Potentia's 900MWh BESS first to be approved under SA's HRE Act
Potentia's 900MWh BESS first to be approved under SA's HRE Act - Energy-Storage.News Skip to content
Battery Power Online | To Power Efficient Lithium-ion Battery Recycling, Turn to Advanced Analytical Technologies
Contributed Commentary by Kyle D’Silva, Thermo Fisher Scientific August 14, 2025 | Society has increasingly relied on lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries since the first commercial battery was introduced in the early 1990s and, today, batteries power critical applications across industries from automotive to medical technologies. Over the years, battery technology has continued to evolve as scientists from both industry and academia work toward building batteries that are safer, more energy dense, and more sustainable to produce. Between the increased use of Li-ion batteries, new regulatory requirements in global markets and the need to responsibly use critical minerals like lithium and cobalt, battery recycling is emerging as an essential consideration around sustainability. In fact, a recent market analysis by IDTechEx has predicted that the global Li-ion market is expected to see significant growth and reach a valuation of $52 billion by 2045. As we collectively look to battery technology to aid in the clean energy transition, there’s a critical need to invest in building a robust battery recycling workflow. By incorporating innovative analytical technologies into managing the end of life of these batteries, the industry can also progress toward building a closed-loop infrastructure that aids in sustainable operations and helps to alleviate supply chain vulnerabilities. Optimizing the lithium-ion battery recycling workflow The recycling of Li-ion batteries is complex. While several analytical techniques are used to create efficiencies across the Li-ion battery value chain, there are a few key technologies, such as handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and process Raman spectroscopy, that can help overcome challenges associated with battery recycling. Offline laboratory analysis is a major bottleneck in battery recycling process, as it’s time consuming and often costly. Battery recyclers need technologies that enable fast measurements and reliable results for real-time decision making during the recycling process. Process Raman and handheld XRF address these needs effectively. For example, a common challenge is identifying which active materials can be extracted and reused for battery manufacturing. First, the battery packs must be disassembled and the remaining battery cells further broken down and separated from black mass, which is a powder containing active materials from the cathode and anode. A typical recycling process route involves chemically treating the black mass in a hydrometallurgical process to recover pure salts of lithium, nickel, cobalt and/or manganese. Raman spectroscopy can be utilized for in-line monitoring of the solvent removal process as well as the active material concentrations. Notably, the recovered materials need to be analyzed after each step to verify purity or ensure viability for reuse. Raman spectroscopy can be deployed to acquire real-time, onsite data, eliminating the delays of traditional laboratory analysis and streamlining the recycling process. Likewise, handheld XRF analyzers play a critical role, as they enable onsite point-and-shoot measurements that help battery recyclers quickly determine the valuable metal composition and economic value of black mass. Oftentimes, black mass is inefficiently recycled, or unwanted material enters the recycling process, leading to loss of profits, but handheld XRF analyzers can help battery recyclers select the adequate recycling route and efficiently recover valuable metals while reducing waste and improving yield. While confidence and fast decision-making during battery breakdown is an essential part of optimizing the battery recycling workflow, inline Raman spectroscopy systems and handheld XRF help improve efficiency throughout the recycling process by enabling real-time monitoring. Armed with up-to-date data, battery recyclers can make any necessary adjustments throughout the recycling process that can lead to higher recovery rates and reduced waste. Improving materials recovery not only optimizes battery recycling, but it also leads to holistically sustainable operations. Building The Foundation For A Circular Battery Economy Safely recovering battery materials for reuse can help the industry transition to a circular economy, which further reduces the environmental impact of battery manufacturing and bolsters supply chains. As more battery recyclers incorporate technologies like handheld XRF analyzers and process Raman spectroscopy into the workflow, the process becomes more efficient and sustainable. These technologies, plus complementary analytical tools that enable high sensitivity composition and impurity measurement such as electron microscopy, chromatography, and mass spectrometry, allow for more accurate estimates of the economic value of incoming and outgoing materials, which is a significant benefit to the industry. Industries that rely on batteries, such as automotive, will also benefit from optimized battery recycling. Many companies are strategically collaborating and investing in technological innovations that will help speed up the creation of a circular battery economy. As we continue to rely on batteries as an essential piece of the global clean energy transition, it’s clear that continued research and development, cross-industry collaboration and advanced analytical technologies are vital for a sustainable future. Kyle D’Silva, director of clean energy for analytical instruments at equipment supplier Thermo Fisher Scientific, is an analytical chemist with expertise in spectroscopy, chromatography and mass. He is responsible for the strategic and market development of analytical instrument portfolios that serve battery, solar, carbon storage, biofuels and hydrogen end markets. He can be reached at kyle.dsilva@thermofisher.com.
