The energy storage boom stands to be one of the defining explosive trends of the next decade. And it is clearly still in its early innings.
The scale of the change ahead is difficult to even comprehend – we had less than a gigawatt of large battery installations in 2020. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, that figure increased 6-fold last year, and is set to jump 9-fold in 2022.
Given the reliance we may have on non-fossil-fuel-based solutions over coming decades and the advances we are seeing in energy storage, that growth rate may only accelerate going forward, making it one of the most interesting investment themes to unfold in the market this decade.
There is an additional cost-side factor for investors to consider here: costs are dropping fast, from $1,200/kwh in 2010 to $132/kwh today, according to BloombergNEF, making energy storage an increasingly viable option.
As a consequence, investors stand to benefit from close attention to the battery and energy storage theme. Below, we take a closer look at several stocks poised to drive that story in 2022.
XPeng Inc. ADR (NYSE:XPEV) designs, develops, manufactures, and markets smart electric vehicle. It produce environmental friendly vehicles, namely an SUV (the G3), and a four-door sports sedan (the P7).
The company was founded by Xiao Peng He, Heng Xia, and Tao He in 2015 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China.
XPeng Inc. ADR (NYSE:XPEV) recently announced that it has upgraded its auto-grade voice assistant using Microsoft custom neural voice capability, based on Neural Text-to-Speech (TTS), a feature of Azure AI. XPENG installed the new voice assistant functionality via a major over-the-air (OTA) upgrade for its P7 smart sedan customers in China.
According to the company’s release, Microsoft research breakthroughs in speech, natural language and machine translation have helped significantly advance the fluency, quality, fidelity and naturalness of voice assistant technology over the past several years. These innovations have been integrated into commercially-available speech and language capabilities within Azure Cognitive Services and other Microsoft products, so that companies like XPENG can bring richer, more engaging experiences to their customers.
Even in light of this news, XPEV has had a rough past week of trading action, with shares sinking something like -4% in that time. That said, chart support is nearby, and we may be in the process of constructing a nice setup for some movement back the other way.
XPeng Inc. ADR (NYSE:XPEV) managed to rope in revenues totaling $4.5B in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of -34.2%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels exceeding current liabilities ($36.8B against $11.4B).
KULR Technology Group Inc (NYSE American:KULR) could be one of the most interesting opportunities in the energy storage space in the months, quarters, and years ahead because it has a unique niche and hasn’t been discovered by the investing crowd as of yet.
The company is perhaps the world’s leading player in battery safety through its Passive Propagation Resistant (PPR) solution technology. KULR is rooted in a 30-year history tied to carbon fiber thermal energy management technology for aerospace and defense applications. Its technology is trusted by NASA, with KULR parts on the Mars Rover 2020 Perseverance and the International Space Station.
KULR Technology Group Inc (NYSE American:KULR) most recently announced receipt of a three-year multi-million dollar deployment order for its PPR solution suite from Volta Energy Products, a subsidiary of Viridi Parente, Inc. The PPR solution will be used for Volta’s stationary and certain mobile lithium-ion battery power systems.
The initial deployment order totals approximately $1.6 million for immediate delivery with higher volume shipments expected throughout 2022 for KULR’s PPR solution, which includes the patented thermal runaway shield product. After more than 18 months of joint design and testing efforts, KULR’s PPR solution will support Volta’s commercialization of proprietary battery architecture for energy storage systems. This order represents KULR’s first PPR order of commercial deployment in a stationary energy storage product.
“Safety is paramount in these applications and by pairing KULR’s space-proven technology with our proprietary architecture, we have designed the safest lithium-ion energy storage solution on the market,” said Viridi Parente CEO Jon M. Williams. “We also plan to incorporate KULR’s technology into other Volta stationary and certain mobile storage systems in order to capitalize on the added safety it will provide our customers.”
KULR Technology Group Inc (NYSE American:KULR) CEO, Michael Mo, recently added: “Volta’s depth of technology experience and innovative approach to the market makes them an outstanding partner for us. Our thermal solutions for their products were based on similar designs we provided to customers such as NASA and Lockheed Martin, and therefore provides Volta with space-grade thermal management architecture for stationary and mobile energy storage applications. Our partnership marks only the first step in commercializing KULR’s suite of thermal solutions for the rapidly growing commercial and residential battery storage market.”
Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:ALB) engages in developing, manufacturing, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through its Lithium, Bromine Specialties, and Catalysts segments.
The Lithium segment engages in developing and manufacture of basic lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and value-added lithium specialties and reagents. The Bromine Specialties segment consists of bromine and bromine-based business includes products used in fire safety solutions and other specialty chemicals applications. The Catalysts segment contain two product lines: clean fuels technologies, which is primarily composed of hydro processing catalysts, and heavy oil upgrading that comprises of fluidized catalytic cracking catalysts and additives.
Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:ALB) recently announced a price increase for its Catalysts global business unit customers. These price increases are effective immediately, or as contracts allow. Albemarle and its suppliers are continuing to see unprecedented increases worldwide in energy costs (gas and electricity) and for key raw materials that are critical to manufacturing our performance products.
“Albemarle remains committed to delivering value to our customers with no interruptions to supply,” said Raphael Crawford, President, Catalysts global business unit. “Our intent is to cover the increased costs we are experiencing through productivity gains and price adjustments for our products and services, and to flex with the market over the coming months.”
Even in light of this news, ALB hasn’t really done much of anything over the past week, with shares logging no net movement over that period.
Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:ALB) managed to rope in revenues totaling $830.6M in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of 11.2%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company is battling some balance sheet hurdles, with cash levels struggling to keep up with current liabilities ($595M against $1.6B, respectively).
Other key names involved in the Battery and Energy Storage theme include QuantumScape Corp. (NYSE:QS), Romeo Power Inc. (NYSE:RMO), Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq:TSLA), Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq:PLUG), FuelCell Energy Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL), and BYD Co. Ltd. ADR (OTC US:BYDDY).
