Albermarle to be restructured following Rockwood acquisition

By Adam Page
Published: Wednesday, 21 January 2015 on http://www.indmin.com/

After completing its merger with lithium producer Rockwood Speciality Holdings Inc. last week, speciality chemicals producer Albemarle is now focusing on having a flexible and forward-looking lithium strategy.

US-based Albemarle Corp. is being re-structured into three global business units; Chemetall Surface Treatment, Refining Solutions and Performance Chemicals.

"The new company will be structured to leverage its complementary fit, especially between lithium and bromine, allowing us to capitalise on our long-term lithium strategy while providing immediate scale and ability to leverage its similarities with bromine," said Luke Kissam, Albemarle's CEO.

Chemetall Surface Treatment will supply products for metal pretreatment. The company's lithium and bromine businesses meanwhile will sit in its Performance Chemicals business arm, as this will supply speciality chemicals to the industry as well as fire safety solutions.

The Refining Solutions business arm will consist of the heavy oil upgrading and clean fuels technologies businesses, which could also see some bromine usage, as the company is developing clear brine fluids, used in offshore drilling and water treatment.

Each unit will have a dedicated teams of sales, R&D, processers, manufacturing and sourcing and business strategists.

Rockwood’s investors 

Albemarle has proposed changes to investors regarding the material terms of the security agreement relating to a set of senior notes issued by Rockwood Specialties Group Inc. The new arrangements would enable Albemarle to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and make such filings available to investors.

Albemarle completed its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings on 12 January 2015, in which Rockwood became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Albemarle. It also led to Albemarle fully and unconditionally guaranteeing the senior notes.

As of 16 January 2015, there are $1.2bn worth of of senior notes outstanding. Both companies are offering to pay each shareholder a cash payment of $2.50 per $1,000 worth of notes.

NTT Com to acquire data centre firm e-shelter

NTT claims third largest data centre player slot in Europe

NTT Communications (NTT Com) will acquire 86.7% of issued shares in e-shelter, an operator of data centre services in Germany.

The acquisition will make NTT the third largest data centre presence in Europe.

e-shelter manages approximately 90,000 square metres of data centre space in four major German cities, including Campus Frankfurt 1, Europe's largest data centre with some 60,000 square metres of space. It also possesses space in Zurich, Switzerland and Vienna, Austria.

e-shelter data centres service multinational enterprises working in finance, ICT services, government, healthcare, telecommunications and digital media.The company's infrastructure includes its own 120 MW electrical substation for stable.

NTT Com hopes the acquisition will strengthen its ability to meet increasing European demand for data centre and cloud services and allow it to provide more efficient services to migrate customer systems to the cloud. The EU data centre market is growing at 9% annually, according to the research firm Gartner.

NTT Com operates 130 data centres worldwide and it already has a European presence in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

"As our multinational customers expand beyond EU borders, and undergo rapid ICT evolutions, they are increasingly demanding globally seamless ICT solutions," says Rupprecht Rittweger, CEO of e-shelter.

To meet their demands ahead of our competitors, we believe that the best way to ensure e-shelter's growth and development is in partnership with NTT Com, which has a commanding presence in Asia and is a leading provider of ICT services worldwide. At the same time, we look forward to strengthening NTT Com's global ICT infrastructure and market share with our strong presence in Europe."

Currently, Investa owns 51% of e-shelter's issued shares and the remaining shares are owned by ABRY Partners. NTT Com will provide more than half of e-shelter's new board of directors.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 3rd March 2015

IBM sued over alleged money-losing semiconductor offload

IBM sued by shareholder who alleges stock inflation before sale of unit

IBM is facing a securities allegation after court papers where filed by a shareholder who says it committed securities fraud, reports Reuters.

The complainant alleges that IBM inflated its stock prices by failing to record its semiconductor unit before its Q3 2014 results in October last year.

The entire unit's value had fallen to around $1 billion, including personnel and intellectual property, meaning that hard assets probably had no or negative market value.

On 20 October 2014, it sold the unit for $1.5 billion to GlobalFoundries, an affiliate of Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala Development, and took a related $4.7 billion pre-tax charge.

The complaint says that before selling the unit, IBM inflated its stock price by carrying the unit's property, plant and equipment assets on its books at $2.4 billion, when it should have known the assets were worthless.

