Latest news with #AltechBatteries
News.com.au
a day ago
- Business
- News.com.au
German investor Deutsche Balaton has built an ASX empire, and it's backing this battery stock to the hilt
German investor Deutsche Balaton has built an empire of ASX resources stocks It's also branching out, holding a role as battery stock Altech's major shareholder This is how DB's Wilhelm Zours invests, and why Altech is one of its key ASX holdings Any clued-in observer of the energy market knows solar and wind power is just one part of the solution for green energy. Now mainstream technologies, the key is not solar panels and turbines, it's working out how to store that energy for round-the-clock power. With the growth in the rollout and usage of AI, experts expect to see a rise in the use of battery energy storage systems (BESS), allowing data centres to be supplied with a cost effective and steady base-load. While the battery market explores everything from lead-acid to sodium-ion, Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) stands alone on the ASX with a game-changing chemistry using simple table salt and nickel powder – sidestepping costly, high-demand critical minerals. And the company's technology comes with a key backer in one of the ASX's leading resources investors, a major show of support from a backer normally known for providing the capital to turn lithium and gold small caps into major players. Founded and led by German businessman Wilhelm Konrad Zours, Deutsche Balaton has been a fixture in ASX resources investing for years. Its appearance at the head of Altech's register, with a combined stake across multiple entities of 16.5%, lends credence to the battery tech stock's growth story. Investor backing Deutsche Balaton's backing has gone further than simply holding equity. In a strong vote of confidence, the German investment firm agreed to a $4.28M loan facility in March to fuel Altech's CERENERGY and Silumina Anodes developments. By offering the loan in the form of a binding bond note subscription deed, Altech has been able to draw down the funds in the form of bearer bonds, with interest set at 7% per annum. Speaking with Stockhead, Altech chief financial officer Martin Stein said Deutsche Balaton has been a supportive shareholder throughout the years, first joining the company's register about six years ago. The synergies are even stronger than many of the firm's ASX investments, given Altech's plans to base its plants in an industrial park in Saxony, close to the European EV industry. 'Deutsche Balaton has provided capital and debt instruments to help finance Altech's objectives,' he said. 'From a geographical standpoint, being close to both of Altech's battery projects in Germany, I think the company can see the enormous potential of CERENERGY and the Silumina Anodes projects.' How does Altech's tech work? Without the danger of thermal runaway, extended durability and a broad operating range from -40°C to 60°C, Altech's solid-state chemistry dubbed CERENERGY sets a new standard for battery safety and performance in stationary storage solutions like grid infrastructure and data centres. Altech's other development, Silumina Anodes, is tackling one of the toughest battery challenges when using silicon in battery anodes, the issue of silicon swelling. During charging, silicon particles can expand by as much as 300%, causing swelling and fracturing that may lead to battery failure. It also tends to immobilise lithium ions, which can reduce overall performance and shorten battery lifespan. By using alumina-coated particles, Altech believes it has cracked the silicon code. Through in house R&D and by optimising the silicon content to 5%, the company has achieved a 50% higher energy battery with improved cyclability and battery life. In its push to bring patented technology to market, Altech has built a pilot plant next to the proposed project site in Saxony, Germany, where it is now successfully producing coated silicon for its Silumina Anodes product qualification. Broad ASX exposure Altech may have drawn Deutsche Balaton to its battery-tech plans, but the firm is active across a broader portfolio of ASX resources companies. Among its best bets was backing Azure Minerals, which netted the connected Delphi Group a $176m payout after the Andover lithium project owner's $1.7bn sale to SQM and Hancock Prospecting. Its other big investments include a 6.32% stake in critical minerals explorer Evolution Energy Minerals (ASX:EV1), owners of the Chilalo graphite project in Tanzania which is advancing towards FID. An updated DFS for Chilalo in March 2023 demonstrated a high-quality project based on average annual throughput of 500,000tpa at 10.6% TGC to produce 52,000tpa of graphite concentrate for downstream processing. The company recently unveiled a new strategic direction, focused on acquiring gold development assets in Africa, with the backing of its largest shareholder – Sustainable Resources Fund (ARCH). The German firm has also taken position in several ASX gold stocks, now reaping the rewards of a gold price near all-time highs at ~$5000/oz. Its portfolio includes 1% of Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR), having largely cashed out by selling much of its stake to SPR's now merger partner Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) in a strategic move last year. The gold developer had massively rerated off the back of its Never Never discovery at the Dalgaranga gold project – a reward for Zours and Co.'s patience having backed the firm back in its desperate Gascoyne Resources days. Also in WA and PNG's gold fields it holds major positions in Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT) (~19.6%), Patronus Resources (ASX:PTN) (42.35%), and Geopacific Resources (ASX:GPR) (~46%). Over in PNG, a move from St Barbara to acquire the holding of Deutsche linked PTN in GPR could open up more M&A value creation for the German money men. It's also active across other commodities like high purity alumina (HPA) with a 6.17% holding in Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT), the developers of the 80% owned Lake Hope project in WA. Lake Hope has a measured resource of 730,000t grading 25.8% alumina, or 189,000t of contained alumina, providing strong assurance that it can support the proposed 10,000tpa HPA plant over a 15-year period. This resource will also underpin a maiden probable or proven reserve subject to ongoing mining studies, test work and economic studies to be completed as part of the PFS currently underway. Deutsche Balaton holds a 21.7% stake in Tivan (ASX:TVN), giving it exposure to vanadium and fluorite, along with copper-zinc through a 2.3% stake in Orion Minerals (ASX:ORN).
