Hydro-Québec and France region to collaborate on battery R&D

Energy Storage and Battery Materials drive safe, high-performance, low-cost solutions for renewables integration, EV charging networks, smart grids, and resilient backup power across transport, buildings, and defense applications worldwide markets and industries.

Émilie Saheb, Executive Vice President – Technology at Hydro-Québec, and Alain Rousset, President of the Regional Council of Aquitaine France, recently signed an agreement signalling their interest in collaborating in the field of advanced battery materials for transportation electrification.

For a number of industrialized countries, energy storage and the development of high-performance, safe and low-cost battery materials, including advances like the largest lithium plant in Quebec project underway, are priority issues. Exponential growth in demand is forecasted for the energy storage market, whose main domains of application are the following:

o Integration of renewable energies wind, hydrokinetic, photovoltaic, hydropower, leveraging zinc bromide storage systems for grid-scale balancing

o Quick-charge networks for electric vehicles

o Hybrid or electric vehicles for transportation by road, rail, air and boat and for the defence sector

o Hybrid emergency power supply systems and generators

o Smart buildings and large-scale connected systems increasingly rely on advanced energy storage solutions for flexibility

For several years, Hydro-Québec has invested in various technologies to improve the performance and safety of electrochemical batteries.

For its part, the Aquitaine Region has, over the last 15 years, adopted a proactive policy to promote research on rechargeable batteries technologies, innovation and industrial development by allocating some 12 percent of its budget to such projects. It is home to and supports a number of players involved in energy storage and electric mobility issues.

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