing our planet,” said Dan Leff, executive chairman at Ambri, Inc.

While supporting the deployment of long duration energy storage, the LDES Council is independent of any specific technology and its members span the spectrum of innovation from low-cost flow batteries to compressed gas solutions to mechanical energy storage. Through is research and communications the LDES Council will also provide guidance to governments and grid operators on the appropriate solutions for specific applications.

Energy storage technologies represented by the LDES Council include:

Mechanical LDES, such as pumped hydro, that uses the manipulation of physical objects to capture energy for later release. LDES founder members using mechanical energy storage include: Energy Dome, Highview Power, Quidnet Energy.

Electrochemical LDES, such as batteries, that store energy in flow, metal-air or hybrid batteries. LDES founder members using electrochemical energy storage include: Ambri, CellCube, Enlighten, Eos Energy Storage, ESS Inc., e-Zinc, Form Energy, Redflow.

Chemical LDES, such as synthetic gasses, where molecules are created that can later be used to generate energy. LDES founder members using chemical energy storage include: Ceres Power.

Thermal LDES, such molten salt, where energy is stored through heating a solid or liquid for later release. LDES founder members using thermal energy storage include: Azelio, Echogen Power Systems, Malta Inc., Stiesdal.

Additional members include equipment manufacturers (Alfa Laval, Baker Hughes, Siemens Energy), low carbon energy system integrators & developers (BP, Greenko, NEOM), industrial customers (Rio Tinto) and capital providers (Breakthrough Energy Ventures).

About the LDES Council

The LDES Council is a global, CEO-led organization that strives to accelerate decarbonization of the energy system at lowest cost to society by driving innovation, commercialization and deployment of long duration energy storage.

The LDES Council provides fact-based guidance and information to governments, industry and broader society, drawing from the experience of its members, which include leading energy companies, technology providers, investors and end-users.