Auditors warn of "battery mover" status for battery technologies – EURACTIV.com

Europe could be left in the international race for battery construction, EU auditors warned in a report, stressing that better storage is needed for the bloc to meet its climate and climate goals. energy.

The information report issued on Monday 1 April by the EU's financial guardians, the European Court of Auditors, describes some of challenges faced by the bloc, asThis watchdog has been leaning on large scale storage in networks and transport, especially battery technology.

The report concluded that "the current EU strategy may not meet the challenges of the energy transition".

In particular, grid storage has been touted as the main means Europe has to exploit the untapped potential of renewable energies. Clean energy sources such as solar and wind energy can not be turned on or off during peak hours. Therefore, the energy must be stored at the right time.

Auditor Phil Wynn Owen, who wrote the report for the court, said the technology would play a fundamental role in setting up a low-carbon energy system, primarily based on energy renewable energy, in the European Union ".

The information meeting, which is not part of the regular audits of the CoC, concluded that there is a risk that the EU has not sufficiently supported the deployment of innovative energy storage on the market "and that funding criteria can be simplified.

The auditors acknowledged that the new legislation allowed power grid investors to more easily overcome what were previously significant obstacles, but warned that there were still problems with electric mobility.

Lithium-ion batteries, technology of choice for electric vehicles, are not produced on the same scale in Europe as in other regions, especially in China.

The report warned that because of this, Europe would risk becoming a "second engine" in the lucrative market, and suggested that the EU must ensure that its strategy is coherent, that the technologies are actually deployed and that load infrastructures are made available.

In the framework of the European Battery Alliance, a target of 200 GWh of production capacity by 2025 has been set, but the auditors warned that current trends show that it will be difficult to exceed 70 GWh d here 2023.

The European Commission will publish a review of the work of the Alliance until next week.

Peter Altmaier, the influential German Minister for the Economy, said on Monday 1 March in Brussels that the transition to electric vehicles risks losing its important manufacturing role.

"If one day all the cars were electric cars, with Asian components and American technology, then 55% of our cars would be made up of non-European parts. At the moment, our cars are 80% European, "said Altmaier.

Angela Merkel's former confidant added that EU capitals and institutions should encourage their companies to build batteries "not only as commodities, but also as standardizers".

The clean mobility group Transport & Environment agreed that the battery sector should "Think big, go wide and focus on market deployment, "warned, however, that competition with China's tastes should not be at the expense of standards.

"We can only compete on quality: the EU should strive to produce the most environmentally friendly, safest and best batteries. Meeting European battery regulations, such as the forthcoming ecodesign and battery recycling proposals, should help the industry and give green batteries a competitive advantage, "Julia Poliscanova told EURACTIV , expert in T & E.

Norway showed again Monday why it was the child of electric vehicle consumption, while March sales figures showed that nearly 60% of new cars sold were fully electric – a world record.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]