Batteries & Energy Storage

In order to make the transition to a zero-emission economy, energy storage becomes indispensable, so the best technologies must be developed to package it and transport it where and when it is needed. Interconnected and balanced electricity grids are needed, reducing dispersion, improving their efficiency and integrating all renewable sources.

This will also help strengthen European energy security and create a well-functioning internal market with lower prices for consumers.​

The “Study on energy storage – Contribution to the security of the electricity supply in Europe”, published by the Commission in May 2020, found that today the main energy storage reservoir in the EU is pumped hydro storage. Lithium-ion batteries represent most of electrochemical storage projects today, thanks to lower prices. However, problems of lifetime and recycling should be strongly taken into consideration.

In the EU, the segment of operational electrochemical facilities is led by UK and Germany. The electric storage market with batteries  is quite heterogeneous, depending on local markets and countries: as a new market, it is still driven by political aspects and/or subsidies.

​With electrification set to be one of the main pathways to decarbonisation, batteries as electricity storage devices will become one of the key enablers of a low-carbon economy.

Given their capacity to integrate more renewables into our energy systems and their ability to green the industry and transport sectors, with spill over effects on the electrification on many additional sectors, global demand for batteries is expected to grow very rapidly over the coming years, making the market for batteries a very strategic one.
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To build up a viable manufacturing sector in Europe and consolidate technological and industrial leadership, the European Commission has identified batteries as a strategic value chain where the EU must step up investment and innovation to strengthen the industrial policy strategy.

To help Europe take the right strategy in order not to miss this great opportunity, the European Commission has published the Communication on "Europe on the move", whose Annex 2 is dedicated precisely to batteries. One concerns the global governance framework of the Energy Union and the other an action plan to create a global, integrated and competitive European industrial base.

The progress made to date has been assessed and summarized in the Commission report in 2019 (COM (2019) 176 final).
Batteries & Energy Storage
Batteries & Energy Storage
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The European Platforms on Batteries and Electric Vehicles


As far as batteries are concerned, the issue is scientific, technological, legislative and guidelines to develop a solid and leading European market. More, Europe can exploit its size to set standards that become a reference in the global market.
Therefore, in the case of batteries, the research and innovation promoted by the EU is not limited only to the scientific aspect.

For this reason, a European Battery Alliance Technology Platform was created, in order to examine all related problems and to indicate the best solutions.

Batteries Europe is the technology and innovation platform of the European Battery Alliance (EBA), created in 2019 and supported by Commission and the European Investment Bank It is important to follow the work of the EBA, as it points strategic issues to EU legislators.​

It aims to accelerate the establishment of a globally competitive European battery industry, driving the implementation of battery-related research and innovation actions of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan and the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda.

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The Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) is a central pillar of the EU’s energy and climate policy. It has ten key actions and SET Plan action 7 focuses on competitiveness in the global battery sector.

The SET Plan research priorities on batteries were published in November 2017 and include several research and innovation activities, as detailed in the implementation plan, aiming to make the battery value chain in Europe more competitive.

Simultaneously, a number of Member States are teaming up for important projects of common European Interest (IPCEI) on batteries research and innovation.
Interregional partnership on advanced regional materials also contributes to the achievement of SET Plan objectives for batteries.
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​EBA organise its work in 6 Working Groups, charged to exchange information and debate the technological solutions for batteries, bringing together stakeholders. 

The WGs have a large degree of freedom to develop papers and initiatives aiming at fostering the development of the battery value chain in Europe. WGs are responsible for identifying new challenges and issues that the battery research and innovation community could face. Their work will feed into key strategy documents, including the updated Strategic Research Agenda.
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Six Working Groups are charged on specific tasks (read the WG members)

WG1 - New and emerging battery technologies - The group also cooperates with Battery 2030+ and other national initiatives.
WG2 - Raw materials and recycling - It has released a Raw Materials and Recycling Roadmap on February 2021.
WG3 - Advanced materials - Benchmarking of various battery chemistries and studies also on solid state batteries.
WG4 - Cell design and manufacturing - From intellectual property rights to manufacturing techniques.
WG5 - Application and integration: Mobile - Research & Industry together involved in electro-mobility solutions.
​WG6 - Application and integration: Stationary - Challenges and solutions for grid integration and stationary application

