Berkshire Hathaway exploring lithium extraction at California geothermal sites for storage supply chain participation

Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) Renewables has opened small geothermal demonstration plants in California’s Imperial Valley to extract lithium. If successful, it plans to commercialize that technology in 2024 to 2026.

During the CleanPower 2022 Conference “Building the Clean Economy: Industry Executive Panel Discussion,” on May 17, CEO of BHE Renewables Alicia Knapp spoke about these efforts. She pointed to the need to establish energy security in the U.S. and the increasing reliance on battery storage, most of which will be lithium-ion technology.

Additionally, Knapp stated that the U.S. makes less than 1% of lithium used in domestic projects while the majority of battery cells are imported from China. Nearly all global supply is mined in Argentina, Chile, China, and Australia. Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Department of Interior, there exists approximately 7.9m metric tons of lithium reserves is in the U.S., most being in the Imperial Valley.

“Securing lithium as part of that supply chain is a huge part of establishing energy independence rather than creating a concerning reliance on lithium-ion batteries,” she said.

In an interview with NPM, BHE Renewables communications manager, Georgia Martin, said that the company has 345 MW of solar and geothermal production at the sites right now. She stated that lithium is naturally occurring in the brine already.

BHE Renewables is hoping to see if the extracted lithium can be prepared for commercial development and deployment for lithium-ion batteries. The process of extraction is done when the brine flows through the geothermal plants, located in the Salton Sea region of the Imperial Valley. According to Martin, she said the operations are in place and the extraction process has begun.

Knapp added that the area is one of the poorest counties in the U.S. and that establishing a successful operation like this would be economically beneficial for the region as well as the U.S. as a whole.

She added that the technology is not proven on a commercial scale, so BHE is stepping up to prove the technology with these small plants.

“It takes a different initiative than what we’re used to,” Knapp said. “We’re not used to taking the risks with new technologies, but that’s where we are as an industry. We need to innovate.”

Martin emphasized that point, stating that BHE Renewables is not a mineral company but is doing this geothermal project in California as a way to offset and help with the renewable energy industry.

Knapp said that BHE Renewables is working with both the State of California and the federal government and pointed out that the U.S. Department of Energy announced USD 3.1bn that will go toward domestic battery manufacturing and the supply chain.

“Those are the kind of partnerships that are needed,” Knapp said. “As the landscape evolves and new technologies become available, our focus is on our customers to make sure we deliver low prices, reliability, and sustainability. Innovation is a huge part of the sustainability picture. We know we can’t reach our clean energy future without batteries and new technologies that aren’t at scale today, so it requires us to innovate in that space.”

She added that the renewable energy industry needs to escape the “boom-bust cycle” and move to long-term planning and that industrializing the manufacturing chain is part of that.

Also playing a part in it are tax policies. Knapp said that the industry needs investment tax credits that are technology neutral, allowing businesses and the industry to work on long-term solutions.

“Right now, we have a more short-term focus,” she said. “If we have localized supply chains, I think we will see a balance. We need time to work through those things. We can’t make all our decisions on what we think the world will look like next year. We need to be able to take steps responsibly and strategically and be less reactive as an industry as a whole.”

Martin said that BHE renewables is always looking for investments in wind and solar, and currently has wind projects in Illinois, Iowa, Texas, and a community solar garden project in Minnesota.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.


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