Elon Musk reveals when SpaceX will perform first-ever Starship catch
Starship Flight 10 was a huge success for SpaceX. When both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship Upper Stage successfully landed on their designated splashdown zones, the space community was celebrating. The largest and most powerful rocket in the world had successfully completed its tenth test flight. And this time around, there were no rapid unscheduled disassemblies during the mission. As per SpaceX in a statement following Flight 10, “every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy.” The private space enterprise also stated that Flight 10 provided valuable data by stressing the limits of Starship’s capabilities. With all of Flight 10’s mission objectives met, one would think that it would be pretty easy to cover the story of Starship’s successful tenth test flight. But that’s where one would be wrong, because Elon Musk companies, whether it be Tesla or SpaceX or xAI, tend to attract negative slant from mainstream media outlets. This was in full force with Starship Flight 10’s coverage. Take the BBC’s Facebook post about the fight test, which read “Elon Musk’s giant rocket, earmarked for use in a 2027 mission to the Moon, has had multiple catastrophic failures in previous launches.” CNN was more direct with its slant, writing “SpaceX’s troubled Starship prototype pulls off successful flight after months of explosive mishaps” on its headline. While some media outlets evidently adopted a negative slant towards Starship’s Flight 10 results, several other media sources actually published surprisingly positive articles about the successful test flight. The most notable of which is arguably the New York Times, which featured a headline that read “SpaceX’s Giant Mars Rocket Completes Nearly Flawless Test Flight.” Fox News also ran with a notably positive headline that read “SpaceX succeeds at third Starship test flight attempt after multiple scrubs.” Having covered Elon Musk-related companies for the better part of a decade now, I have learned that mainstream coverage of any of his companies tends to be sprinkled with varying degrees of negative slant. The reasons behind this may never be fully explained, but it is just the way things are. This is why, when milestones such as Starship’s Flight 10 actually happen and mainstream media coverage becomes somewhat objective, I can’t help but be amazed. After all, it takes one heck of a company led by one heck of a leader to force objectivity on an entity that has proven subjective over the years. And that, if any, is all the proof one could need about the undeniable success of Starship Flight 10.
Building AI Foundation Models to Accelerate the Discovery of New Battery Materials
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. With access to ALCF’s powerful Aurora and Polaris systems, researchers are developing AI models that can predict promising new materials for battery electrolytes and electrodes. Researchers from the University of Michigan are using Argonne supercomputers to develop foundation models that accelerate molecular design and the discovery of new battery materials. (Image by Anoushka Bhutani, University of Michigan.) For decades, the search for better battery materials has largely been a process of trial and error. “For most of the history of battery materials discovery, it’s really been intuition that has led to new inventions,” said Venkat Viswanathan, an associate professor at the University of Michigan. “Most of the materials we use today were discovered in a relatively short window between 1975 and 1985. We’re still primarily relying on that same set of materials, with some small, incremental tweaks to improve battery performance.” “It’s like every graduate student gets to speak with a top electrolyte scientist every day. You have that capability right at your fingertips and it unlocks a whole new level of exploration.” —Venkat Viswanathan, associate professor at the University of Michigan Today, advances in artificial intelligence (AI), and the computing power to support them, are changing the game. With access to supercomputers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Viswanathan and his collaborators are developing AI foundation models to speed up the discovery of new battery materials for applications ranging from personal electronics to medical devices. Foundation models are large AI systems trained on massive datasets to learn about specific domains. Unlike general-purpose large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, scientific foundation models are tailored for specialized fields like drug discovery or neuroscience, enabling researchers to generate more precise and reliable predictions. “The beauty of our foundation model is that it has built a broad understanding of the molecular universe, which makes it much more efficient when tackling specific tasks like predicting properties,” Viswanathan said. “We can predict things like conductivity, which tells you how fast you can charge the battery. We can also predict melting point, boiling point, flammability and all kinds of other properties that are useful for battery design.” AI helps researchers explore the vast chemical space The team’s models are focused on identifying materials for two key battery components: electrolytes, which carry electrical charge, and electrodes, which store and release energy. Advances in both are needed to design more powerful, longer-lasting and safer next-generation batteries. The challenge is the scale of the chemical space for potential battery materials. Scientists estimate there could be 1060 possible molecular compounds. A foundation model trained on data from billions of known molecules can help researchers explore this space more efficiently. By learning patterns that can predict the properties of new, untested molecules, the model can zero in on high-potential candidates. In 2024, Viswanathan’s team, including Ph.D. students Anoushka Bhutani and Alexius Waddle, used the Polaris supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) to train one of the largest chemical foundation models to date. The model is focused on small molecules that are key to designing battery electrolytes. The ALCF is a DOE Office of Science user facility that is available to researchers from across the world. To teach the model how to understand molecular structures, the team employed SMILES, a widely used system that provides text-based representations of molecules. They also developed a new tool called SMIRK to improve how the model processes these structures, enabling it to learn from billions of molecules with greater precision and consistency. Building on this success, the researchers are now using the ALCF’s new Aurora exascale system to develop a second foundation model for molecular crystals, which serve as the building blocks of battery electrodes. Once trained, the foundation models are validated by comparing their predictions with experimental data to ensure accuracy. This step is critical for building confidence in the model’s ability to predict a wide range of chemical and physical properties. Prior to developing the foundation model, Viswanathan’s team had been developing smaller, separate AI models for each property of interest. The foundation model trained on Polaris not only unified these capabilities under one roof, it also outperformed the single-property prediction models they created over the past few years. The team is actively exploring the model’s capabilities and intends to make it available to the broader research community in the future. The team also plans to collaborate with laboratory scientists at the University of Michigan to synthesize and test the most promising candidates identified by the AI models. Scaling up with Argonne supercomputers Training a foundation model on data from billions of molecules requires computing power that is beyond the in-house capabilities of most research labs. ALCF assistant computer scientist Murali Emani (left) works with University of Michigan researchers Anoushka Bhutani, Alexius Waddle and Amal Sebastian at the ALCF INCITE Hackathon. