Our World On The Brink Of WW3.

 Baltic Dry Index. 2137 +68  Brent Crude 116.90

Spot Gold 1925  Wheat  1,134 +75.00

Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000

Deaths 53,100

Coronavirus Cases 03/03/22 World 440,648,082

Deaths 5,993,066

With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, we expect it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate at our meeting later this month.

Fed Chairman Powell.

In the stock casinos, war? What war? Nobody cares! Buy more!!!

But the reality is the world is a heartbeat away from starting World War Three. And a nuclear war at that.

In probably the greatest mistake of the 21^st century so far, stock punters are misreading the disastrous effect on the global economy Russia’s war on Ukraine is having.

Even if the Russian European war ended today, improbable, the sky high price of oil, grains, food oils, is going to have a massive inflationary impact on all but the billionaire sect.

Every one else is about to get massively poorer this year, at least in fiat currency terms. It’s now, not buy now for Christmas 2022, it’s buy now before the price of basic foodstuffs soars out of reach! Stockpile now before store shelves really empty.

That the new European war is going badly for both Russia and the Ukraine is a given. But it’s going badly for the west too, as confirmed by GB just having removed Russia Today from GB’s airwaves. Only western propaganda is allowed now, no competing propaganda from the Russians.

How long before we ban Al Jazeera? How long before they shut down the LIR?

How long before a “conditioned” western public clamour for widening the new European war?

How long before this new European war goes nuclear? 

In unimportant news. Fed Chairman Powell yesterday said the Fed will raise its interest rate by a quarter point later this month. Chairman Powell have you noticed the price of crude oil, wheat and food oils?

Asia-Pacific stocks mostly rise as oil prices continue jumping, with Brent topping $116 per barrel

Published Wed, Mar 2 2022 6:39 PM EST Updated 2 Hours Ago

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were largely higher in Thursday trade as U.S. stocks bounced back overnight. Oil prices, however, continued to move higher following a price surge in recent days.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.9% while the Topix index climbed 1.45%. South Korea’s Kospi also gained 1.44%.

Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai composite up about 0.1% while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.725%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.3% higher.

A private survey released Thursday showed slowing Chinese services activity growth in February, with the Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index coming in at 50.2 for that month. That compared against January’s reading of 51.4.

The 50-point mark in PMI readings separates growth from contraction. PMI readings are sequential and represent month-on-month expansion or contraction.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.73%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.54% higher.

Brent briefly tops $118

Investors continued monitoring movements in the oil market, with crude prices spiking to their highest level in years on Wednesday, amid Russia’s escalating war on Ukraine.

In the morning of Asia trading hours, international benchmark Brent crude futures surged 3.09% to $116.42 per barrel, after earlier rising as high as $118.22 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also climbed 2.43% to $113.29 per barrel.

OPEC and its allies decided Wednesday to hold production steady despite the recent dramatic spike in oil prices.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 596.40 points to 33,891.35. The S&P 500 gained 1.86% to 4,386.54 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.62% to 13,752.02.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/asia-markets-china-economy-russia-ukraine-currencies-oil.html

European markets head for mixed open amid Ukraine-Russia tensions

Published Thu, Mar 3 2022 12:39 AM EST

LONDON — European stocks are expected to open in mixed territory on Thursday as tensions remain high over the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The U.K.’s FTSE index is seen opening 26 points higher at 7,353, Germany’s DAX 27 points lower at 13,923, France’s CAC 40 down 27 points at 13,923 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 51 points higher at 24,400, according to data from IG.

The mixed open for European stocks comes amid heightened fears for Ukraine’s future with more reports of explosions in the capital Kyiv overnight.

Earlier this week a huge column of Russian military vehicles was making its way towards the capital prompting concerns that Russia would soon launch a large-scale attack on the city.

Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, suffered heavy bombardment on Wednesday, while Kherson’s mayor said Russian forces have seized control of the key port city in southern Ukraine. If confirmed, it marks a military victory for Russia.

