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£2.5m Australian Government Grant awarded for Sulfur cell production testing and validation with partners

December 19, 2024
Three men in lab looking at lithium sulfur pouch cell prototype

Gelion (AIM: GELN), the Anglo-Australian battery innovator, has been awarded a c.£2.5m (A$4.8m) grant by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (“ARENA“) as matched funding to implement its Advanced Commercial Prototyping Centre (“ACPC”) Project (“Project”) in Sydney. The ACPC Project will enable the Group to produce and optimise its next generation GEN 3 Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) and Silicon Sulfur (Si-S) battery technologies and provide these for test and validation by prospective global partners and customers. The Project will commence upon Gelion securing its appropriate co-funding.

Gelion has achieved 402 Wh/kg (gravimetric energy density) in a 12 Ah Li-S pouch cell which is over 60% higher than traditional lithium-ion. This makes Gelion’s light-weight sulfur battery technologies well suited for high growth applications such as electric aviation, electric vehicles and specific stationary energy storage, such as remote power supply.

ARENA’s funding will enable Gelion to accelerate its pathway to scale production and revenue, with the ACPC Project targeted to deliver:

  • Production of c. 2000 Li-S and Si-S cells p.a. for validation with potential commercial offtake partners, toward revenue generation
  • Building out key global supply chain partners to underpin commercial scale up
  • Third party certification of Gelion sulfur battery safety
  • Advanced manufacturing methods to create efficiencies when scaling up production (e.g. Gelion’s unique in-situ-assembly approach to sustainable electrode production giving Gelion a strong advantage in reducing production costs and carbon footprint)

During this Project, Gelion will aim to successfully validate its products with partners and then seek to scale up production to match offtake demand. Gelion plans to work closely with ARENA regarding potential commercial scale up grant funding opportunities in the future.

Image credit: ARENA’s Twitter/X

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said: “The project will drive the next generation of battery technology, delivering more efficient, less expensive and more sustainable energy storage solutions. Energy storage is a critical component in the clean energy transition, and this project which aims to demonstrate the potential of alternative battery chemistries, could be a game changer. The clean energy transition is dependent on batteries for energy storage and transport. It is therefore critical that we explore and commercialise innovations that make batteries perform better through improved energy density and at a reduced cost.“

The ACPC Project aligns with ARENA’s strategic priority to improve the economics of energy storage through the use of novel battery chemistries. It also has alignment with the Battery Breakthrough Initiative, which was announced by the Australian Government in the 2024-25 Budget to promote the development of battery manufacturing capabilities.

Read the full RNS

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