One Task Force on Sustainability

Requirements for defining the key sustainability aspects that need to be taken into account across the whole battery value chain:

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European Battery Alliance Governance


To have a wide representation of stakeholders and offer agile and efficient operation, the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) on Batteries Europe platform is organised as follows:

The General Assembly meets once a year and is responsible for defining the strategic orientations by enabling a shared vision from all stakeholders from the value chain like industry, academia, EU member states representatives, policy makers and European associations involved in battery research and innovation.
The assembly adopts Batteries Europe documents, including the strategic research agenda and roadmaps, and it votes for the composition of the governing board. 
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The Governing Board is the decision-making body of Batteries Europe in charge of vision, mission, and strategic planning goals. It reviews and approves all documents including the research and innovation roadmaps prepared by the management team.
The current governing board has nine members, of which one chair and two vice-chairs, and was elected at the General Assembly 23 October 2019, in Brussels.

The Management team includes the chairs of the thematic working groups (WGs) and the national and regional coordinators group (NRCG), supported by the secretariat. The management team is responsible for day-to-day working group coordination on cross-cutting issues, organisation of WG meetings and operational information exchange.

The national and regional coordinators group (NRCG) is composed of the Member States and associate country representatives to ensure mutual flow of information between countries or regional representatives and to facilitate common member state actions. One representative of the NRCG participates in the governing board meetings, as an observer. Furthermore, the NRCG will be a point of exchange on EU co-funded joint actions. It should also become a forum for interaction with the interregional partnership on advanced battery materials.

Thematic working groups are made of experts representing the battery-related industry, the research and the associations. Scientific discussions are taking place within the groups, which are responsible for the preparation of documents, including research roadmaps and the Strategic Research Agenda. Each of the six thematic working groups is lead by a chairman and two co-chairs.

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The former projects on Battery technology funded under H2020

 
1. BRIDGE projects on batteries
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BRIDGE was a European Commission initiative that united smart grid and energy storage projects funded under Horizon 2020. 
In 2018, the group published a report based on input from 15 projects, most involved in battery integration in the energy system. Amongst the main findings, the report highlights that 
  • most of the demonstration sites involving batteries are located in Southern Europe and on islands (where batteries make the highest economic sense)
  • different battery technologies are tested within H2020 projects, even if lithium-ion batteries were the most widely used
  • batteries are tested at all levels of energy system for different use cases
  • new market designs and business models are being elaborated by the H2020 projects in order to make these new services economically viable
  • batteries from electric vehicles are involved in the use of second-life batteries (from EVs and smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications)
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2. BATSTORM projects 2016-2018
Read the last Summary
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3. EU Projects on Batteries

LC-BAT-1-2019
Gathering calls for strongly improved, highly performant and safe all solid state batteries for electric vehicles
  • Astrabat - The Astrabat project promotes an all solid-state reliable battery for 2025
  • SAFELiMOVE - The SAFELiMOVE project focuses on advanced all solid state safe lithium metal technology towards vehicle electrification
  • SOLiDIFY The SOLiDIFY project works on liquid-processed solid state lithium-ion metal battery and the development of upscale materials, processes and architectures
  • SUBLIME The SUBLIME project develops solid state sulfide based lithium-ion metal batteries for electric vehicule applications

LC-BAT-2-2019
Calls on strengthening EU materials technologies for non-automotive battery storage
  • CoFBAT  The CoFBAT project focuses on advanced material solutions for safer and long-lasting high capacity cobalt free batteries for stationary storage applications
  • ECO2LIB The ECO2LIB project highligts ecologically and economically viable production and recycling of lithium-ion batteries
  • NAIMA The NAIMA project highlights NA ION materials as essential components to manufacture robust battery cells for non-automative applications

LC-BAT-3-2019
Calls on modelling and simulation for redox flow battery development
  • CompBat The CompBat project promotes computer aided design for next generation flow batteries
  • SONAR The SONAR project promotes energising redox flow batteries

