Tag Archives: Energy

Tech Giants Bet on Mini-Reactors to Power AI Boom

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The relentless growth of artificial intelligence is creating an energy crisis of its own. To feed the staggering power demands of massive data centers, the technology industry is turning to a new, compact solution: small modular reactors, or SMRs.

These next-generation nuclear units represent a stark departure from the traditional, colossal power plants that can take a decade to build and require enormous upfront investment. Instead, SMRs are designed to be leaner, safer, and faster to deploy.

“These kinds of reactors have a small footprint and upgraded safety systems, and can be deployed in nearby industrial areas, including data centre campuses,” explained Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He highlighted a key advantage for tech companies, noting they “don’t have to worry about regional grid supply constraints or transmission losses. This will be a decisive advantage in areas where grid upgrades are slow, and interconnection queues are long.”

While SMR technology is still advancing from research into real-world application, momentum is building. The IAEA is actively collaborating with global regulators and the nuclear industry to clear the path for widespread deployment. The goal is to see these smaller units operating in large numbers to meet surging electricity demands.

Google’s Nuclear Energy Pact

In a landmark move, Google has signed a pioneering agreement to purchase nuclear energy generated from multiple small modular reactor, a first-of-its-kind deal globally. If development stays on track, the reactors could be supplying clean power to Google’s operations by 2030.

Not content with terrestrial solutions alone, Google is also gazing skyward. The company is investigating the potential of space-based solar networks, which would use unfiltered solar energy in orbit to power large-scale machine learning operations. To test the concept, two prototype satellites are scheduled for launch in early 2027, where their radiation tolerance and data processing capabilities will be put to the test.

From restarting shuttered plants to constructing giant new reactors, and from betting on miniature atomic units to capturing sunlight in space, the strategies vary wildly. Yet energy experts observe that all these paths converge on the same inevitable conclusion: building a future-proof energy system capable of supporting advanced civilization will require a foundation built largely upon nuclear power.

Guterres urges countries to ‘seize this historic opportunity’ as renewable energy use grows

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The latest push follows the release of two reports on Tuesday which affirmed that the so-called “renewables revolution” is accelerating at unprecedented rates.

For the first time ever, renewable energy has generated more power than coal, according to new analysis by Ember, a global think tank working to speed up the clean energy transition.

Energy shift underway

Solar and wind outpaced the growth in global electricity demand in the first half of this year, resulting in a small decline in coal and gas when compared to the same period in 2024.

This represents “a crucial turning point,” according to Ember’s Senior Electricity Analyst, Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka.

“Solar and wind are now growing fast enough to meet the world’s growing appetite for electricity. This marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth,” she said in a press release.

People in Vanuatu in the southwestern Pacific install solar panels on a roof.

Solar-powered success

In a separate report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed how installed renewables power continues to grow and is expected to double by 2030.

Global renewable power capacity is projected to increase by 4,600 gigawatts (GW) – “roughly the equivalent of adding China, the European Union and Japan’s total power generation capacity combined,” the agency said.

Growth is being led by the rapid rise of solar PV (photovoltaic) technology, which converts sunlight into energy.  It will account for around 80 per cent of the increase, followed by wind, hydro, bioenergy and geothermal.

‘A better future for all’

In response to the news, UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted that “the clean energy future is no longer a distant promise – it’s here.” 

He urged the international community to “seize this historic opportunity and supercharge the global shift towards a better future for all.”

The reports echo the findings of the Secretary-General’s Moment of Opportunity report, issued in July.

They also reflect messages by world leaders attending his Climate Summit held last month during high-level week as part of the lead-up to the COP30 conference in Brazil this November. 

However, the UN chief has consistently stressed that whilst progress has been made, the energy transition is not yet fast or fair enough. 

Therefore, efforts need to be stepped up if the world is to meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as outlined in the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

Energy access has improved, but more funding is needed to address disparities: WHO

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While the rate of basic access to energy has increased since 2022, the current pace is insufficient to reach universal access by 2030, one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a report published by the WHO and partners this Wednesday.

The report highlights the role of cost-effective distributed renewable energy — a combination of mini-grid and off-grid solar systems — in accelerating energy access, particularly as the populations who remain unconnected mostly live in remote, lower-income, and fragile areas.

Regional disparities

“Despite progress in some parts of the world, the expansion of electricity and clean cooking access remains disappointingly slow, especially in Africa,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), as 85 per cent of the global population without electricity access reside in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the region, renewables deployment has rapidly expanded; however, on average, it remains limited to 40 watts of installed capacity per capita — only one eighth of the average in other developing countries.