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.) Before gaining access to ALCF supercomputers through DOE’s Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program, the team was running into scaling issues. Bharath Ramsundar, part of the INCITE project team, had built AI models trained on tens of millions of molecules but found they could not match the performance of existing state-of-the-art AI models. “There were sharp limitations in the number of molecules we could look at when training these AI systems,” said Ramsundar, founder and CEO of Deep Forest Sciences, a startup company specializing in AI-driven scientific discovery. “We started with models trained on only one million to 10 million molecules. Eventually, we reached 100 million, but it still wasn’t enough.” The company has explored using public cloud services for some of its other research projects. “Cloud services are very expensive,” Ramsundar said. “We’ve found that training something on the scale of a large foundation model can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the public cloud. Access to DOE supercomputing resources makes this type of research dramatically more accessible to researchers in industry and academia. Not all of us have access to the big Google-scale supercomputers.” Equipped with thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) and massive memory capacities, ALCF’s supercomputers are built to handle the complex demands of AI-driven research. “There’s a big difference between training a
EC-funded study progresses battery storage hybridisation of pumped hydro plant in Slovakia
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Battery Power Online | Hundred-Megawatt Robotic Chargers, Flying Electric Buses, and a Lithium-Sulfur Battery Update
Kyle Proffitt August 26, 2025| The 2025 Advanced Automotive Battery Conference Europe continued with presentations across varied topics around transportation electrification. Collected here are some select discussions about faster charging standards and equipment, planned advances with aircraft electrification, and edging toward competitive lithium-sulfur batteries. Super-Megachargers Grivix Founder and CEO Marc-Andre Beck presented on the future of fast-charging and the need for ever-higher volts and amps. He said 14 years ago, when asked about the fastest charging speeds they could want, Daimler and BMW expressed satisfaction with 44 kilowatts. Now, of course, chargers of 250 and 350 kW are commonly available, and megawatt chargers are coming online for big trucks. Grivix is going bigger. Although his focus was on drastically increasing the power of these charging units, Beck made a prediction about this future of electrified vehicles. In comparing charging to filling a vehicle with gas, he said that already with these megawatt solutions, refueling a vehicle with electricity is faster than pumping the equivalent 23 liters of gasoline. “Looking into the future in 12 years, I’m sure we will recharge our vehicles in one minute, and then think how stupid were we to fill these dangerous liquids into our vehicles,” he said. Beck discussed the megawatt charging standard (MCS), for which he says Grivix has developed ruggedized variants that go up to 4000 amps and 1500 volts, producing 6 MW of charging power. If a compatible 75 kWh EV battery could be safely charged at this rate, the 0-100% charge time would be just 45 seconds, but the primary impetus for multi-megawatt chargers is to make much larger batteries usable. For instance, Beck said compatible MCS inlet units are already being included in Komatsu 930E heavy mining trucks, which are being designed in power-agnostic versions that could operate on diesel, hydrogen, or battery power. But because the batteries will get even bigger to create solutions in shipping, aviation, and elsewhere, he said they are looking to go to “15,000 amps at 4,000 volt, which leads to 60 megawatt.” Beck further quipped that “you just need to pay me enough, and you get a 120 megawatt connector, no problem.” Ultimately, to reach these levels of power, Beck said increasing the voltage makes the most sense, but we hit a hard limit. At 1500 volts, a device is no longer human operable because of safety concerns. The solution is that “it needs to be operated by machines,” Beck said. Grivix has created robots that use ultrawide band detection and cameras to locate the vehicles, connect, and charge. Integrated cabling, he says, creates efficiencies for necessary cooling. The robotic arm is the cable and cooling apparatus all in one. He noted that “the big problem in the future will be the infrastructure, and that’s a really hard one,” but added that “if somebody starts pointing the fingers, these things really can be solved.” Flying Buses As a perfect example of a higher energy vehicle that could benefit from leaps in charging infrastructure, Sora Aviation principal battery engineer Zi Jian Yeo was at the conference to discuss the company’s planned 30-seater electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the S-1, which they think of as a flying bus. Most often, eVTOL designs are intended to have low occupancy and cover short distances; four-seater air taxis are a common implementation, but Yeo says the cost per passenger of a 15-minute trip on one of these is $160. By increasing the capacity to 30 passengers, he sees this cost falling to $40. Yeo explained Sora’s interest in this market. “There’s a report published by Roland Berger a few years ago—the estimated global advanced air mobility market could reach $90 billion in 2050, and 50% of it could come from airport shuttle service.” This segment, he says, is their main focus. eVTOL solutions face several challenges. Among these, they require on-board batteries to release energy quickly and generate high power for both takeoff and landing. The gravimetric energy density is very important, as all of the battery weight must be lifted and carried. The heavier the aircraft and cargo, the more power needed. “For a big 30-seat eVTOL bus, we are talking about a few megawatts to take off the aircraft,” Yeo said. This is the equivalent power of five Tesla S Plaid EVs. Additionally, regular concerns like thermal runaway leave much less room for error, because you can’t just pull your plane over to the side of the road and get out. For the same reason, the battery management system must accurately gauge the state of charge, and everything is calculated with some room for error because the stakes are so high. Unlike EVs that might warrant their batteries for 500 cycles of greater than 70% of original capacity, Yeo says they consider 90% state of health end of life. They want to be really sure the battery can still produce the necessary power. Sora is designing the S-1 with a tandem wing design. Six tiltable prop rotors—2 on the front wing and 4 on the back—are powered by one battery pack each, installed in the wings. Yeo says this is helpful both in terms of safety, as they are further from passengers, and because the weight of the batteries helps limit wing flex that would otherwise counteract lift force. The aircraft is designed such that if one of the batteries fails, the remaining five are sufficient to continue the trip and land safely. The battery packs are also encased in a lightweight fire containment enclosure, Yeo said. The S-1 uses a 1000-volt electrical system, which Yeo says reduces electrical system weight and enables megawatt charging. For the batteries, they are targeting “at least 250 Wh/kg to 350 Wh/kg of energy density” and power “between 1000-2000 W/kg,” and Yeo expects that megawatt charging will allow 2-3C fast charge with a 3-MW charger. Taken together, these metrics suggest a total of roughly 1000 kWh of battery. He discussed some of the battery requirements and pointed out