IBM's share price fell 9% over the next two trading days after the unit's sale, wiping out more than $18 billion of market value.

The lawsuit names three IBM officials as defendants and it seeks class-action status on behalf of shareholders from 17 April to 17 October 2014.

"Defendants presented a misleading picture of IBM's business and prospects," the complaint said.

"When the truth about the company was revealed to the market, the price of IBM common stock fell precipitously," they added.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 3rd March 2015

Mobility platform addresses demands of the wearables era

Good Technology launches platform and app for enterprise mobile data security.

Good Technology has launched a secure mobility platform for mobile apps and wearables, dubbed the 'Good Dynamics platform'.

The Good Dynamics platform allows users to safely access and store confidential information like business data on wearable devices. It does this via Good-secured apps which utilise mobile identity and access management features including two-factor authentication and access control.

The Good Work app enables users to access this information via smartphones, tablets and wearable devices such as a wristwatch or fitness tracker. Good Work supports Android Wear which allows users to respond to emails, update calendars, push notifications and accept or reject meeting requests.

"As more connected devices proliferate across the enterprise, it's imperative to understand the implications they present so that organizations can permit increased employee productivity without endangering sensitive data," said Christy Wyatt, chairman and CEO of Good Technology.

The Internet of Things (IoT) takes secure mobility beyond smartphones to include connected cars, vending machines and other non-traditional connected devices in the enterprise.

International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that by 2020 there would be approximately 30 billion connected IoT units, with the market worth an estimated $3.04 trillion.

"Wearable devices give people powerful new ways to access the information and services that are most important to them, whatever they may be," said Rick Osterloh, president of Motorola Mobility.

"While much of the focus has been on consumers, there is also a huge opportunity for wearables to better connect people to the productivity services and applications that have become so essential in the workplace," he added.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 2nd March 2015

“On the brink of revolution” for tech and public sector

techUK hosts Public Services 2030 conference

"We are on the brink of revolution," says Gordon Morrison, techUK's director for tech for government, at the techUK Public Services 2030 Conference. Morrison is referring to the way in which the digital industry and government integrate and engage with one another.

The London conference was opened by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude MP (pictured) who stated: "Digital is one of the areas in which Britain is recognised to be world leading and it is part of the government's long-term plan for a stronger economy."

techUk's CEO, Julian David, said that the technology companies it represents welcome this sentiment: "We see the idea of government as a platform that can lead in a revolution to public service delivery."

David said that in all cases of successful digital enterprise from Estonia to Silicon Valley, "the public sector has played a major role in making that happen."

Maude noted that phrases like 'online government project' used to evoke concern due to notable failures such as the NHS computer system. However, Maude said the government is striving to be more efficient noting that 300 government websites have been shut down to be replaced by one, gov.uk. This is part of the government's attempt to modernise its digital infrastructure.

He also said that the government had saved £90 million by changing the way in which ICT contracts were set up, so that they had more clarity, were open to a wider range of applicants and didn't surpass a lifetime value of over $100 million unless under exceptional circumstances.

Maude also celebrated the success of British-based start-ups saying, "You do not need to be big to succeed you just need to be good." He pointed to examples like small Liverpool-based Scraperwiki which had help the migrate website content to gov.uk.

Speakers offered insights into how the digital public sector would change between now and 2030.

Pilgrim Beart, CEO of 1248, said that openness and data will be major drivers: "If we can do that then we can create an ecosystem of applications using analytics to turn data into information, something that the public and the private sector can get and participate in."

Other speakers also noted some of the uncertainties, Dr Sally Howes of National Audit Office said that it had yet to be established how to fully understand the monetary value in the digital government. Meanwhile, Air Vice-Marshall Mark Neal of the Ministry of Defence said that the "nature of risk" needed to be established when assessing proposals.

Julian David said that it is keeping in mind that there is an election this May: "We look forward to engaging with the next government and we are already meeting with the head of the civil service...to say we think this government platform is a fantastic opportunity to British-based tech businesses and of course British citizens."

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 4th March 2015

Is the UK economy IoT ready yet?

Analysis: UK stakeholders discuss the future potential of IoT at the techUK Public Services 2030 conference

'How far away are we from seeing the Internet of Things (IoT) in our personal and business lives?'

This question was put before attendees of techUK Public Services 2030 conference opened by Francis Maude MP and techUK CEO Julian David. Using electronic voting devices 75% of attendees said they expected to see it within the next 5 years.