Clean cooking

As regional disparities persist, an estimated 1.5 billion people residing in rural areas still lack access to clean cooking, while over two billion people remain dependent on polluting and hazardous fuels such as firewood and charcoal for their cooking needs.

Yet, the use of off-grid clean technologies, such as household biogas plants and mini-grids that enable electric cooking, can offer solutions that reduce the health impacts caused by household air pollution.

“The same pollutants that are poisoning our planet are also poisoning people, contributing to millions of deaths each year from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, particularly among the most vulnerable, including women and children,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Lack of financing

The report identified the lack of sufficient and affordable financing as a key reason for regional inequalities and slow progress.

While international public financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy have increased since 2022, the developing world received significantly fewer flows in 2023 than in 2016.

“This year’s report shows that now is the time to come together to build on existing achievements and scale up our efforts,” said Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the UN Statistics Division, as the report called for strengthened international cooperation between the public and private sectors to scale up financial support for developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. 

‘Smart grid’ helps accelerate energy transition in Indonesia

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With support from the United Nations, the electricity grid on the central islands of Java, Madura, and Bali – home to over 160 million people – is now being upgraded and modernized to accommodate fluctuating energy loads from solar and wind power.

“As a result of our cooperation with the UN, we now have a blueprint for a smart grid and are working to enable it to seamlessly integrate electricity from renewables in line with national priorities,” said Evy Haryadi, Director of Transmission and System Planning at state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). “This will represent a huge step forward in decarbonizing Indonesia’s energy system.”

As emphasized during a recent visit to Jakarta by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Climate Action and Just Transition, Selwin Hart, the smart grid initiative—supported by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)—is an integral part of the broader UN assistance in Indonesia to ensure a just energy transition.

Solar power is widely used on the islands of Java, Madura, and Bali.

This includes work by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to bring renewable energy to remote islands not connected to the national grid, and by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to support the government in developing green skills.

“The UN in Indonesia works in close partnership with the government to support its energy transition targets in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Gita Sabharwal, United Nations Resident Coordinator for Indonesia. “We provide fast response solutions and technical expertise to help accelerate progress toward government objectives in green energy.”

The country’s 2025–2034 Electricity Supply Business Plan, launched in May, outlines a strategic shift toward a cleaner and investment-driven energy future. It targets 42.6 GW of new renewable power capacity and 10.3 GW of storage, while limiting new fossil fuel capacity to 16.6 GW. The plan is designed to align Indonesia’s climate commitments with the SDGs and enhance national energy resilience.

The smart grid and, at its core, the control centre that manages electricity supply and demand, are crucial to this effort. The country expects a surge in renewable generation construction once the modernization of the JAMALI Control Center is completed.

Historically, power grids were designed to receive electricity from sources with relatively constant output—such as coal, natural gas, or hydropower. However, some renewable sources function differently: solar plants generate electricity only when the sun is shining, and wind power only when the wind is blowing. In a so-called “smart grid,” the control centre must be able to adjust electricity intake from renewables and balance it with stable sources like coal, based on real-time weather conditions and consumption patterns. It will also utilize large-scale batteries to store excess electricity—for example, solar energy generated during particularly sunny periods.

Established in the early 1980s, the JAMALI grid control center covers 79% of Indonesia’s generation capacity. The smart grid system design, delivered by UNOPS, enables the control centre to incorporate renewable energy forecasting capabilities and grid analysis tools to support stability and security, among other advanced features.

The detailed engineering design for the JAMALI Main Control Center includes plans to consolidate five regional control centres into two to improve efficiency while maintaining redundancy. UNOPS also completed the tendering process and vendor selection for the design’s implementation and is building the capacity of PLN staff involved in control centre operations to manage the new technology effectively.

From design to implementation

Construction workers and engineers are now hard at work at PLN’s campus in Depok, just outside Jakarta, implementing the design provided by UNOPS. Completion of the control centre is expected by the end of 2025. During this phase, UNOPS is responsible for monitoring the selected vendors who are constructing, installing, configuring, and ultimately commissioning the new centre.

Indonesia is modernizing its electricity grid.

“UNOPS has the project management expertise and know-how to continue supporting us and ensure the seamless and timely delivery of the project, in line with the original specifications,” said PLN’s Mr. Haryadi. “At the same time, we are building our internal capacity to eventually take over the task.”

