Lithium-ion maker A123 Systems IPO electrifies with 50% share price rise, nearly $2 billion market cap

Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems went public [24 Sep 2009] in a widely anticipated IPO. Initially priced at $13.50 per share, the company, which was spun out of MIT, opened trading on the NASDAQ at $17.00, and closed at $20.29, resulting in a market value of $1,964,396,640 at the end of the day.

news.cnet.com :

A123Systems is expected to raise over $400 million through its IPO, closely watched in the green tech community. It supplies batteries for power tools and has built large, megawatt-scale batteries for utilities. It's also eyeing the automotive sector, potentially a much larger market. A123 Systems received a $249.1 million grant from the Department of Energy to build a lithium ion battery-pack factory in Michigan as part of a $2.4 billion investment in the plug-in electric car supply chain. Despite the strong IPO, experts say that lithium-ion batteries, which will be used in a number of upcoming plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles, need to come down in costs significantly for hybrid/electric cars to be more mainstream.

- Lithium-ion is the new in-thing, and nanotech has always been hot. Put these two together and you get something that engenders lots of interest from both investors and the general public. My fund is not long yet and neither am I personally on an individual stock basis. But if/when the PBW ETF (PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy) picks up AONE - and it's hard to imagine why it wouldn't with a market cap closing in on the likes of SunPower Corporation - we will be long too.

It has been quite a journey for A123Systems. Putting out an IPO in these turbulent times with the global recession still lingering takes a certain kind of company, and having share prices rise like this is something. Since first tracking them back in 2006, they have had their ups and downs, winning the Black & Decker deal while somehow managing to bungle up the Chevrolet Volt one, at least for the initial production round. The latter apparently had something to do with their focus on cylindrical cells whilst GM/Chevrolet preferred a flat/prismatic format. The good thing is that they've since corrected that oversight with their new prismatic cells (pictured). Here's to hoping that A123 Systems picks up the pace from here and helps build up the electric future.

New efficient nanotech materials may boost enhanced geothermal power systems

peakoil.com -> seattlepi.com :

New nanotech materials could provide the efficiency boost needed to make geothermal power a more practical energy source if research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proves out. Geothermal energy fell out of favor in the early 1980's when few places proved to have hot enough rock close enough to the earth's surface to make geothermal power generation efficient and economical. Geothermal power is renewable and produces almost no pollution. Unlike solar and wind power, it provides steady base-load power. But in conventional geothermal power production, hot rock needs to heat water to 300 degF [149 degC] or hotter. That hot rock might be found 5,000 feet beneath the ground in a few places, but typically it's much deeper.

Peter McGrail thinks nanomaterials may help make geothermal more practical by allowing efficient energy production closer to the surface at lower temperatures. "Metal organic heat carriers" are nanomaterials one-thousandth the width of a human hair, of which some could absorb 30% of their weight in organic compounds. In geothermal power systems, this could help drive turbines with organic compounds at lower temperatures. Tests may prove the technology ready to use in 5 years on existing geothermal systems. An MIT study estimates that enhanced geothermal systems could provide 10% of America's electrical generating capacity by 2050.

- One of the things that I really like about geothermal power is its support for baseload generation, as opposed to intermittent energy sources like terrestrial solar and wind (space-based solar power being something else altogether). The other closest renewable baseload-capable contender so far has been ocean power but implementation of that has been sporadic thus far. The big limitation with geothermal power systems has always been geography, putting it in a similar situation as hydro-power systems. If these new nanotech materials work out it may well lead to Geothermal 2.0 triggering a renaissance of sorts in this field.

(2009-09-27 15:40:54 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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