Forecasts from stakeholders vindicated their vote; Cisco believes that within 5 years the number of connected devices worldwide will have grown from 12-13 billion to 50 billion. Meanwhile McKinsey and Company says that IoTs could have a potential economic impact of $2.7trillion to $6.2 trillion across sized applications by 2025.

"It has to happen in 5 years," says Julian Bowery of the Department for Communities and Local Government. "It is not excusable for us to be talking about a technology that is here now and allow cultural issues to get in the way."

Attendees also voted IoT and data analytics as the two areas in which the UK could show the most leadership in. However, almost everyone agreed that a lack of understanding regarding IoT was the biggest barrier to its success.

Gary Atkinson, director of emerging technologies at ARM, noted that the IoT infrastructure is out there and operates on a lower bandwidth than the mobile network it runs parallel with.

Daniel Byles MP says in terms of IoT's adoption, "it comes down to business and real world cases, it comes down to why would we do this, how would we do this." Byles noted that many local government authorities may well see this as an unnecessary add-on, especially when under financial pressure.

However, Byles believes that central government can give local a "nudge" when it comes to the latter bidding to the former for construction contracts. Byles says this can be done without mandates but by simply asking them how they will ensure technology is up-to-date and that they are making the best business choice. Byles hopes that within time it will be seen as a risk not to adopt the IoT changes that we are seeing in today's risk takers like Milton Keynes and that within time the UK will be exporting IoT smart cities to other nations.

Geoff Snelson, director of strategy for Milton Keynes council, outlined how data was being attained through a number of IoT systems throughout Milton Keynes which showed the number of available parking spaces and had sensors on bins to alert waste removal when they were overflowing.

"To get people to volunteer data there needs to be some contract of understanding that there will be some benefit that accrues back," Snelson said.

Sarah Eccelston of Cisco says that consumer demand will drive the public sector once expectations of service are raised in the private sector: "They are simply not going to tolerate being able to wear a T-shirt that can connect them to the internet but the government can't provide their 85-year-old grandmother who has Alzheimer's a t-shirt that connects the grandmother to the internet so that they know she's lost."

Looking ahead to 2030 Atkinson suggested that, "digital identity, assigned at birth, is kind of the way we should be going and then as you go through your life different services and capabilities are added to that."

However, as Robert McNamara of techUK noted that the issue of privacy and security is one area that needs to be addressed before any kind of IoT system can be put in place.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 6th March 2015

Equinix invests $277m in 5 new IBX data centres

The new IBX data centres will be built across four continents.

Equinix has announced plans to open five new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres across four continents.

Equinix is investing $277 million to build the centres in New York, Singapore, Melbourne, London and Toronto. This will create 4,200 new cabinets and add over one million square feet of new data centre space, increasing Platform Equinix's scale by more than 10%.

New York, Secaurcus, will be home to the NY6 data centre, serving financial, media and enterprise companies with premium colocation services.

Over the border in Canada, the TR2 data centre will be a a state-of-the-art Equinix data center located downtown, just one mile (1.6 km) from TR1 -- home to one of Canada's most robust trading ecosystems.

Moving to a the Asia-Pacific continent, the SG3 data centre will be located in Singapore. This date centre will be the company's largest data center in Asia-Pacific.

Melbourne, a hub for software companies, will house the ME1 data centre, while London's Slough will home the LD6 data centre.

The LD6 data centre marks a major milestone for Equinix as well as the UK's digital sector. The flagship UK data center was built to meet escalating demand for interconnection capacity across the region's fastest-growing campus and is a virtual financial center with 25 percent of European equities trades originating inside Equinix.

"In today's digital economy, the demand placed on interconnectivity has reached a new high. In a world where cloud dominates IT strategies and enterprise business models are interdependent, interconnection is a make-or-break proposition," said Greg Bryan, a senior analyst at TeleGeography.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 5th March 2015

Ericsson to use cloud to tap into data centre resources

Ericsson's Cloud System to transform data centre resources.

Ericsson and ABB, a power and automation technology engineer, have joined forces as they seek to transform how data centre resources are architected, optimised and managed.

The Ericsson Cloud System will be integrated with ABB's Decathlon data centre infrastructure management system (DCIM). The combined solution will enable one end-to-end view and management of total facility and equipment operations.