The work is progressing on schedule. The new buildings are largely completed, and installation of the industrial monitoring system—central to the control centre’s operation—is about 40 per cent complete. Based on the success of the initiative, discussions are underway to replicate the design for the four control centres that manage electricity supply on other islands across the country.

UNOPS supports this modernization under the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP), which provides technical expertise to partner countries in the region to help their national energy commitments in line with Paris Agreement and the SDGs. ETP is a multi-donor partnership, supported by the governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and philanthropic donors.  ETP operates in Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, as well as at the ASEAN regional level, and works collaboratively to mobilize and coordinate resources to facilitate a just energy transition in the region.

“The control centre upgrade promises to be a game-changer for Indonesia’s energy mix,” Ms Sabharwal said. “Our support is an impactful example of the UN’s assistance in middle-income countries: working behind the scenes and providing core technical expertise, we support the government’s priority of energy security by fast-tracking the green transformation.” 

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Lack of cooperation from Iran hampers nuclear checks, says atomic energy watchdog

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Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that Iran’s growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium and unresolved questions about its programme remain serious issues.

“Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the Agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful,” he said.

He was addressing IAEA’s Board of Governors, which comprises 35 countries – including France, Russia, the UK and the US.

Lack of credibility

Mr. Grossi further noted that Iran had failed to provide technically credible explanations for the presence of man-made uranium particles at three undeclared sites – Varamin,  Marivan and Turquzabad – despite years of consultations.

Based on its assessments, IAEA can conclude that these three locations were part of a structured nuclear programme that operated until the early 2000s and involved undeclared nuclear material, he said.

“The agency also concludes that Iran did not declare nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at these three undeclared locations in Iran…as a consequence of this, the Agency is not in a position to determine whether the related nuclear material is still outside of safeguards.”

The situation is exacerbated by the country’s decision to stop implementing some provisions of its Safeguards Agreement, a legal requirement under international law, he added, urging Tehran to urgently restore transparency and comply with international obligations.

Highly enriched uranium

Mr. Grossi also expressed alarm at the rapid accumulation of over 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium, which has serious implications.

“Given the potential proliferation implications, the agency cannot ignore [this],” he said.

While commending Egypt’s recent diplomatic efforts to mediate between Iran and the United States, Mr. Grossi stressed that only a diplomatic solution, backed by IAEA verification, could restore trust.

He said the agency stands ready to verify any future agreement between the two sides.

“The effect of a stabilised situation in Iran with regards to its nuclear programme will be immediate and bring the Middle East one big step closer to peace and prosperity,” he said.

‘Clear violations’ in DPR Korea

Turning to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Mr. Grossi said the IAEA continues to monitor nuclear activity remotely, despite being denied direct access to the country.

North Korea’s five-megawatt electrical reactor at Yongbyon “likely continues” to be operating in its seventh cycle, while reprocessing of irradiated fuel has likely resumed at the Radiochemical Laboratory.

He noted ongoing construction at a new building with similarities to the Kangson enrichment site and said the light water reactor at Yongbyon remains active.

“The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s nuclear programme are clear violations of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and are deeply regrettable,” he said, adding that IAEA stands ready to play its role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear programme.

IAEA experts depart Unit 4 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. (April 2013 photo).

Monitoring discharge in Japan

Mr. Grossi said the IAEA continues to monitor the controlled release of ALPS-treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, which suffered major damage in a 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

In April this year, IAEA and international experts collected and analysed diluted samples ahead of discharge.

“The IAEA has maintained its independent monitoring and analysis efforts, confirming that tritium concentrations in the discharged batches remain far below operational limits and align with the international safety standards,” Mr. Grossi said.

‘Precarious situation’ in Ukraine

Director-General Grossi also highlighted the precarious situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, where all six reactors remain in cold shutdown amid continued military activity.

A full damage assessment is also underway at Chernobyl, which was the site of a drone strike and ensuing fire in February that resulted in “significant damage” to a confinement arch that is critical to maintaining long-term safety at the site.

The power plant suffered a massive nuclear accident in 1986 and has since been encased in a protective structure to contain radioactive material and prevent its release.

“As the military conflict moves further into its fourth year, Ukraine needs support, and the IAEA is providing it,” Mr. Grossi said, reaffirming the Agency’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure during wartime and throughout the eventual post-war reconstruction.