Russia’s week-long invasion was denounced by the United Nations in a historic vote and dozens of countries referred Moscow to be probed for potential war crimes.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were largely higher in Thursday trade after U.S. stocks bounced back on Wednesday although U.S. stock index futures were modestly lower during overnight trading.

Oil prices, however, continued to move higher following a price surge in recent days. In the morning of Asia trading hours, international benchmark Brent crude futures surged 3.09% to $116.42 per barrel, after earlier rising as high as $118.22 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also climbed 2.43% to $113.29 per barrel.

OPEC and its allies decided Wednesday to hold production steady despite the recent dramatic spike in oil prices.

Earnings come from Merck, Telecom Italia, Prudential and Aviva. Data releases include the euro zone unemployment rate and producer prices for January.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/european-markets-head-for-mixed-open-amid-ukraine-russia-tensions.html

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Are About to Increase the Cost of Food

Russia is a major supplier of every crop nutrient, and higher supermarket bills will be a ripple effect of its invasion of Ukraine.

By Elizabeth Elkin  2 March 2022, 05:01 GMT

Ben Riensche, who farms 16,000 acres in Iowa, would be ecstatic to get $80 per acre selling his corn. But it’ll cost him $240 an acre to feed the plants with nitrogen, triple what he’s used to paying. And that’s not counting what he’ll spend on two other important fertilizers, phosphate and potash, which he says have each doubled in price since he purchased supplies for his 2021 crops.

Pandemic-induced supply bottlenecks and the rising cost of natural gas, a key production input, are among the factors sending fertilizer prices soaring. Add disruptions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and consumers will be paying more for almost every plate of food. “You think they squawk about having gas go from three to four dollars a gallon?” says Riensche. “Wait until the grocery bill is $1,000 a month.”

More

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-02/russia-s-war-in-ukraine-disrupts-global-fertilizer-trade-increasing-food-costs

China will not join sanctions against Russia, banking regulator says

Published Wed, Mar 2 2022 5:14 AM EST

BEIJING – China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Wednesday that the country opposes and will not join financial sanctions against Russia.

“Everyone is watching recent military conflict, or war, between Russia and Ukraine,” Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said at a press conference in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation. “China’s position has been stated clearly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Our international policies are consistent.”

“Regarding financial sanctions, we do not support that,” said Guo, noting particular opposition to “unilateral” sanctions, which he said don’t effectively address problems. “China won’t join such sanctions.“

Guo is also Chinese Communist Party secretary of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. He added Wednesday that he hopes all sides will maintain normal economic exchanges and that the sanctions have had no apparent impact on China so far.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refused to call Russia’s attack on Ukraine an invasion. Beijing’s line has been to promote negotiations, as China tries to position itself further away from Russia than was portrayed in early February during a high-profile meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S., U.K. and European Union have scrambled to slap sanctions on Russia, first in an attempt to prevent conflict with Ukraine, and subsequently to pressure Putin to halt his invasion of Ukraine. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/02/china-will-not-join-sanctions-against-russia-banking-regulator-says.html

Russian troops enter strategic Ukrainian port of Kherson

March 3, 2022 6:15 AM GMT

KYIV/KHARKIV, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) - Russian troops were in the centre of the Ukrainian port of Kherson on Thursday after a day of conflicting claims over whether Moscow had captured a major urban centre for the first time in its eight-day invasion.

Russia's defence ministry said it controlled Kherson on Wednesday but an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded that Ukrainian forces continued to defend the Black Sea port of about 250,000 people.

----A Ukrainian delegation had left for a second round of talks with Russian officials on a ceasefire, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.

Russian forces have yet to overthrow the government in Kyiv but thousands are reported to have died or been injured and more than a million people have fled Ukraine amid the biggest attack on a European state since 1945.

----The capture of Kherson, a strategic southern provincial capital where the Dnipro River flows into the Black Sea, would be the first significant urban centre to fall since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24.

Mayor Igor Kolykhayev said late on Wednesday that Russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council building. He called on civilians to walk through the streets only in daylight and in ones and twos.

