Alternate energy sources- Lithium revolution and related aspects
Every country's economic growth is dependent on energy. The energy sector is critical in the case of emerging countries due to ever-increasing energy needs that necessitate significant expenditures to meet. Energy resources include all sorts of fuels utilized in the contemporary world, whether they are used for cooking, producing electricity, or other energy-conversion processes. Renewable and non-renewable energy resources are the two main forms of energy resources. Renewable energy is energy that comes from naturally unlimited sources, whereas non-renewable energy comes from finite resources on Earth. Renewable energy resources include hydro, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and so on, whereas non-renewable energy sources include coal, petroleum, and so on.
International community have relied on non-renewable energy sources to supply our energy needs from time immemorial. However, due to the limited availability of non-renewable energy sources, we shifted our focus to the usage of existing renewable resources. According to statistics, India is the world's third largest producer of renewable energy, accounting for 38% of total installed energy capacity (136 GW out of 373 GW) in 2020. However, we currently have limited non-renewable energy resources as well as limited options for employing renewable energy resources. Traditional resource-management strategies are no longer effective. Climate change has made the situation more critical.
Climate change, when combined with the global energy crisis, endangers the lives and livelihoods of billions of people throughout the world. Human actions, according to 97% of climate experts, create greenhouse gases that warm the globe. The combustion of fossil fuels for energy, industry and transportation, agriculture, and deforestation are the principal producers of greenhouse gases. Therefore, it is vital to explore alternatives to the existing energy resources or efficient ways to utilise them. One obvious solution lies in the utilisation of renewable energy sources.
According to one article, one such non-renewable energy source that can allow the use of renewable energy is lithium. It has a lot of potential in the realm of contemporary renewable energy. Lithium is an alkali metal that is soft, silvery-white, and extremely combustible in its elemental state. However, it does not naturally occur as a metal; rather, it is mixed and found in trace amounts in almost all igneous rocks and the water of numerous mineral springs. The more significant lithium-containing minerals include spodumene, petalite, lepidolite, and amblygonite. Studies show that more than 54% of the world's lithium resources are located in the Lithium Triangle. There are significant lithium resources in the Andes adjacent to the Chilean, Bolivian, and Argentinean borders, and the lithium in the triangle is concentrated in the Atacama Desert and other dry regions, where it is found in a number of salt pans.
Additionally, because of its applications, lithium is referred to as "white gold." It is a vital component of Li-ion batteries given its low electrode potential and small atomic mass, which give it a high charge and power-to-weight ratio. In contrast to other rechargeable batteries, the final batteries are therefore more powerful and smaller. Unlike most other cells, such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries, lithium-ion batteries require little to no maintenance. Another benefit of Li-ion batteries is that they are available in a wide range of sizes and forms, providing customers a wide range of alternatives to pick from depending on their requirements. Lithium metal is also utilized to create useful alloys. Along with making electrochemical cells, it is also employed in thermonuclear reactions. Furthermore, as electric vehicles become more common, it is expected that battery production will increase during the upcoming years. Analysts predict that by 2024, the demand for lithium will have more than doubled globally. This illustrates how crucial lithium is.
However, at present, India imports the majority of its lithium requirements from outside. For example, it is estimated that between 2016–17 and 2019–20, over 165 million lithium batteries were imported into India, with an estimated import bill of up to USD 3.3 billion. More concerning is that products for lithium-ion energy storage that are imported into our nation primarily come from China.
This emphasizes how important it is for India to locate indigenous supplies of lithium. The Indian government has been working hard to identify more and more lithium deposits. The Indian government established its first lithium plant in Gujarat in 2021 as a step in this direction. Lithium ore will be used in the refinery to make the basic components of batteries. The Indian government wants to make its country one of the world's biggest markets for electric vehicles, which is why it is setting up a lithium plant there. By 2030, NITI Aayog wants to achieve a 30% rise in the number of electric cars on the road. In line with these objectives, the lithium refinery will assist Gujarat in becoming a centre for lithium-ion batteries.
More recently, scientists at the Atomic Minerals Directorate (a division of India's Atomic Energy Commission) estimated that a small area of land being studied in the Mandya region of Southern Karnataka has lithium deposits amounting to 14,100 tonnes. This is the first site of a lithium deposit ever discovered in India. The main mica belts in Rajasthan, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh; the pegmatite belts in Odisha and Chhattisgarh; the brines of Sambhar and Pachpadra in Rajasthan; and the Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat are among the other potential sites in India.
Additionally, through the recently founded state-owned company Khanij Bidesh India Ltd., India signed a contract with an Argentine company to jointly explore lithium in Argentina. Khanij Bidesh India Ltd.'s specific goal is to acquire significant mineral assets abroad, such as cobalt and lithium. Not only that, but in 2019, KABIL also visited Bolivia and Chile to research the potential of lithium extraction. This reveals India's enthusiasm for the lithium found there. Our former president, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, made the first-ever state visit to Bolivia, and as a consequence, a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Geology and Mineral Resources was signed. This was a significant step toward India's lithium objectives.
Besides these, the government has also urged states to compete to set up local lithium-ion battery production plants. This prompted Telangana to declare 200 acres of land open for the construction of a 5 GW lithium-ion battery facility. The government has also announced an increase in the standard customs charge on lithium-ion batteries and components for electric passenger vehicles. In order to go forward, the government has set 350 GW of renewable energy objectives for 2030.
India has to find lithium in order to become self-sufficient in renewable energy and meet its energy ambitions. But more work has to be done in this area. According to analysts, despite India's need for lithium to meet its energy demands, there hasn't yet been a thorough effort to explore the region's lithium deposits. India is viewed by the international community as being a late entrant in the lithium value chain.
In addition, there are other problems with lithium mining in India. The first problem has to do with pollution. Serbia is a recent illustration of this. We saw protests against the Serbian government's plans to mine lithium in the Jadar valley, close to the town of Lozinca, starting in 2022. According to data by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, Serbia is in the top ten nations globally with 175 pollution-related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. It should go without saying that we would not want similar things to happen here given that the water and air in India are already polluted. The government should consequently investigate more environmentally friendly choices while keeping in mind its energy requirements.
Pic Courtsey-https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/south-american-lithium-fuel-for-zero-emission-vehicles/2169979/
(The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)