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UN warns copper shortage risks slowing global energy and technology shift

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In its latest Global Trade Update, released this week, UNCTAD describes copper as “the new strategic raw material” at the heart of the rapidly electrifying and digitising global economy.  

But with demand set to rise more than 40 per cent by 2040, copper supply is under severe strain – posing a critical bottleneck for technologies ranging from electric vehicles and solar panels to AI infrastructure and smart grids.

More than just metal

“Copper is no longer just a commodity,” said Luz María de la Mora, Director of the International Trade and Commodities Division at UNCTAD.

Valued for its high conductivity and durability, copper is essential to power systems and clean energy technologies. It runs through homes, cars, data centres and renewable infrastructure.

Yet developing new mines is a slow and expensive process, and fraught with environmental risks – often taking up to 25 years from discovery to operation.

Meeting projected demand by 2030 could require $250 billion in investment and at least 80 new mining projects, according to UNCTAD estimates.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo holds some of the world’s largest copper reserves, yet most of the metal is exported, limiting the country’s ability to benefit fully from this valuable resource.

Uneven geography, unequal gains

Over half of the world’s known copper reserves are concentrated in just five countries – Chile, Australia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia.

However, much of the value-added production occurs elsewhere, particularly in China, which now imports 60 per cent of global copper ore and produces over 45 per cent of the world’s refined copper, says the UN.

This imbalance leaves many developing countries stuck at the bottom of the value chain, unable to fully benefit from their resources.

“Digging and shipping copper is not enough,” the report states.

“To move up the ladder, copper-rich developing countries must invest in refining, processing and manufacturing – this means strengthening infrastructure and skills, establishing industrial parks, offering tax incentives and pursuing trade policies that support higher-value production.”

Tariff and trade barriers

UNCTAD also highlights the challenge of tariff escalation, where duties on refined copper are relatively low – typically below two per cent – but can rise to as high as eight per cent for finished products like wires, tubes and pipes.

These trade barriers discourage investment in higher-value industries and lock countries into roles as raw material suppliers, the report warns.

To address this, UNCTAD is urging governments to streamline permitting, reduce trade restrictions, and develop regional value chains to help developing economies climb the industrial ladder.

Scrappy solution

With new mining projects facing long lead times, recycling is emerging as a vital part of the solution.

In 2023, secondary sources accounted for 4.5 million tonnes – nearly 20 per cent of global refined copper output. The United States, Germany and Japan are the top exporters of copper scrap, while China, Canada and the Republic of Korea are major importers.

“For developing countries, copper scrap could be a strategic asset,” UNCTAD notes.

“Investing in recycling and processing capacity can reduce import dependence, support value-added trade and advance a more circular, sustainable economy.”

Test case for critical materials

Copper, UNCTAD says, is a likely “test case” for how global trade systems handle rising demand for critical materials amid growing pressures.

“The age of copper has arrived…but without coordinated trade and industrial strategies, supply will remain under strain and many developing countries risk missing out,” the report concludes.

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NTPC Green Energy Files for ₹10,000 Crore IPO, To Open in Nov 1st Week

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NTPC Green Energy, the renewable energy arm of state-run NTPC, has submitted draft papers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise ₹10,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). The entire IPO consists of a fresh issue of equity shares, with no offer-for-sale (OFS) component, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

The company plans to use ₹7,500 crore of the IPO proceeds to repay or prepay loans of its subsidiary, NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd (NREL), while the remaining funds will be allocated for general corporate purposes.

Expected Launch Date

Media reports suggest that the NTPC Green Energy IPO is likely to open in the first week of November. The company has planned investor roadshows in India, particularly in Mumbai, and internationally, with a focus on Singapore.

A portion of the IPO will be reserved for NTPC shareholders. Investors who hold NTPC shares on the record date of the RHP (which will be filed later) will be eligible to participate in this category.

To maximize chances of securing an allotment in the IPO, investors can buy at least one NTPC share now. This will make them eligible for the shareholders’ quota when the IPO launches. Those holding NTPC shares as of the record date can apply under this preferential category.

NTPC Green Energy: A ‘Maharatna’ PSU

NTPC Green Energy, a ‘Maharatna’ central public sector enterprise, manages a portfolio of renewable energy assets, including solar and wind power projects across six states.

As of August 2024, the company operates 3,071 MW of solar projects and 100 MW of wind projects. The broader NTPC group has set an ambitious goal of reaching 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032. Currently, the group has 3.5 GW of installed capacity with over 28 GW in development.