Ericsson says that customer benefits include energy and maintenance savings at the same time as improved reliability and performance.

Data centre operators will gain the opportunity to automate and govern operations across not only compute, storage, network hardware and software, but also power, cooling and other IT management systems. This fully integrated solution is designed to significantly improve ease of use, efficiency and sustainability.

"As the data centre market matures, owners and operators are starting to demand the same control and automation capabilities common to other complex, mission-critical environments," said Peter Terwiesch, President, Process Automation, ABB.

"Our alliance with Ericsson extends the automation of physical, mechanical and electrical infrastructure right to the heart of IT workload management. It will provide the technology for data centre and cloud operators to optimize IT workloads, saving operating costs while improving reliability and the performance of their data centres," Terwiesch added.

Cloud networking has developed rapidly over the past several years being adopted by those who appreciate its faster data delivery, improved application performance and increased operational efficiencies for mission-critical workloads.

The market size is expected to grow to $30.5 billion by 2018, which translates into a compound annual growth rate of 29%, according to 451 Research.

Originally published in www.cbronline.com on 3rd March 2015

Lancashire Council defer decision on Cuadrilla fracking plans to later date

By Adam Page
Published: Wednesday, 28 January 2015 on indmin.com

The decision comes as something of an anti-climax after the UK Parliament said it would not impose a moratorium on fracking earlier in the week and suggested that shale gas exploration in the country was getting closer to being a reality.

Lancashire County Council's Development Control Committee deferred its decision on whether to grant Cuardilla Resources planning permission for shale gas exploration to sites at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood, in Lancashire, northwest UK.

The decision to defer came after Cuadrilla submitted additional information to its application, following an earlier council decision that said it should be rejected due to fears that the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) would be too noisy.

"The additional information we have provided on further mitigation measures will, we believe, fully address the noise and traffic concerns raised by the planning officer’s in their recommendation to refuse planning permission for both sites," Cuadrilla said in a statement.

"This additional information will be assessed by the planning officers and there will now be an opportunity for the public to properly review and comment on this," it added.

Barbara Richardson, chair of the Roseacre Awareness Group which is opposing the application, says she was disappointed there had been a referral but understood the legal pressures the Council was under.

"We believe we have quite a strong argument to get the planning application refused," Richardson told IM.

"However looking back on it now I think we will have more time to build on the evidence we already have to show that there are more reasons to reject the application," Richardson added.

Richardson said that she has written to the council to ask what mitigating circumstances Cuardilla provided. She said that from the group’s perspective, the main issue was the traffic and noise that the development would bring to the area.

"For the local residents it is quite a stressful time because we have another eight weeks now, probably, before it goes to the committee again," Richardson said.

The fate of Cuadrilla’s fracking plans could be pivotal for the future of shale gas exploration in the UK, which could open up the country as a market for oilfield minerals that can be used in the fracking process such as silica or 'frac’ sand, barites (barytes), bentonite, borates, bauxite and kaolin.

Orocobre says that lithium oversupply will not be an issue as it moves towards commercial production

By Adam Page
Published: Friday, 06 February 2015 on indmin.com

Orocobre is at the last stage of its qualifying process and it is hoping that within a few months it can begin commercial production and become a major global lithium supplier. It says that last year’s fears about lithium oversupply have not come to fruition because it is one of the few juniors to deliver results.

ASX and TSX-listed Orocobre Ltd. has said that it will be able to be a profitable player in the lithium market, dismissing fears expressed by established companies that newcomers like itself will saturate the market.

James Calaway, Orocobre’s North American chairman, told IM that, "we have a fairly robust growth in demand across the world."

"There is a little bit of expansion going on in China but as for the rest of the world, there is really no material increase," Calaway added.

Calaway says that when lithium prices were being negotiated for 2014 there was an impression amongst end-users that the lithium market would be oversupplied. He said that this led to customers "feeling muscular" when in negotiations but Calaway feels this has changed now.

"End users are more concerned with securing supply rather than price," Calaway explained.

Companies like Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) has said it is worried about new suppliers disrupting lithium prices and saturating the market.

"What we see is a stable situation in the sense of volumes and in the side of SQM we see a strong market growing," Patricio Contesse, CEO of SQM, said during a conference call for its Q3 2014 results.