"There were armed visitors in the city executive committee today," he said in a statement. "I didn't make any promises to them ... I just asked them not to shoot people."

Russia's attack has led to a barrage of international sanctions that threaten the global economic recovery from the COVID pandemic, and stoked fears of wider conflict as Western countries send arms to help the Ukrainian military.

Bombing in Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people, has left its centre a wasteland of ruined buildings and debris.

Russians have shelled the city of Izyum, about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, killing six adults and two children, Ukraine's parliament said. Reuters was unable to verify the casualties.

The U.N. Human Rights Office has confirmed the deaths of 227 civilians and 525 injuries during the conflict as of midnight on March 1, cautioning that the real toll would be much higher due to reporting delays.

An explosion also rocked the Kyiv railway station where thousands of women and children were being evacuated. The blast was caused by wreckage from a downed Russian cruise missile, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser said, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

An investigation into possible war crimes will immediately be opened by the International Criminal Court, following requests by 39 of the court's member states, an unprecedented number. read more

----"More is at stake even than the conflict in Ukraine itself. This is a threat to the security of Europe and the entire rules-based order," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow still sought Ukraine's "demilitarisation" and that there should be a list of specified weapons that could never be deployed on Ukrainian territory. Moscow opposes Kyiv's bid to join NATO.

Oil and commodity prices spiralled ever higher on Thursday in a grim omen for global inflation. read more

More

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/top-wrap-2-russian-troops-strategic-black-sea-port-city-kherson-mayor-says-2022-03-03/

Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.

Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,  inflation now needs an entire section of its own.

Palm oil becomes costliest vegoil as Ukraine war halts sunoil supply

March 1, 2022 7:47 AM GMT

MUMBAI, March 1 (Reuters) - Palm oil has become the costliest among the four major edible oils for the first time as buyers rush to secure replacements for sunflower oil shipments from the top exporting Black Sea region that were disrupted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Palm oil's record premium over rival oils could squeeze price-sensitive Asian and African consumers already reeling from spiralling fuel and food costs, and force them to curtail consumption and shift to rival soyoil , dealers said.

Crude palm oil (CPO) is being offered at about $1,925 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF), in India for March shipments, compared with $1,865 for crude soybean oil.

Crude rapeseed oil was offered at around $1,900, while traders were not offering crude sunflower oil as ports are closed due to the Ukraine crisis.

The Black Sea accounts for 60% of world sunflower oil output and 76% of exports. Ports in Ukraine will remain closed until the invasion ends. read more

"Asian and European refiners have raised palm oil purchases for near-month shipments to replace sunoil. This buying has lifted palm oil to irrational price level," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

"They have the option of buying soyoil as well. But prompt soyoil shipments are limited and they take much longer to land in Asia compared to palm oil," he said.

Soybean production in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is expected to fall because of dry weather.

Price-sensitive Asian buyers traditionally relied on palm oil because of low costs and quick shipping times, but now they are paying more than $50 per tonne premium over soyoil and sunoil, said a Kuala Lumpur-based edible oil dealer.

Palm oil's price premium is temporary, however, and could fade in the next few weeks as buyers shift to soyoil for April shipments, the dealer said.

Most of the incremental demand for palm oil is fulfilled by Malaysia, as Indonesia has put restriction on the exports, said an Indian refiner.

"Malaysian stocks are depleting fast because of the surge in demand. It is the biggest beneficiary of the current geopolitical situation," he said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/palm-oil-becomes-costliest-vegoil-ukraine-war-halts-sunoil-supply-2022-03-01/

Economic dangers from Russia’s invasion ripple across globe

By PAUL WISEMAN and DAVID McHUGH March 2, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moscow’s war on Ukraine and the ferocious financial backlash it’s unleashed are not only inflicting an economic catastrophe on President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The repercussions are also menacing the global economy, shaking financial markets and making life more perilous for everyone from Uzbek migrant workers to European consumers to hungry Yemeni families.