India’s renewable energy sector has seen significant growth in recent years, positioning the country as the fourth-largest globally in renewable energy capacity, which includes wind and solar power. The draft papers, citing a Crisil report, state that India’s renewable energy capacity grew from 63 GW in FY12 to 191 GW by March 2024, including large hydro. As of March 2024, renewable energy accounts for nearly 43% of India’s total power generation capacity, with solar energy leading the way.

IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, HDFC Bank, IIFL Securities, and Nuvama Wealth Management are the lead book-running managers for the IPO. Kranthi Bathini, Director of Equity Strategy at WealthMills Securities, highlighted that the IPO comes at a critical time as NTPC looks to diversify its revenue streams by moving away from its dependence on thermal power.

“With green energy gaining focus in the near future, investors are likely to be keen on getting a slice of this pie,” Bathini told Reuters.

A new way to store thermal energy

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In large parts of the developing world, people have abundant heat from the sun during the day, but most cooking takes place later in the evening when the sun is down, using fuel — such as wood, brush or dung — that is collected with significant time and effort.

Now, a new chemical composite developed by researchers at MIT could provide an alternative. It could be used to store heat from the sun or any other source during the day in a kind of thermal battery, and it could release the heat when needed, for example for cooking or heating after dark.

A common approach to thermal storage is to use what is known as a phase change material (PCM), where input heat melts the material and its phase change — from solid to liquid — stores energy. When the PCM is cooled back down below its melting point, it turns back into a solid, at which point the stored energy is released as heat. There are many examples of these materials, including waxes or fatty acids used for low-temperature applications, and molten salts used at high temperatures. But all current PCMs require a great deal of insulation, and they pass through that phase change temperature uncontrollably, losing their stored heat relatively rapidly.

Instead, the new system uses molecular switches that change shape in response to light; when integrated into the PCM, the phase-change temperature of the hybrid material can be adjusted with light, allowing the thermal energy of the phase change to be maintained even well below the melting point of the original material.

The new findings, by MIT postdocs Grace Han and Huashan Li and Professor Jeffrey Grossman, are reported this week in the journal Nature Communications.

“The trouble with thermal energy is, it’s hard to hold onto it,” Grossman explains. So his team developed what are essentially add-ons for traditional phase change materials, or, “little molecules that undergo a structural change when light shines on them.” The trick was to find a way to integrate these molecules with conventional PCM materials to release the stored energy as heat, on demand. “There are so many applications where it would be useful to store thermal energy in a way lets you trigger it when needed,” he says.

The researchers accomplished this by combining the fatty acids with an organic compound that responds to a pulse of light. With this arrangement, the light-sensitive component alters the thermal properties of the other component, which stores and releases its energy. The hybrid material melts when heated, and after being exposed to ultraviolet light, it stays melted even when cooled back down. Next, when triggered by another pulse of light, the material resolidifies and gives back the thermal phase-change energy.

“By integrating a light-activated molecule into the traditional picture of latent heat, we add a new kind of control knob for properties such as melting, solidification, and supercooling,” says Grossman, who is the Morton and Claire Goulder and Family Professor in Environmental Systems as well as professor of materials science and engineering.

The system could make use of any source of heat, not just solar, Han says. “The availability of waste heat is widespread, from industrial processes, to solar heat, and even the heat coming out of vehicles, and it’s usually just wasted.” Harnessing some of that waste could provide a way of recycling that heat for useful applications.

“What we are doing technically,” Han explains, “is installing a new energy barrier, so the stored heat cannot be released immediately.” In its chemically stored form, the energy can remain for long periods until the optical trigger is activated. In their initial small-scale lab versions, they showed the stored heat can remain stable for at least 10 hours, whereas a device of similar size storing heat directly would dissipate it within a few minutes. And “there’s no fundamental reason why it can’t be tuned to go higher,” Han says.

In the initial proof-of-concept system “the temperature change or supercooling that we achieve for this thermal storage material can be up to 10 degrees C (18 F), and we hope we can go higher,” Grossman says.

Already, in this version, “the energy density is quite significant, even though we’re using a conventional phase-change material,” Han says. The material can store about 200 joules per gram, which she says is “very good for any organic phase-change material.” And already, “people have shown interest in using this for cooking in rural India,” she says. Such systems could also be used for drying agricultural crops or for space heating.