SpaceX Starship Flight 10 was so successful, it’s breaking the anti-Musk narrative
Starship Flight 10 was a huge success for SpaceX. When both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship Upper Stage successfully landed on their designated splashdown zones, the space community was celebrating. The largest and most powerful rocket in the world had successfully completed its tenth test flight. And this time around, there were no rapid unscheduled disassemblies during the mission. Hey CNN, there's a typo in your headline. I fixed it for you."SpaceX Starship test launch shows future of low cost access to space, exploration of Mars" pic.twitter.com/RD7kLkjEC7 — Blake Scholl (@bscholl) August 27, 2025 As per SpaceX in a statement following Flight 10, “every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy.” The private space enterprise also stated that Flight 10 provided valuable data by stressing the limits of Starship’s capabilities. With all of Flight 10’s mission objectives met, one would think that it would be pretty easy to cover the story of Starship’s successful tenth test flight. But that’s where one would be wrong, because Elon Musk companies, whether it be Tesla or SpaceX or xAI, tend to attract negative slant from mainstream media outlets. You don't hate the MSM enough pic.twitter.com/43nzD2cUOw — Robin (@xdNiBoR) August 27, 2025 This was in full force with Starship Flight 10’s coverage. Take the BBC’s Facebook post about the fight test, which read “Elon Musk’s giant rocket, earmarked for use in a 2027 mission to the Moon, has had multiple catastrophic failures in previous launches.” CNN was more direct with its slant, writing “SpaceX’s troubled Starship prototype pulls off successful flight after months of explosive mishaps” on its headline. While some media outlets evidently adopted a negative slant towards Starship’s Flight 10 results, several other media sources actually published surprisingly positive articles about the successful test flight. The most notable of which is arguably the New York Times, which featured a headline that read “SpaceX’s Giant Mars Rocket Completes Nearly Flawless Test Flight.” Fox News also ran with a notably positive headline that read “SpaceX succeeds at third Starship test flight attempt after multiple scrubs.” Wow positive MSM today on Starship launch! pic.twitter.com/bmYhQ6CNdc — Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) August 27, 2025 Having covered Elon Musk-related companies for the better part of a decade now, I have learned that mainstream coverage of any of his companies tends to be sprinkled with varying degrees of negative slant. The reasons behind this may never be fully explained, but it is just the way things are. This is why, when milestones such as Starship’s Flight 10 actually happen and mainstream media coverage becomes somewhat objective, I can’t help but be amazed. After all, it takes one heck of a company led by one heck of a leader to force objectivity on an entity that has proven subjective over the years. And that, if any, is all the proof one could need about the undeniable success of Starship Flight 10. The post SpaceX Starship Flight 10 was so successful, it’s breaking the anti-Musk narrative appeared first on TESLARATI.
Energy Storage Breakthroughs Enable a Strong & Secure Energy Landscape
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Last Updated on: 13th August 2025, 11:51 pm Argonne science supports resilient supply chains, American manufacturing. Argonne advances battery breakthroughs at every stage in the energy storage lifecycle, from discovering substitutes for critical materials to pioneering new real-world applications to making end-of-life recycling more cost effective. Best known for their applications in consumer electronics and electric vehicles, batteries power far more than our daily tools. Innovations in energy storage — the capture of energy produced at one time for later use — can protect against supply chain disruptions, reinforce the grid and foster U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Batteries now support efforts to ensure low-cost, domestic energy production. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers are advancing breakthroughs at every stage in the energy storage lifecycle. From discovering substitutes for scarce, critical materials to pioneering new, real-world applications to making end-of-life recycling more cost effective. “Batteries are a foundation for American energy abundance, and Argonne researchers can help ensure that tomorrow’s energy storage technologies are safe, efficient, long-lasting and domestically produced.” —Venkat Srinivasan, director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) Consortium Energy storage, critical elements and supply chains Energy storage offers many benefits, but it also is complicated by supply chain challenges that affect how technologies are developed and used. Over the last few decades, scientists have dramatically improved lithium-ion batteries in terms of how much energy they can store and how long they last. As a result, they are now widely used in appliances, vehicles and on the grid. They enable the grid to be more dependable in the face of rising electricity demand and natural disasters. Lithium-ion batteries, however, rely heavily on critical elements like lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are predominantly found abroad. Consequently, battery supply chains are often vulnerable to disruption. DOE and the national laboratories are working to protect energy infrastructure from potential supply shocks — whether from market fluctuations or national security threats. This requires safe and low-cost energy storage solutions that utilize domestic materials. To meet this need, researchers are working to improve the performance and lifespan of sodium-ion and water-based battery alternatives. Argonne’s approach Argonne has long served as a global leader in battery science. Most notably, Argonne researchers played a key role in the development of the nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) cathode, which is in many electric vehicles today. Currently, the laboratory is deploying artificial intelligence (AI) for materials discovery, testing cutting-edge chemistries and supporting U.S. innovation ecosystems to ensure that Argonne innovations match what the market demands. “Batteries are a foundation for American energy abundance, and Argonne researchers can help ensure that tomorrow’s energy storage technologies are safe, efficient, long-lasting and domestically produced,” said Venkat Srinivasan, director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) Consortium. “Rooted in fundamental science, our approach supports the U.S. energy storage landscape through practical innovations that use a wide array of battery materials. We’re also harnessing the power of AI to accelerate the pace of discovery and leapfrog current energy storage paradigms.” To support early-stage energy storage research, Argonne leads the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub that includes Lawrence Berkeley and Pacific Northwest national laboratories and eleven universities across the U.S. Leveraging decades of national investment in basic sciences, ESRA seeks to enable transformative discoveries in materials chemistry and gain a fundamental understanding of electrochemical phenomena at the atomic scale. From there, the hub aims to accelerate technology commercialization, prioritize the development of battery materials that protect the U.S. from supply chain risks and train a next-generation battery workforce for future manufacturing needs. Argonne also leads the LENS Consortium, convening 14 partners — including six national labs and eight universities — to pioneer safe, affordable and U.S.