"Green Battery" is funded with 8.7 million euros
The “green battery” project is funded by the federal government, the Free State and the European Union with 8.7 million euros. Hubert Aiwanger, Deputy Prime Minister and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, and the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, presented Dr. Holger Wampers, managing partner of Alumina Systems GmbH. Alumina Systems is one of only eleven German companies that are funded as part of the 2nd major European project for battery cell production.
As part of a small ceremony, which was limited to only 25 people under the Corona rules, Managing Director Dr. Holger Wampers to the Federal Ministry of Economics for the good cooperation and the Lichtenfels member of the Bundestag Emmi Zeulner for their support. Wampers gave a brief overview of the development of the company, which was previously part of Siemens AG and is now in the hands of private individuals. “Ten years ago we had ten customers and 50 articles; today we have 250 customers and 1,000 articles. That means that we stand on several feet due to our innovative strength, ”emphasized Wampers. Accordingly, the company has received an innovation award in each of the past four years.
Three years ago, Alumina Systems started developing a “green battery” that works without lithium and cobalt. The so-called salt battery only needs sodium chloride (table salt) and nickel. Both raw materials can be mined in an environmentally friendly way and the battery can be 100% recycled. In addition, the battery can neither burn nor explode and is therefore ideally suited as a stationary energy storage device. To charge an electric vehicle, you only need three modules the size of a beer crate. But the "green battery" is also ideally suited for industrial applications, e.g. for the electrification of trams, load peak compensation in the wind power industry, uninterruptible power supply in telecommunications or for the storage of green hydrogen.
According to Wampers, the funding will enable Alumina Systems GmbH to set up battery cell production up to a size of around 25 megawatt hours in the existing rooms. That corresponds to the production of around 100,000 tubes per year. In the second step, the production capacities could grow to one gigawatt hour of cells and system. That corresponds to around four million tubes per year. To do this, Alumina Systems would need additional production capacities; either inside the Redwitz industrial park or outside. "To support this growth, Alumina Systems will create additional jobs over the next few years," said Wampers.
Parliamentary State Secretary Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker said on the subject of batteries: "In order to produce competitive, high-performance and particularly environmentally friendly batteries in the future, we need innovations." Alumina Systems' battery project is of great importance for the energy transition. Decentralized storage options are particularly important in the volatile energy markets. This ensures that, with the battery ecosystem emerging in Germany and Europe, we are also at the forefront of technology.
Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger said at the handover of the symbolic funding decision that it would be a big breakthrough if it were possible to store larger amounts of energy with the new type of battery. A sustainable battery project like the one from Alumina Systems is also an important contribution to securing or creating new jobs in Bavaria. Addressing the management of Alumina Systems, Aiwanger said: “I hope that you will sell many of your 'green batteries' worldwide”. "But here we only give back what was previously generated by the tax figures."
