New York Gigafactory
A consortium of companies has been working together to fast-track a 15-gigawatt hour lithium-ion gigafactory in New York.
There is demand for lithium-ion production in-state as NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo recently established the Clean Energy Standard mandating at least 50% of New York’s power to come from renewable energy by 2030.
Renewable energy could come from many sources, most likely solar, and wind plants. The energy would then have to be stored, which is where lithium-ion batteries come in. Decentralized energy storage has been claimed by many leading experts to be on-trend and a paramount innovation to take place in the next two decades. Lithium-ion batteries, powering industrial and residential power walls are the best choice for this type of energy storage.
A production of 15GWh could support one million residential power walls, or 300 microgrids for small towns.
The consortium is also looking at building a 15-gigawatt hour li-ion battery factory in Australia.
Thailand Gigafactory
Energy Absolute is a renewable energy company with solar and wind power factories (over 500MW production per annum) and biodiesel initiatives mainly in Asia. They also have a 35.2% stake in a Taiwan-based lithium polymer battery manufacturer. They are now looking to build a lithium ion gigafactory (up to 50-gigawatt hours per year) in Thailand.
They are looking to invest 3 billion baht (USD $88 million) for the beginning phase to reach a production of 1-gigawatt hours of lithium ion batteries. This is feasible as the company has liquid cash inflows of at least double this amount per annum.
Such production would push Thailand to become one of Asia’s largest lithium ion battery producers, only second to China.
They are now seeking government support. If they do not get it, they are looking at three other possible locations probably in South-East Asia.