-sourced sodium-ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion systems. Argonne scientists are working to decrease the cost and increase how much energy sodium-ion batteries can store, without compromising safety or lifespan. Across the laboratory, ACCESS brings together top scientists and engineers to tackle energy storage challenges across various disciplines. To date, the network has supported more than 240 patents, from advanced cathodes to novel electrolytes, helping industries, ranging from automotive to aerospace, move technology from the lab to the global market. Finally, Argonne is home to the ReCell Center, a national collaboration that unites industry, academia and national laboratories to spur effective battery recycling. Advances in this area can extract more value out of batteries at the end of their initial use, reducing their costs as well as U.S. reliance on foreign raw materials for battery manufacturing. What’s next With nationwide electricity demand projected to soar in the years ahead, and 21st century threats challenging 20th century infrastructure, Argonne is scaling its capabilities to meet the energy demands of a new era. The lab’s upgraded Advanced Photon Source (APS) and Aurora exascale supercomputer, part of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), serve as leading tools for real-time materials discovery, modeling, and testing and are available for use by Argonne researchers, partner institutions and private companies. APS and ALCF are DOE Office of Science user facilities. Across the lab, researchers are exploring electrified aviation, aqueous grid storage and solid-state lithium-sulfur systems that could double electric vehicle range. At Argonne, battery research is driving progress across the entire energy storage lifecycle, strengthening domestic energy production, supporting the grid and helping secure a competitive, resilient future for U.S. manufacturing. The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science. About the Advanced Photon Source The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter
capex support scheme to help fund 4,000MWh of BESS
The scheme is part of a €180 million package approved by the EU late last year, funded by its State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (‘TCTF’), which was borne out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Such capacities will ensure greater resilience, flexibility and security of the electricity system, which will also contribute to the stability of electricity prices. The high business interest in this measure shows that investors are ready to actively contribute to these goals. State support is becoming a key impetus in creating a modern, reliable and sustainable electricity system in the country,” said Acting Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas. Although the Ministry’s announcement did not mention specific technologies, most projects are likely to be battery energy storage systems (BESS). The scheme is open to projects between 30MWh and 300MWh. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia disconnected from the Russia-led BRELL grid and connected to mainland Europe earlier this year, an event in which BESS played a significant role. Lithuania’s transmission system operator (TSO) Litgrid deployed its own storage-as-transmission projects with system integrator Fluence, totalling 200MW/200MWh and designed specifically to support the grid in island mode during the switchover process. There has been progress on numerous large-scale merchant BESS projects from private investors too this year, with Energy-Storage.news reported on project investments and M&A from DS1, UAB Karjerų linija, Ignitis Group and E energija Group.
SpaceX aces Starship test flight 10 with successful payload deployment
SpaceX aced its tenth Starship test flight on Tuesday night after multiple delays pushed the mission back to this evening. Originally scheduled for Sunday night, SpaceX had two delays push the flight back to Tuesday, which ultimately provided ideal conditions for a launch attempt. The tenth test flight of Starship had several objectives, including a successful splashdown of the booster in the Gulf of America, the deployment of eight Starlink simulation modules from the PEZ dispenser, and a splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX Starship Flight 10: What to expect SpaceX successfully achieved all three of these objectives, making it one of the most successful test flights in the Starship program. There was no attempt to catch the booster this evening, as the company had been transparent about it ahead of the launch. The mission began at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, when the launch of Starship initiated. After about eight minutes, stage separation was completed, and the Super Heavy Booster headed back down to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean: Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf pic.twitter.com/LGozUAmLt8 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025 Starship was then the main focus of the rest of the broadcast as it completed its ascent burn and coasted through space, providing viewers with spectacular views as the mission headed toward new territory, including the deployment of Starlink simulators. This would be the first time SpaceX would attempt a payload deployment. The deployment works like a PEZ dispenser, as the simulators were stacked on top of one another and would exit through a small slit one at a time. This occurred roughly 20 minutes into the mission: Open the pod bay door, HAL Starship deploying @Starlink simulator sats pic.twitter.com/3CSOyulzcJ — SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025 An hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship reached its final destination, which was the Indian Ocean. A successful splashdown would bring closure to Starship’s tenth test flight, marking the fifth time a test flight in the program’s history did not end with vehicle loss. It was also the first of four test flights this year that will end with Starship being recovered. Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting tenth flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/5sbSPBRJBP — SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2025 SpaceX is expected to launch Starship again in approximately eight weeks, pending the collection of data and other key metrics from this flight.