Even before Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, the global economy was straining under a range of burdens: Surging inflation. Tangled supply chains. Tumbling stock prices.

The Ukraine crisis both magnified each threat and complicated the potential solutions.

“We are actually in uncharted territory,” said Clay Lowery, executive vice president at the Institute of International Finance, a trade group of global banks. “We know there are consequences that we cannot predict.’’

For now at least, the damage to the overall global economy appears to be relatively slight, if only because Russia and Ukraine are not economic powerhouses. Important as they are as exporters of energy, precious metals, wheat and other commodities, the two together account for less than 2% of the world’s gross domestic product. Most major economies have only limited trade exposure to Russia: For the U.S., it’s 0.5% of total trade. For China, around 2.4%.

Barring a major escalation of the war — far from impossible — “the effects on the U.S., China and most of the emerging world should be limited,” said Adam Slater, lead economist at Oxford Economics. He foresees only a 0.2% drop in global GDP this year.

Still, Russia is a vitally important supplier of oil, natural gas and metals, and higher prices for those commodities are sure to inflict economic damage around the world. Europe relies on Russia for nearly 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil. For the European continent, Russia’s war has significantly heightened the likelihood of runaway inflation, another economic setback — or both.

Here is a deeper look:

More

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-9478a9825c9abfde5f6505bd34b2998c?user_email=427dabf021c0657f2ce4fe4260f86229ce001b054a4a374ed7059797c19bdfd2&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mar02_MorningWire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

Bjorn Lomborg: If you think today's energy prices are high, wait until net-zero

Fossil fuels still deliver the vast majority of energy, powering everything we value about life today

Bjorn Lomborg,  Special to Financial Post  Publishing date: Mar 01, 2022

Energy costs are climbing out of control around the world. Gas prices are spiking in the United States. Europe has been plunged into an energy crisis as heating bills soar. In the United Kingdom, there are warnings elderly people are going without food or heat to cope with energy bill hikes. While part of this is due to the world restarting after the pandemic, and part a result of Russia first threatening and then actually invading Ukraine, climate policies are also increasingly driving prices up. New net-zero emission pledges add trillions in costs, putting the cart before the horse to fix climate change.

Fossil fuels still deliver the vast majority of energy, powering everything we value about life today — even for the most climate-concerned people. The European Union constantly puts climate at the top of its political agenda, yet more than 80 per cent of its primary energy needs are met by fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite endless environmental talk, solar and wind only contribute about three per cent of Europe’s total energy.

Making a transition away from fossil fuels to green energy will be costly. Solar and wind can only deliver electricity, which accounts for less than a fifth of total energy consumption. Moreover, as Europe is learning to its great cost, leaning on unreliable sources like wind leaves households vulnerable: wind speeds were unusually low for most of 2021, causing much of Europe’s current energy pain. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, prices rise quickly and we have to revert to fossil fuels for back-up.

---- As countries move to achieve “net-zero carbon” emissions, costs will escalate much higher again. The Bank of America has found that achieving net-zero will cost US$150 trillion over 30 years — almost twice the combined GDP of every single country on Earth. The annual cost of US$5 trillion is more than all the world’s governments and households spend every year on education.

That estimate is based on the heroic assumption that costs are spread efficiently, with big emitters China and India cutting the most. But India says it will only keep moving toward net-zero if the rest of the world pays it $1 trillion by 2030 — something that won’t happen. Most cuts will likely only happen in rich countries, which will mean a relatively trifling cut to global emissions. The rich world will get all pain for little gain. 

More

https://financialpost.com/opinion/bjorn-lomborg-if-you-think-todays-energy-prices-are-high-wait-until-net-zero

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

WHO says war in Ukraine will increase Covid transmission, putting large numbers of people at risk of severe disease

Published Wed, Mar 2 2022 11:22 AM EST

The WHO on Wednesday said the mass displacement of people in Ukraine will increase Covid transmission, warning that large numbers of people are at risk of severe disease as oxygen supplies are critically low.