LC-BAT-4-2019
Calls on advanced redox flow batteries for stationary energy storage
  • Baliht The Baliht project supports the development of full lignin based organic redox flow battery suitable to work in warm environments and heavy multicycle uses.
  • CuBER The CuBER project works on copper-based flow batteries for energy storage renewables integration 
  • HIGREEW The HIGREEW project focuses on affordable high-performance green redox flow batteries
  • MELODY - The MELODY project promotes membrane-free low cost high density redox flow batteries

LC-BAT-5-2019
Calls on research and innovation for advanced lithium-ion cells (generation 3b)
  • 3beLiEVe - The 3beLiEVe project delivers the 3b generation of LNMO cells for the xEV market of 2025 and beyond
  • COBRA - The COBRA project works on cobalt-free batteries for future automotive applications
  • HYDRA - The HYDRA project works on hybrid power-energy electrodes for next generation lithium-ion batteries
  • SeNSE - The SeNSE  project promotes competitive next-generation European lithium-ion battery technology 

LC-BAT-6-2019
Calls on lithium-ion cell materials and transport modelling​
  • DEFACTO - The DEFACTO project develops battery design and manufacturing optimisation through multiphysic modelling
  • MODALIS2 - The MODALIS2 project models advanced lithium-ion storage systems

LC-BAT-7-2019
Call on the network of lithium-ion cell pilot lines
  • LiPLANET - The LiPLANET project develops the LI-ION cell pilot lines network

ERC-2019ERC
Consolidator Grants support research teams which are still in consolidating phase.
  • MIGHTY - MIGHTY looks at the improvement of the manufacturing processes of lithium-ion batteries.
  • SEED - The SEED project aims at extending the same concepts of lithium-ion batteries to other more abundant ions.
  • Programmable Matter - Programmable Matter will work towards triggering specifical chemical reactions on materials, leading to a so-called programmable matter.
  • Worlds of Lithium - Worlds of Lithium project will examine how strategies of transition from fossil fuel transport to electric mobility powered by lithium-ion batteries are deployed inChile, China and Norway

FETPROACT-EIC-05-2019
FET Proactive - Cutting-edge high-risk / high-reward research and innovation projectsthat aim to demonstrate a new technological paradigm.
  • NANOSTACKS -  NANOSTACKS works towards the development of novel fuel cells that integrate cheap materials.

EIC-2018-2020
Supporting innovation actions from demonstration through market uptake.
  • MAGIT - MAGIT is innovating in casting techniques for the modelling of parts, among which batteries. 
  • Addionics - Addionics aims to improves power, capacity and safety of lithium-ion batteries through 3D electro-printing.
  • INDUEYE 2.0 - The INDUEYE 2.0 project is working on the safe, sustainable and effective digitalization of energy intensive industries.
  • EHSTACK - EHSTACK works towards the removal of barriers to the deployment of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
  • MobilityPlus - MobilityPlus optimises feeding healthcare through the integration of Internet of Things.

LEIT-NMBP-2018-2020
  • NanoBat - NanoBat aims to develop a novel nanotechnology toolbox for quality testing of Li-ion and beyond Lithium batteries
  • PAT4Nano - PAT4Nano project aims to develop tools to enable the continuous, rapid and reliable measurement of nanoparticles to facilitate the more efficient, accurate and less costly manufacture of nanomaterials
  • SYMPHONY - The SYMPHONY project aims to develop new cost-efficient materials along with a fabrication process for energy harvesting technologies.

MSCA-2018-20203
  • D-PRESS - 3D-PRESS will develop and promote 3D printing technology for lithium-ion batteries in all solid states.
  • MotionEst - The MotionEst project aims to develop battery units that can store biomechanical energy with increased lifetime.
  • NanoEvolution - NanoEvolution will investigate on lithium-sulfur battery designs.

MSCA-IF-2019
  • BatCon - The BatCon project will develop health-aware fast charging strategies for batteries.