"[There have been announcements] of newcomers this year that have not been successful given they are in the equivalent of the Chapter 11 in Canada," Contesse added, referring to RB Energy, which halted all operations at its Quebec lithium project at the beginning of October 2014 and temporarily dismissed staff after it failed to secure the funding required to maintain operations.

$39m in new investment

Yesterday, Orocobre announced that it has raised approximately A$50m ($39m*) through an A$40m placement to domestic and international investors and a $10m underwritten share purchase plan.

Orocobre outlined that A$28m of the proceeds will fund the operations of its Olaroz lithium plant in Argentina, which was ramped up to commercial production within the last week.

"We are very pleased with the result of the raising in what are difficult conditions for resource companies," said Richard Seville, Orocobre’s managing director.

"We are now well funded to take Olaroz and the company through to the next stage of development, becoming a profitable operating company," Seville added.

Approximately 15.7m shares will be issued pursuant to Orocobre’s 15% capacity on the ASX, at a price of A$2.55/share. This is still subject to shareholder approval, which will be assessed at a general meeting in March.

The company is also announcing a share purchase plan which will be capped at A$15m, of which $10m will be underwritten. Shareholders will be invited to invest up to $15,000 each.

"Although we welcome some new shareholders onto the register, we are honoured by the ongoing support we have received from our existing shareholders in this raising. We will continue to work hard to build on the shareholder value that we have delivered to date," Seville said.

Olaroz plant

Orocobre says that its Olaroz plant has approximately 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in the pond system. It also claims the lithium inventory is growing at around 2,100 tpm LCE, according to current well pump rates.

"The majority of our material will be going to Japan, Korea and the US," James Calaway, Orocobre’s North American chairman, told IM.

"We will not only be supplying end users but also large producers, who are needing more supply," Calaway added.

Lithium demand is forecast to rise thanks to growing acceptance of electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics and energy storage.

In November 2014, Olaroz started producing primary lithium carbonate. Since then, the focus has been on commissioning the purification and drying/micronising circuits.

Since April 2011, Olaroz’s pilot plant has been distributing lithium carbonate to customers which Orocobre say will make the approval process a maximum of three to six months.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the company’s project partner, has finalised several customer contracts for 2015 output and it expects that the remainder will be completed during the first half of 2015.

Orocobre is now considering whether to increase the life of Olaroz with its phase II expansion. It is also looking into developing its other lithium assets in Argentina.

*Conversion made February 2015

Simbol Materials cuts jobs and halts activity at demo lithium plant

By Adam Page
Published: Thursday, 05 February 2015 on indmin.com

Simbol says that it is now seeking investors to help it commercialise its lithium production. However, EnergySource, the provider of its brines, says that it will take a different management team to realise the potential of Simbol’s lithium extraction process.

US-based Simbol Materials LLC has ceased activity at its Hudson Ranch geothermal lithium carbonate plant in Calipatria, California, US, and made 40 of its workers redundant.

Simbol said that operations have been inactive since December 2014.

"We completed the engineering studies and we are now in the mode of collecting investment infrastructures," Simbol’s CFO, Pete Sunada told IM.

"We thought we did not need to spend any more money on the operation at this point in time," Sunada said, adding, "nobody would start an investment discussion once the engineering is completed. It goes in parallel so it is ongoing," Sunada explained.

However, according to EnergySource, a renewable energy company that has provided Simbol with the geothermal brine used to test its lithium-extraction process, Simbol ran out of funds for the operations.

"We understand that last week, Simbol terminated senior management and most of the staff," Dave Watson, EnergySources CEO, told IM.

"Remaining Simbol employees are currently in the process of shuttering the demonstration facility they operate adjacent to our John Featherstone geothermal plant," Watson added.

Amongst those made redundant was David Edwards, Simbol's director of manufacturing. He follows Simbol’s CEO John Burba, who resigned last week.

Watson said that while EnergySource was disappointed with the latest news from Simbol, he said it was not surprised.

He told IM that previous management had failed to effectively implement the strategies necessary to achieve lithium extraction at the Hudson Ranch project, despite using "proven" technologies.

"We remain hopeful that new ownership and management sees the potential of the Simbol technology and we stand ready to support a new effort that demonstrates good prospects for success," Watson said.

Simbol’s plans

Last month, Simbol said that it would start construction on its first commercial lithium extraction plant at Salton Sea in California’s Imperial Valley, according to local newspaper The Desert Sun.