“Infectious diseases ruthlessly exploit the conditions created by war,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor at the WHO, said during a press briefing in Geneva, warning that refugees are particularly vulnerable to severe disease and death in war-time.

At least three major oxygen plants are now closed in Ukraine due to the fighting, according to the WHO. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said medical supplies delivered to Kyiv before Russia invaded the nation are currently inaccessible. Tedros called for a safe humanitarian corridor to deliver critically needed medical supplies to Ukraine. There’s also a shortage of cancer medicine and insulin, according to the WHO.

The WHO director said the mass displacement of people will increase Covid transmission, also putting increased pressure on health-care systems in neighboring countries.

“Prior to the conflict, Ukraine experienced recent surge of cases of Covid-19,” Tedros said at the press conference. “Low rates of testing since the start of the conflict mean there is likely to be significant undetected transmission coupled with low vaccination coverage. This increases the risk of large numbers of people developing severe disease.”

Tedros said health facilities have come under attack during the war — without naming Russia. When asked to name Russia as the aggressor, WHO’s head of emergencies programs, Dr. Mike Ryan, said the global health agency does not want to get involved in politics. He did, however, ask Moscow to reconsider its position.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/02/who-says-war-in-ukraine-will-increase-covid-transmission.html

Hong Kong's Covid Death Rate Is Now One of the World's Highest

·         City reports 117 new Covid deaths on Tuesday as outbreak grows

·         Hong Kong’s oldest are the least vaccinated, most vulnerable

1 March 2022, 04:14 GMTUpdated on1 March 2022, 08:46 GMT

Hong Kong’s Covid-19 fatality rate is now the highest in the developed world amid a wave of deaths among its under-vaccinated elderly population, ramping up pressure on officials to get the city’s worst outbreak since the pandemic began under control.

The financial hub averaged eight deaths per 1 million people in the 10 days through Monday, the most among advanced economies, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Johns Hopkins University data. 

While most major Western countries are past the peak of their latest wave of infections and aren’t reporting a high number of fatalities, Hong Kong’s current ratio is about to surpass the nine deaths per 1 million that the U.S. recorded at the peak of its omicron wave in late January.

Hong Kong reported a record of 117 new deaths Tuesday. Most of the fatalities during the current wave have been elderly people, and 91% of those who died weren’t double vaccinated, according to government data released Sunday. 

The city’s death toll is likely to keep climbing as the outbreak spreads through a growing number of care facilities, a sector which in many places has accounted for a disproportionate share of Covid fatalities. More than 600 care homes in Hong Kong are experiencing outbreaks, with 3,150 residents and about 900 staff infected. Almost 75,000 elderly and disabled people live in residential facilities in Hong Kong.

---- More than two years into the pandemic, scenes reminiscent of the chaotic days of early 2020 are now playing out in Hong Kong. The health-care system is overwhelmed, patients are being put outside hospitals on gurneys, public morgues are inundated, and there’s speculation the city may go into a lockdown.

The situation is at risk of worsening. Authorities announced more than 32,000 cases on Tuesday.

Hong Kong might have seen as many as 2.86 million infections since the start of the current outbreak, according to an updated forecast from the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health and the University of Hong Kong’s WHO Collaborating Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control. The wave is expected to peak in the coming week or so, while the cumulative number of deaths by the end of April could be around 4,645.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-01/hong-kong-virus-deaths-among-world-s-worst-on-at-risk-elderly

New studies point to nerve damage as a cause of long COVID

By Rich Haridy  March 01, 2022

New research from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the National Institutes of Health hypothesizes nerve damage as the cause of long COVID symptoms in some people. The small study found treating patients with immunotherapies targeting the neuropathy could improve long COVID symptoms.

Scientists and doctors are continuing to grapple with the emergence of long COVID, a post-viral condition characterized by persistent symptoms of COVID-19. It is still unclear exactly what causes long COVID, how long the condition may last, and perhaps most importantly, how to treat the chronic illness.