SC2-2018-2020
  • MUSICA - MUSICA aims to implement and spread a multi-use platform that can foster clean energy autonomy in islands.

SC3-2018-2020
  • FEVER - FEVER implements and demonstrates solutions and services to leverage flexibility, with the goal to make distribution grids more resilient.

SC4-2018-2020
  • AEGIS - The goal of AEGIS is to develop a new waterborne transport system for Europe that leverages the benefits of ships and barges.

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Battery-related events


Click on the link of the event you are interested in. You can register directly.
You want to participate as a speaker and/or as an exhibitor? Click here​ for our support.

2022

2021

The EU funding opportunities


1. European Research Council 

ERC funds projects supporting top researchers from private and public host institution, from anywhere in the world.
On February 2021, the European Commission published the working Programme 2021
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2. European Innovation Council

European Innovation Council (EIC) supports high-risk, high-impact ideas, turning science into new business and accelerating the scale-up of ’game-changing’ innovators shaping the future. Today, EIC support the new three strategic EU objectives: the European Green Deal, an economy that works for people, a Europe fit for the digital age.
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Here the last funding opportunities:

EIC Pathfinder Pilot (€660 million for 2019-2020)
The EIC Pathfinder Pilot comprises FET (Future and Emerging Technologies)-Open and FET-Proactive, for grants of up to €4 million to promote collaborative, inter-disciplinary research and innovation on science-inspired and radically new future technologies.
​These grants are for consortia of at least 3 entities from 3 different Members States and associated countries.
The scheme features ‘targeted calls’ based on topics or challenges identified in the Work Programme along with open bottom-up call for proposals.
The EIC Pathfinder pilot had a total budget of around €660 million for 2019-2020.

The EIC is expected to start the new program in 2021. We will publish the new Calls in this section as soon as they will be decided. Page of EIC.

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3. CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency

Another financial opportunity is represented by CINEA (former INEA, from 15 February 2021)
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The CINEA is the successor of INEA and of  the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA), which were created by the European Commission in 2014 and 2006 to manage the technical and financial implementation of its TEN-T programme.
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CINEA  implements the following EU programmes:

The Connecting Europe Facility programme supports investment in Europe's transport, energy and digital infrastructure networks. It will support the twin green and digital transition, by contributing to the ambitious targets for the European Green Deal and the Digital Decade. In few weeks the Action Programme for 2021-2022. Here the last  in 2020.
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​INEA was running parts of Horizon 2020 under 6 themes. One is on Next Generation batteries for €90 million in 2020.

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. 
Innovation Fund, started in 2020 as successor of the NER300 programme, will provide around €10 billion of support over 2020-2030 for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, aiming to bring to the market industrial solutions to decarbonise Europe and support its transition to climate neutrality. One of the theme is Energy storage, batteries included.
There will be regular calls for proposals in the lifetime of the Innovation Fund.

​All Calls are collected and organised automatically  on "EU Funding, Tender & Procurement opportunity, Public Consultations" page (available for PREMIUM Subscription).
​ 2020 – Smart, green and integrated transport + Secure, clean and efficient energy.
​INEA was running parts of Horizon 2020 under 6 themes. One is on Next Generation batteries for €90 million in 2020.

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. 
Innovation Fund, started in 2020 as successor of the NER300 programme, will provide around €10 billion of support over 2020-2030 for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, aiming to bring to the market industrial solutions to decarbonise Europe and support its transition to climate neutrality. One of the theme is Energy storage, batteries included.
There will be regular calls for proposals in the lifetime of the Innovation Fund.

​All Calls are collected and organised automatically  on "EU Funding, Tender & Procurement opportunity, Public Consultations" page (available for PREMIUM Subscription).

Energy Storage


​Storage technologies

​A variety of technologies to store electricity are developing at a fast pace and are increasingly becoming more market competitive, but there are significant challenges in terms of limited access to grids and excessive fees. To address these issues and identify how to further develop energy storage technologies, the Commission published guiding documents on proposed definition and principles in June 2016 and the role of electricity in energy storage from February 2017, the latter of which was published alongside the second state of the energy union report.