Solar Plus Battery Storage - This Changes Everything
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. CleanTechnica has published hundreds of articles on renewable energy and battery storage, but we have not always thoroughly explored how those advances will alter societies that take advantage of them. Predicting the future accurately is impossible. If we could do so, there would be no need for sporting contests, as the result of games would be known in advance. But by paying close attention to small developments, we sometimes can get a glimpse of what the future might be. One of our regular readers — Bryan FW — recently posted a comment on a CleanTechnica article that seemed particularly insightful. He wrote: “The evolution here, once battery packs became cheap enough and ubiquitous enough, is that those consumers with the most resources will exit the grid first. Those remaining will become increasingly riskier as paying customers, creating either lower utility profits or government intervention where government increasingly subsidizes utilities until it becomes effectively the single payer for those remaining (except in libertarian states, of course, where people who can’t pay have to go back to the nineteenth century). “Either utility profits go away, or grid improvements halt. I think we can all guess which….The concept of moving electrons over great distance becomes obsolete. No more efficiencies of scale, no more fungible electricity markets, no more grand vision of harvesting the sun as it moves across the continent. “And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With that decrease in efficiency comes a corresponding increase in redundancy. Ransomware or enemy action or natural disaster may take down microgrids here and there, but we just won’t be seeing these widespread failures that are so difficult and costly to deal with anymore. Globalization is the past; islanding is the future.” A Model For Solar Plus Storage His words may be prescient. There have been lots of headlines this week about how cheap solar panels imported from China have transformed life for many in Pakistan. Where previously the electricity provided by traditional power generators and distributed via a creaky energy grid was expensive and unreliable, now many Pakistanis are simply exiting the electricity market and taking responsibility for their own energy needs. A report by Energy Monitor dated August 20, 2025, says that Pakistan imported 17 GW of solar PV and an estimated 1.25 GWh of lithium-ion battery packs in 2024. The expectations are that by 2030, battery imports could increase to 8.75 GWh, which would be enough to meet over a quarter of peak demand. Solar by day, storage by night would become the new norm for the country. “The surge in solar and batteries is not only driving down energy costs for Pakistani users but also enhancing reliability and contributing to the country’s energy sovereignty by reducing dependence on imported fuels,” Energy Monitor says. New Challenges There are bumps in the road, however. The transformation “poses new challenges for grid resilience and system integration. The rapid growth of distributed energy is creating a divide between grid-dependent users and those who can afford off-grid solutions such as rooftop solar and batteries.” That is pretty much what Bryan FW predicted in his comment. Energy Monitor adds, “Pakistan’s energy transition underscores the need for utility-scale solar projects to complement rooftop and distributed systems, essential for meeting growing demand and facilitating the transition. Financing solutions must cater to all segments of the population to ensure that the rapid shift to solar and storage benefits the entire power system.” “Other emerging economies can draw valuable insights from Pakistan’s experience. Recommendations include making the energy transition inclusive, integrating distributed energy into the system, including legacy assets, incorporating the mobility sector, and planning ahead for scale.” A careful reader might fairly conclude that the energy transition could be messy — something common to most technology revolutions. It is worth noting that the Washington Post ran a story with a headline that focused on the impact this solar revolution will have on Pakistanis who cannot afford solar and storage systems and are burdened by higher energy costs. The headline — “How Pakistan’s solar energy boom led to higher power bills for the poor” — may be accurate, but its emphasis seems designed to appeal to the MAGAverse first and foremost, something the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper has made its primary editorial policy since January 20. A Market-Led Transition As CleanTechnica reported last year, in November, 2024, the World Economic Forum said that Pakistan’s rapid adoption of solar power, which is being driven primarily by market forces and with only minimal political support, provides valuable lessons for other emerging markets. “Declining solar panel prices, coupled with skyrocketing grid electricity tariffs that have increased by 155% over three years, are fueling a rush in renewable energy adoption in Pakistan, with solar power leading the way. The country is now the world’s sixth-largest solar market,” it said. The driving force behind the surge in solar power in Pakistan is economics, not policies. Many countries feel threatened by China’s overproduction of solar panels, which has driven down their cost to the point where they are ridiculously cheap. As a result, Pakistan is now the third largest importer of Chinese-made solar panels. If Pakistan had its own solar panel industry, it would impose significant import duties on those panels from China, but it does not. Therefore, the influx of cheap panels is welcomed by most Pakistanis, but not all. Industrial, agricultural, and residential sectors have embraced solar, with imported Chinese modules totaling 13 GW added in the first half of 2024. Forecasters predicted that figure would rise to 22 GW by end of 2024. Kaiser Bengali, an economist who worked as an adviser to the chief minister of Pakistan’s southeastern Sindh province, says the influx of Chinese panels has sparked an episode of “circular debt” where those still reliant on the expensive state power grid need to choose between saving money to switch to solar or refusing to pay their bills. If they choose the latter,
Neoen and NHOA partner on BESS with capacity market contract in North Italy
Neoen and NHOA partner on BESS with capacity market contract in North Italy - Energy-Storage.News Skip to content
SpaceX calls off Starship 10 flight attempt once again
SpaceX is calling off a potential launch of Starship this evening, marking the second consecutive night the tenth test flight of the massive rocket will be delayed. Originally planning to launch on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, SpaceX was forced to delay the tenth launch of Starship due to a hardware issue. “Ground side liquid oxygen leak needs to be fixed. Aiming for another launch attempt tomorrow,” CEO Elon Musk posted on the social media platform X. Starship Flight 10 rescheduled as SpaceX targets Monday launch The launch was then pushed to Monday night, and the launch window was set to start at the same time as Sunday. However, SpaceX would push it back to 6:44 p.m. due to some weather issues. Eventually, Starship seemed like it was trending toward a launch, but weather continued to persist in the area, with thunder, rain, and lightning all threatening in the area. At around 7:03 p.m., SpaceX decided to stand down once again, confirming weather was the culprit of yet another delay: Launch called off for tonight due to anvil clouds over launch site (lightning risk) — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2025 SpaceX will likely try again on Tuesday night, but the company has not yet confirmed if it will open another launch window. The post SpaceX calls off Starship 10 flight attempt once again appeared first on TESLARATI.
DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station - CleanTechnica Tested
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Last Updated on: 25th August 2025, 04:21 pm Recently, DJI (the company already well-known for its drones) sent us a new product to test out: the DJI Power 2000, a power station with 2048 Wh of energy storage. While we’ve tested a number of power stations with this much storage and far more, there are a few things that really set DJI’s new offering apart from the competition. In this article, I’ll share what makes it special and how it worked for me on a 4,500-mile camping trip across the United States. It’s Super Easy To Pack Along The first thing I noticed after unboxing the power station was just how compact it is. Despite having the storage it does, it’s not much bigger than a deep cycle RV battery. Even more important than size is shape, and with the simple rectangular arrangement DJI came up with, it’s easy to pack other things around it and on top of it. The handles are arranged not only for easy carry, but also to keep things from covering up the air vents, which prevents overheating when it’s packed away with other gear in a car or a closet. Don’t Let The Size Fool You — It’s Powerful & Versatile A power station could be the most awesome thing since sliced bread, but if it doesn’t have the right plug for the things YOU want to power, what good is it? So, let’s talk about what you can plug into this one. On the AC side, the Power 2000 has three 20-amp 120-volt plugs and one 30-amp TT-30 plug (like many RVs plug into). Maximum output, per DJI, is 3000 watts, so you can run a number of appliances at a time with no problem. More on that in a bit. The power station also has a number of USB-C and USB-A plugs for directly charging a number of small appliances, laptops, tablets, phones, and anything else that’s USB-powered. It also has two proprietary input-output SDC ports that you can plug a variety of things into, provided you get the right adapter or harness from DJI. Extra batteries to expand storage, solar inputs, rapid charging input, car charging, and fast charging for some recent DJI drones can all be accomplished. It also has an input port to charge the device directly from a wall socket, with two speed settings to adjust power levels on non-dedicated circuits. An app is available for iOS and Android devices to manage the power station, but as with other DJI Android apps, the APK must be directly downloaded. I already have a much larger bank of batteries mounted inside my travel trailer, so the Power 2000 served in a backup and auxiliary role on this trip. But, it came in very handy when I realized that I had forgotten my extension cord for my impact driver. Despite the bursts of energy an impact can suddenly draw, the Power 2000 coped just fine when I used it extend the stabilizers a lot further down than usual to accommodate a strange campsite configuration at Great Smoky Mountains’ Elkmont Campground. Next, I pulled out my travel trailer’s 30-amp connection to see if the 3 kW rating DJI promised was legitimate. I ran an air conditioner, house-sized refrigerator, and lighting for 2 hours, along with short bursts of the microwave and other appliances. Even as the full pull approached 2900 watts, the power station gave no errors and revealed no hidden “gotchas.” DJI delivers on its promise. A Sudden Rainstorm Won’t Fry It My next bit of testing for the unit was entirely unplanned. While I was using it to cool off the camper and cook dinner, a pretty strong thunderstorm drifted into the area. I’m a big believer in “When thunder roars, go indoors.” I know I’m picky, but I’m just not a big fan of helping the sky and the earth balance our their electrical imbalances, at least not if my body’s going to serve as the conductor. So, the unit got to sit outside for about an hour of fairly heavy rain, wind, and splashing mud. But, it still took about another hour before the power station shut off, and only then because we had depleted the battery. The total runtime with the AC, fridge, lights, and limited microwave use was about 2 hours. Final Thoughts If you’re looking for a power station that can handle heavy loads, is easy to pack/store, and can survive things you’re likely to encounter on camping trips, the DJI Power 2000 is a good choice. Even around the house, it should serve well to cope with power outages. Heck, if you add some extra batteries (up to 22528 Wh), you could use it to run air conditioning and heat at least part-time. The pricing isn’t bad, either. According to the DJI website, the normal price is $1899, but as of this writing, it’s available for $1299. Purchase the Power 2000 from dji.com or Amazon. You can use the following code to get a 10% discount on one item: POWER2000CT2 (Valid from Aug 18th at 3AM EST to Sep 1st at 2:59AM EST). All images by Jennifer Sensiba. Sign up for CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News! Advertisement Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here. Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent. CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy
Fullmark's 40MWh California BESS reaches commercial operation
Fullmark's 40MWh California BESS reaches commercial operation - Energy-Storage.News Skip to content
Tesla considers making a big move with Model Y pricing as demand is skyrocketing
Tesla is considering making a big move with Model Y pricing as demand is skyrocketing due to the EV tax credit expiring in just over a month. With the $7,500 EV tax credit set to be removed on September 30, Tesla is experiencing increased demand for its Model 3 and Model Y. Customers are doing whatever they can to take delivery of the car they ordered as soon as possible. The IRS recently adjusted the EV tax credit’s rules slightly. Tesla set to win big after IRS adjusts EV tax credit rules Previously, the vehicle had to be delivered by September 30, but a slight tweak the agency made last week will now allow customers to enter a legally binding contract along with a marginal down payment by that date. The delivery can occur after September 30, and the car can still qualify for the credit. However, demand is getting so crazy for the Model Y that Tesla is considering a price increase on the all-electric crossover, as well as a potential boost in production output to keep up with orders. Inventory is dwindling in several markets across the United States, a good sign for the company, as it could have one of its best quarters in recent history in terms of deliveries. However, Tesla is thinking of bumping the price slightly, Raj Jegannathan, the company’s VP of IT, AI Infrastructure, Apps, Infosec, and Vehicle Service Operations, said on X: The price adjustment would come as a response to increasing production output, Jegannathan’s response seems to indicate. The bump would help Tesla’s margins, but the idea that the company could adjust pricing by increasing it would not be popular with potential car buyers. It might encourage some buyers to put their orders in sooner, hoping to avoid a new, higher price. However, it could also steer some buyers away from putting an order in on a vehicle, especially if the price increase is more than a few hundred dollars. Tesla boosted the price of the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck recently, but brought in a “Luxe Package” to help justify it. It comes with Free Full Self-Driving, Free lifetime Supercharging, four years of premium service, and lifetime Premium Connectivity.
