Three researchers from CIC energiGUNE, the Basque research center of reference in battery storage, thermal energy solutions and hydrogen, and member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance-BRTA, have been appointed by the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA) to be part of 3 of its 5 permanent Work Groups, recently created to promote the achievement of the objectives of the association Batt4EU. The designations correspond to Montse Casas Cabanas, Scientific Coordinator of the Electrochemical Area, Roberto Pacios, Technology Coordinator of that same area, and the expert on LCA Andrea Casas.
“Counting with three representatives as advisors to the leading world experts on batteries, for example Kristina Edström, is an achievement of great impact for the center”, has assured Nuria Gisbert, General Manager of CIC energiGUNE. “These designations position us on a privileged level in order to contribute to the European position towards an ecosystem of the battery of its own, especially from the business and industrial points of view”.
In this sense, the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA), which represents the private side of the Association Batt4EU, aspires to promote the development of a European ecosystem of the battery through the launch of five Technical Work Groups, corresponding to six R&D areas that have been identified in the Strategic Agenda of Batt4EU in order to accomplish its main objectives: achieving an industrial manufacturing capacity of batteries that is competitive and sustainable, and allowing emission-free mobility and the integration of renewable energy storage.
The six areas are: Raw materials and recycling, Advanced materials and manufacturing, Final uses and application of the battery, Security and reliability, Sustainability and Collaboration, which is crosscutting to all the others. The first five will count with one Work Group, in which there will be a leader that comes from that industry, a co-leader that comes from the research field, and a Technical Advisor. The researchers from CIC energiGUNE will occupy one position of co-leader, corresponding to Roberto Pacios in the group of Safety and Reliability, and two Technical Advisors: Montse Casas-Cabanas in Advanced materials and manufacturing; and Andrea Casas in Sustainability.
The main task of the Work Groups will be to identify, prioritize and write up the key R&D topics about batteries, and through them they will cover all the segments in the value chain of the battery. Likewise, they will allow an efficient identification of the priorities, especially in the perspective of the updating of the consortium’s strategic documents.
The Work Group in which Montse Casas-Cabanas takes part will focus on advanced materials (from cathode, anode, separator until electrolytic materials), analyzing and proposing initiatives for the development of new chemistries and battery cells that are more profitable, of a higher performance, safer and more sustainable, among other aspects. In the case of Roberto Pacios, the group’s work will center on the security aspects that have not been covered in the other groups, such as the evaluation of safety and methodologies to evaluate the condition of the security. Finally, Andrea Casas will advise the group dedicated to sustainability, in a crosscutting manner all through the whole value chain.