News.com.au
15-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Powering the Data Boom: Why solid-state batteries are the future of energy storage for data centres
Altech Batteries' solid state sodium chloride batteries meet energy storage needs for data centres Data centres need large amounts of reliable, safe energy consistently, necessitating the need for energy storage Lithium-ion batteries do not provide the level of safety needed due to the risk of fires Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent as advancements in generative AI drives adoption in a diverse range of applications. However, AI requires a lot of computing power, which has supercharged the need for more data centres – essentially glorified warehouses with racks upon racks of computer servers in climate controlled environments that are infamous for their power requirements. That need for power has led to cases such as the allegations that Elon Musk's xAI data centre had installed on site gas turbines that far exceed what the company had applied for in permits. Regardless of the legalities, it underscores the huge power requirements of data centres. To top it off, having the ability to continue operations even if the power is cut-off for any reason is a distinct advantage for data centres, though this in turn necessitates the need for energy storage – and lots of it. While one (very likely) answer to that is to rely on banks of lithium-ion batteries, the potential for fires such as that which wiped out about 80% of the Moss Landing battery energy storage system in California might make tech companies think twice. Solid state batteries Speaking to Stockhead, Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) chief financial officer Martin Stein said traditional lithium-ion batteries used a liquid electrolyte between the anode and the cathode. 'That liquid electrolyte can overheat and cause thermal runaway, and that's when the temperature gets too high and out of control and that's what's causing the fires and explosions,' he added. 'What solid state technology is doing is replacing that liquid electrolyte with a solid electrolyte." In Altech's case, it's a solid ceramic electrolyte made of high purity alumina, Stein says. 'That renders the batteries completely safe. It can't get the thermal runaway like the liquid electrolyte batteries can, and they can't catch on fire or explode because of that," he said. Stein points out that this safety factor makes them perfectly suited for data centres as they won't put them at risk. 'Data centres want very safe technology.' Stein also noted that tech companies have said the bottleneck for data centres and AI is not technology, chips or water, but rather getting enough energy. 'We see data centres as being a key target demographic for our product. We're in discussions with a big technology company at the moment about the possibility of using our technology for their purposes,' Stein added. Altech's sodium chloride batteries Altech has what it believes to be the ideal solid state batteries for data centre use. Its CERENERGY solid state sodium batteries use plain old sodium chloride – common table salt – and nickel powder without the use of critical minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite and manganese. Their chemistry and solid electrolyte makes them significantly safer as they don't experience thermal runaway, have a longer lifespan and an operating temperature range from -40 degrees Celsius to 60C. To top it off, the batteries have received 'Dark Green' accreditation by the Independent Centre of International Climate and Environmental Research – owned by Oslo-based Standard and Poor's Global Ratings – meaning that they rank as one of the greenest battery technologies available today. Stein adds that not using critical minerals means that Altech's batteries are insulated from commodity pricing and have more secure supply chains. Not using cobalt from the Congo also removes any worries about human rights violations. 'I think when countries and big corporations are talking about energy security, they don't want to be subject to the whims of the supply chain and pricing,' Stein noted. 'The fact that our batteries use sodium chloride, which is common table salt, very cheap and it's readily available, I think gives them peace of mind in the future supply of these products. ' Altech is currently in the process of commercialising a production facility capable of producing 120 megawatt hours worth of CERENERGY batteries per annum. It has already reached several offtake agreements, with Germany's Zweckverband Industriepark Schwarze Pumpe agreeing to purchase 30MWh of energy storage capacity annually for the first five years of production. Green hydrogen joint venture RefLau will purchase an initial 30MWh of CERENERGY energy storage capacity in the first year – and 32MWh per annum for the next four years – while NATO-certified supplier Axsol will buy 10MWh of energy storage capacity in the first year, rising to 30MWh in subsequent years. Should Altech find the right partner in the data centre sector, Stein acknowledged that it was possible that the company would build a new facility to meet their requirements.
West Australian
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- West Australian
Altech marks milestone as it pumps out novel battery anodes
Altech Batteries is pumping out its high-tech Silumina anodes from its German pilot plant, marking a milestone for the company as it supplies first product to potential customers for testing and sets itself up for future commercial production. The new-age technology has achieved a significant breakthrough by coating silicon particles with a nanolayer of alumina. The high-tech particles are then sandwiched between graphite layers to form the anodes. The process has been shown to boost the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries by 55 per cent. The technology incorporates Altech's advanced alumina coating, as well as an optimised silicon content and the company's spherification method of forming silicon into sphere-shaped particles to provide a game-changing performance and a significant boost in the energy capacity. Silicon use in battery anodes has had two major drawbacks. The particles can expand by up to 300 per cent while batteries charge, leading to swelling, fracturing and ultimately, battery failure. Silicon can also deactivate a high percentage of lithium-ions, thereby reducing battery performance and lifespan. Altech says its testwork confirms that modifying the silicon particles with the alumina coating resolves these issues, which caused first-cycle capacity loss of up to 50 per cent. It notes its testwork shows stable battery and cycling performance. Initial issues with the dispersion of the silicon particles within the graphite mix were resolved by the spherification process. The company has recently built a pilot plant in Saxony, Germany, adjacent to its proposed commercial project site, which is producing its Silumina anodes. Altech is supplying anodes to several European vehicle manufacturers under non-disclosure agreements. Silicon has about 10-times the energy retention capacity of graphite, making it an ideal addition to anodes to help mould the next-generation of lithium-ion batteries. The significant increase in retention capacity from the high-tech improvement has resulted in a jump to about 500 milliampere hours per gram mass (mAh/g) for the company's anodes, in comparison to an average lithium-ion battery anode of 320mAh/g. If customer testing proves successful, Altech may have kicked open a door and pushed itself to the head of a global queue for anode supplies to electric vehicle battery manufacturers. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