It said it wanted to produce 16,000 tpa lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from its 50MW power plant.

Simbol has already demonstrated its geothermal method at the plant, which will extract lithium, manganese and zinc to be transformed into materials suitable for batteries by using by-products from the plant, such as CO₂, waste water and condensate. According to Simbol, this is less dependent on weather conditions than the solar evaporation technique used by the majority of lithium brine producers.

"We believe Simbol’s technology is viable and proven at the demonstration facility," Watson told IM.

Watson suggested that new ownership would be the best option for company to realise its commercial objectives.

"We would expect a new ownership team to pursue a purchase of Simbol and its assets, as well as a transaction with EnergySource," Watson added.

In 2011, Simbol began operating its high-purity lithium carbonate demo plant and has already provided manufacturers with lithium carbonate and hydroxide to be tested in the cathodes of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.

Towards the end of 2013, the company succeeded in producing lithium carbonate with a purity in excess of 99.9% using geothermal brine at its demonstration plant located near the Salton Sea.

The brine Simbol will be using is rich in sodium chloride, meaning it can avoiding buying in soda ash as a feedstock ingredient. It says that because the plant is close to sea-level and to port means that it doesn’t have to ship brines to a secondary processing facility.

The company is seeking to supply the electric vehicles (EV), energy storage applications and electronic goods markets that are after Li-ion batteries. It is anticipating a massive growth in demand from the Asian market.

In 2010, Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. acquired a minority stake in Simbol securing the sole rights to market Simbol’s future products in Asia.

Lithium-ion batteries looking to store the green revolution, not just to drive it

By Adam Page
Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 on indmin.com

California is following Hawaii’s lead in using lithium-ion phosphate batteries to storage its energy. The Golden State is aiming to install 1.3GW of storage by 2040 and CODA Energy is taking the first steps with this.

US-based CODA Energy’s behind-the-meter lithium-ion phosphate energy storage system in the Los Angeles basin is now interconnected and operational. The 1,054kWh/510kW system is comprised of electric vehicle (EV) battery cell packs.

"CODA Energy set high goals for this year. We now have proven solutions that cover the full spectrum of our commercial and industrial customers’ needs for peak power and energy," said Peter Nortman, CODA Energy’s COO and CTO.

The project was developed under a contract with South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and co-funded by California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). The project hopes to demonstrate the scalability of CODA Energy’s peak shaving product architecture by managing demand charges for its facility headquarters in Monrovia, California.

Light up the sky: CODA Energy will be powering the Los Angeles basin with an energy storage system powered by Li-ion phosphate batteries.

"Our behind-the-meter active and interconnected storage systems range from a 40kWh UL listed energy storage appliance to this 1,054 kWh scaled and tailored aggregation solution," he added.

The system is comprised of two networked and aggregated multi-tower systems that can operate in concert or deliver independent services. CODA hopes its scalable hardware and proprietary networking software gives its system configuration ample flexibility and the potential to operate across a local or regional level.

New storage market

At this year’s Battery Show in Michigan, speakers underlined the importance of diversifying the use of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, like those being used by CODA. Enersys’ president, Dave Shaffer, insisted that battery producers must be geographically and technically adaptable to preserve the future sustainability of the market.

John Gagge, vice president for reserve power sales and service at EnerSys Americas, highlighted the growing energy demands of major cities and emphasised that there was a major opportunity for energy storage providers.

Archan Padmanabhan, stationary energy storage specialist for EV maker Tesla Motors Inc., spoke of the company’s drive to develop stationary energy solutions that will allow Tesla to meet its target of enabling widespread, sustainable transportation.

"It’s not just important to have EVs on the road, but to have them charged by cleaner sources of energy," said Parbmanabhan.

French battery maker Saft is currently developing a Li-ion energy storage system for the Hawaiian island of Kauai to regulate its electricity supply from renewable sources. The rest of Hawaii is seeking to transform its energy distribution system by 2017.

At the Battery Show, Kamen Nechev, chief technology officer at Saft, said that while performance advantages and storage ability remain key determinants of battery demand it will ultimately be costs that define whether the technology is viable.

The high cost of R&D and the varying demands of the technically multifaceted industrial sector are major obstacles that need to be overcome for projects to be workable. As a result, new sources of raw material are likely to be needed to prevent price inflation as demand from the battery sector grows.

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