Taking On The Pan-American Highway In A Tesla Model X Named Beluga
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Adventure means different things to different people, but a common theme is the call of the unknown. The Pan-American highway has long proved to be a siren song for adventurers, stretching from the northern most drivable point in North America all the way down to the southern tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina. The typical rig you’ll see on this route is an older Land Rover or Toyota 4Runner kitted out with a few thousand pounds of suspension upgrades, off-road bumpers, winches, tents, and gear. A bold adventurer named Sandro decided to tackle the Pan-American in what might seem like an unlikely vehicle, his Tesla Model X named Beluga. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica On his YouTube channel EverydaySandro, he has documented tens of thousands of miles of his adventures where he and Beluga have traveled all around North America, most recently driving up to Tuktoyuktuk. It is the farthest north you can drive on a road in North America and is the northern terminus of the famed Pan-American highway. Beluga has been Sandro’s home on wheels for the last 3 years, supporting his adventures far and wide. I first met Sandro at the Tesla Takeover in San Luis in 2023, after which a group of similarly minded folks headed off into the hills to camp together for the night. Camping above San Luis Obispo, California after the Tesla Takeover. Image courtesy: Fruble Fabrication Sandro built a custom slide-out kitchen in his Tesla Model X with nesting drawers that provide space for an induction cooktop, a collapsible sink, and a water spigot. On top of the kitchen unit, a pantry provides additional storage for dry goods like oats, hot sauce, beans, and the like. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica The rear subtrunk has been loaded up with two massive fresh water tanks, plates, bowls, tupperware, and more. A key element of Sandro’s design was to keep the vehicle looking mostly stock on the inside, with the kitchen unit taking up only the room behind the rear seat. The other half of the rear of the vehicle is where his foldable sleeping pad hangs out when not in use. Moving towards the front of the vehicle, Sandro has a small refrigerator in the rear behind the passenger seat with a bag for fruits hanging from the rear seat. He has clearly thought through every inch of the vehicle layout and continues to optimize it as his adventures continue. The compact cooking and bed are compact yet effective. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica Outside, Beluga looks stock, though a careful eye might notice the upgraded all terrain tires. These were a key upgrade from the low profile stock rims and tires and provided much needed peace of mind as he took on the famed 458 mile / 737 kilometer Dempster Highway from Dawson City up to Inuvik in the far reaches of northern Canada. He was also the first Tesla to ever use Tesla’s Full Self Driving on the Dempster. As the first Tesla to accomplish that feat, he spent four days charging at Eagle Plains where Beluga took a hit from a rock when a helicopter took off from the parking lot. The circuit he was charging from was technically capable of putting out 16 amps but it kept overheating, requiring him to switch plugs every couple of hours to keep the vehicle charging. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica Eventually, he made it to Tuktoyuktuk where he spent a few days before making his way back down the Dempster. He took a few months to decompress from the intense drive, slowly making his way back south. Along the way, he stopped off at my house, where we installed a custom 250 watt solar array from Mito Solar on the hood of Beluga. The install required two sizable holes to be drilled in the middle, which was one of the more cringe-inducing things I’ve seen in my life. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica The solar array runs back to a 2 kWh EcoFlow Delta 2 that serves as his house battery, powering his induction cooktop and refrigerator. Those loads would normally be powered from the Tesla’s battery, so powering those loads from solar is an effective way to extend his range. I recently spent two weeks traveling along the Pan-American with Sandro, driving along a stretch of the road with very few chargers. While we did pay attention to chargers and kept our options open, it was hardly our primary concern. Charging up at an Enel Juicebox station in Honduras installed for “The Long Way Up” expedition featuring Ewan McGregor. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica Even in Nicaragua where there are only a handful of proper EV chargers in the entire country, we were able to roam anywhere we wanted because even though it is packed with places to go and things to see, it’s a rather small country so range is rarely a concern. Sandro is relentless with his planning for the Pan-American trip, learning about each border crossing, recent speed limit changes (like Nicaragua’s new national 50 kilometer per hour speed limit), stocking up his tool kit, and buying the proper insurance for each country. Again, while charging is something he does pay attention to, it’s far down the list of real concerns, even on an epic global expedition like this. Sandro has custom tailored just about every aspect of Beluga to suit his lifestyle and it truly has emerged as one of the most prolific electric adventure vehicles in the world. Off-roading adventures in Moab, Utah. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica He’s currently in Central America where he’s preparing to ship Beluga across the famed Darien Gap, starting his adventures in South America. Ultimately, he plans to drive to the southern end of the Pan-American in Ushuaia, Argentina. To follow along with Sandro and Beluga’s adventures, head over to his YouTube Channel, EverydaySandro, or on X. Sign
Community batteries launch in Queensland & Victoria, Australia
Community batteries launch in Queensland & Victoria, Australia - Energy-Storage.News Skip to content
