Africa is seeing the first symptoms of what could simply be a revolution in battery production. Morocco and South Africa are leading the way, hinting at a long-term scenario in which the continent will not only dominate the production of green minerals, but also harness renewable strength to force the production of green batteries.
SPECIAL ARCHIVE | BIRD AGENCY | Africa is leading a local revolution in battery manufacturing, leveraging its abundant mineral resources and blank power to meet developing global demand for blank and renewable energy storage.
Strategic partnerships between countries and investment partners are gaining momentum, aiming to transform the continent, currently a net importer of batteries, into a self-sufficient region capable of meeting the growing battery storage demand and supplying European markets – similar to what has been witnessed in the vehicle industries of South Africa and Morocco.
Afrivolt, a South African power company, is the latest entity to unveil plans for a large mobile lithium-ion plant in Africa, opting for Cape Town’s Atlantis Special Economic Zone for its first plant.
According to Creamer Media’s Engineering News, Afrivolt’s gigafactory “will produce lithium-ion anodes, cathodes, and batteries for desktop garage programs and, in the medium term, for vehicles. “
“We are in talks with technical partners for the status quo of the factory,” Deshan Naidoo, CEO of Afrivolt, told Engineering News.
The Atlantis Special Economic Zone for Green Technologies, in South Africa’s Western Cape province, has built a platform for technologies, offering blank land and power to new entrants in the sector.
“Afrivolt is on track to build a gigavolt lithium-ion factory at Atlantis,” Matthew Cullinan, executive director of Atlantis’ Green Technology Special Economic Zone, wrote on LinkedIn.
Battery energy storage lies at the heart of the energy transition. As global energy dynamics shift towards intermittent renewables, especially solar and wind, batteries play a crucial role in bridging the gap between demand and supply, according to UNECA.
This has led to a significant increase in global demand for batteries. A 2023 report from Li-Bridge indicates that the trend will continue, with global demand for lithium batteries expected to increase more than five-fold through 2030.
The emerging demand curve is evident on the continent. In the first six months of 2023, South Africa imported $1 billion worth of lithium-ion cells and batteries, a really considerable increase from the $700 million imported in total in 2022. .
“This is five times more than the $200 million imported in 2021,” said Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, senior economist at Trade, Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), in research published through CleanTechnica.
The growing demand for batteries in Rainbow Nation reflects the broader trend across the continent, where the energy transition, electrification of the transportation sector, and dynamics are driving the adoption of blank energy.
The current efforts to manufacture batteries on a giant scale on the continent are due to the abundant mineral reserves needed for battery production. Whether it’s cobalt or lithium, manganese or nickel, graphite, etc. , all the minerals needed to make batteries must be available in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania or Gabon, among others. It is estimated that the DRC alone has several million tonnes of lithium reserves.
More and more African governments are demanding more processing of minerals before exporting them, with batteries being an option.
According to ESI Africa, Afrivolt recently announced ReElement, a product of American Resources Corporation, as a partner in the complete lithium battery and electric vehicle (EV) production ecosystem it envisions in Africa.
“If lithium-ion batteries could be manufactured in Africa, at the right scale, they would be more affordable, allowing energy users to rely more on renewables than they have recently,” said Bernard Jan Bladergroen, Director of Storage Innovation. of Energy. the University of the Western Cape.
Morocco has already noticed significant activity in this area, with 3 gigafactory projects announced in the last year alone. In May, the North African country reached a $6. 4 billion deal with Gotion High-Tech Company, a Chinese battery manufacturer, to build a battery gigafactory. in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region of northwestern Morocco. According to Gotion’s press release, the facility will have an annual battery capacity of one hundred gigawatts.
Additionally, South Korean company LG Chem Ltd has partnered with China’s Huayou, with both companies agreeing to build an EV battery material plant in Morocco. A September 2023 Reuters report indicates that the duo aims to operationalize the facility by 2026 and could produce up to 50,000 tonnes of lithium-phosphate-iron cathode materials per year, enough for half a million entry-class electric vehicles.
Another partnership agreement is underway between Al Mada, one of the country’s personal funds, and a Chinese battery component production company, CNGD Advanced Material Company. According to Bloomberg, the structure of the Jorf Lasfar site began in 2023 and the battery fabrics are expected to be produced for the first time in 2025. The two entities have invested $2 billion in the project, which will play a role in supplying battery fabrics for battery brands and electric vehicles in the Kingdom and beyond.
Most of the existing interest in gigafactory production is focused on Morocco and South Africa, two of Africa’s most sensitive car production markets, further highlighting the possibility that gigafactories need to boost local EV production.
In addition to ongoing gigafactories and battery component projects, some projects are already making notable strides in producing batteries at modest capacity and scale. Solar MD, a South African battery workshop company, broke ground on a 12,500-square-meter site in Richmond Park in August last year.
According to Invest Cape Town, Solar MD, which currently produces around 120 batteries per day, will increase its production capacity to 300 batteries per day until May 2024, when the new facility is completed.
With these initiatives, Africa is poised to become a key player in the global battery energy storage system market, projected to reach US$27 billion by 2030 from US$5 billion in 2023, according to the 2024 BESS Market Research report.
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SOURCE: Bonface Orucho, Bird Storytelling Agency