Lead author on the new research, Anne Louise Oaklander, from the Department of Neurology at MGH, said as the acute impact of COVID-19 begins to settle around the world, it will become increasingly important to understand how to best treat long COVID. The overall prevalence of the condition is not clear, but it is suspected anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of those contracting COVID could experience symptoms that persist for longer than three months.

"This is one of the early papers looking into causes of long-COVID, which will steadily increase in importance as acute COVID wanes," said Oaklander. "Our findings suggest that some long-COVID patients had damage to their peripheral nerve fibers, and that damage to the small-fiber type of nerve cell may be prominent."

The small new study followed 17 patients with a variety of long COVID symptoms. The researchers evaluated the patients for a condition known as peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve damage signaled by pain in the hands or feet, weakness, fatigue and sensory changes.

The study found 59 percent of the long COVID patients could effectively fit a clinical diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. Even more significantly, the researchers found treating some of the patients with immunotherapies used to target inflammatory neuropathy led to improvements in symptoms.

Oaklander does point out not all patients responded to neuropathy treatments and some patients spontaneously improved without any kind of immunotherapy, so she suspects not all cases of long COVID can be characterized by this kind of nerve damage. However, it could be valuable for patients to consult with a neurologist if their symptoms are not improving.

More

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/nerve-damage-vagus-long-covid/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=8bcc8d9427-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_03_02_09_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-8bcc8d9427-90625829

Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada.

NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

 

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.

Pacific Northwest National Lab makes license available for vanadium flow battery technology

By Cameron Murray  March 2, 2022

The US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) has made a third semi-exclusive commercial licence for vanadium redox flow battery technology available.

The national laboratory has already partnered with two companies for the long-duration storage technology and this third licence is its final one for vanadium redox, PNNL said.

In addition to the commercial licence, PNNL has also developed a high-performance mixed-acid electrolyte compatible with vanadium redox batteries which it says can store more energy than many other technologies over a range of temperatures. The electrolyte is available on a non-exclusive basis.

“This emerging grid-scale storage technology has great commercial and energy security potential. We are eager to partner with additional industry partners to bring this technology to market and to support expanded use of renewable energies on the grid,” said Allan Tuan, commercialisation manager for energy, grid and advanced fuel research at PNNL.

In an interview last year with our quarterly journal PV Tech Power, Prof Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, one of the inventors of the vanadium flow battery nearly 40 years ago at the University of New South Wales in Australia talked about how the patents expired for key aspects of the technology from 2006.

This opened up the opportunity for companies and research groups to get involved, Prof Skyllas-Kazacos said, but it took a while longer for the wider energy sector to take an interest in its long-duration storage potential.

“It took quite a long time, but once they started observing huge issues with grid stability, they realised the grid isn’t so good at stabilising all these renewable energies,” Skyllas-Kazacos said.

“People have realised that for the sort of energy storage we need for renewables, you really need long duration. And that’s why flow batteries have been attracting a lot of attention.”

The US government has identified long-duration storage as a key pillar in its move to de-carbonise its energy sector with the Secretary of Energy tweeting that flow batteries are “good for grid storage”. Over the past year, it has announced nearly US$100 million in funding for long-duration energy storage research and support.

US$17.9 million went to four flow battery manufacturing research & development (R&D) projects, while US$75 million is being spent on a long-duration energy storage research centre at PNNL, expected to open in 2025.

The UK government has dedicated £68 million (US$90 million) to long-duration storage through a competitive funding opportunity, making the first £6.7 million of awards public last week, with funding going to 24 separate projects across a range of technologies.

In Europe meanwhile a group of national and continental trade associations recently urged the European Union to support long-duration storage in the European Green Deal package.

California’s state government recently announced US$380 million in support for long-duration energy storage projects across two years, the biggest example of such funding to date.

https://www.energy-storage.news/pacific-northwest-national-lab-vanadium-redox-flow-battery-licence-pnnl/

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

Ernest Hemingway.