“Our interest in this work was to show a proof of concept,” Grossman says, “but we believe there is a lot of potential for using light-activated materials to hijack the thermal storage properties of phase change materials.”

Supervolcanoes: A key to America’s electric future?

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Most of the lithium used to make the lithium-ion batteries that power modern electronics comes from Australia and Chile. But Stanford scientists say there are large deposits in sources right here in America: supervolcanoes.

In a study published today in Nature Communications, scientists detail a new method for locating lithium in supervolcanic lake deposits. The findings represent an important step toward diversifying the supply of this valuable silvery-white metal, since lithium is an energy-critical strategic resource, said study co-author Gail Mahood, a professor of geological sciences at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

“We’re going to have to use electric vehicles and large storage batteries to decrease our carbon footprint,” Mahood said. “It’s important to identify lithium resources in the U.S. so that our supply does not rely on single companies or countries in a way that makes us subject to economic or political manipulation.”

Supervolcanoes can produce massive eruptions of hundreds to thousands of cubic kilometers of magma — up to 10,000 times more than a typical eruption from a Hawaiian volcano. They also produce vast quantities of pumice and volcanic ash that are spread over wide areas. They appear as huge holes in the ground, known as calderas, rather than the cone-like shape typically associated with volcanoes because the enormous loss of magma causes the roof of the chamber to collapse following eruption.

The resulting hole often fills with water to form a lake — Oregon’s Crater Lake is a prime example. Over tens of thousands of years, rainfall and hot springs leach out lithium from the volcanic deposits. The lithium accumulates, along with sediments, in the caldera lake, where it becomes concentrated in a clay called hectorite.

Exploring supervolcanoes for lithium would diversify its global supply. Major lithium deposits are currently mined from brine deposits in high-altitude salt flats in Chile and pegmatite deposits in Australia. The supervolcanoes pose little risk of eruption because they are ancient.

“The caldera is the ideal depositional basin for all this lithium,” said lead author Thomas Benson, a recent PhD graduate at Stanford Earth, who began working on the study in 2012.

Since its discovery in the 1800s, lithium has largely been used in psychiatric treatments and nuclear weapons. Beginning in the 2000s, lithium became the major component of lithium-ion batteries, which today provide portable power for everything from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Volvo Cars recently announced its commitment to only produce new models of its vehicles as hybrids or battery-powered options beginning in 2019, a sign that demand for lithium-ion batteries will continue to increase.

“We’ve had a gold rush, so we know how, why and where gold occurs, but we never had a lithium rush,” Benson said. “The demand for lithium has outpaced the scientific understanding of the resource, so it’s essential for the fundamental science behind these resources to catch up.”

Working backward

To identify which supervolcanoes offer the best sources of lithium, researchers measured the original concentration of lithium in the magma. Because lithium is a volatile element that easily shifts from solid to liquid to vapor, it is very difficult to measure directly and original concentrations are poorly known.

So, the researchers analyzed tiny bits of magma trapped in crystals during growth within the magma chamber. These “melt inclusions,” completely encapsulated within the crystals, survive the supereruption and remain intact throughout the weathering process. As such, melt inclusions record the original concentrations of lithium and other elements in the magma. Researchers sliced through the host crystals to expose these preserved magma blebs, which are 10 to 100 microns in diameter, then analyzed them with the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe in the SHRIMP-RG Laboratory at Stanford Earth.

“Understanding how lithium is transported in magmas and what causes a volcanic center to become enriched in lithium has never really systematically been done before,” Benson said.

The team analyzed samples from a range of tectonic settings, including the Kings Valley deposit in the McDermitt volcanic field located on the Nevada-Oregon border, which erupted 16.5 to 15.5 million years ago and is known to be rich in lithium. They compared results from this volcanic center with samples from the High Rock caldera complex in Nevada, Sierra la Primavera in Mexico, Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily, Yellowstone in Wyoming and Hideaway Park in Colorado, and determined that lithium concentrations varied widely as a function of the tectonic setting of the supervolcano.

“If you have a lot of magma erupting, it doesn’t have to have as much lithium in it to produce something that is worthy of economic interest as we previously thought,” Mahood said. “You don’t need extraordinarily high concentrations of lithium in the magma to form lithium deposits and reserves.”

Improving identification

In addition to exploring for lithium, the researchers analyzed other trace elements to determine their correlations with lithium concentrations. As a result, they discovered a previously unknown correlation that will now enable geologists to identify candidate supervolcanoes for lithium deposits in a much easier way than measuring lithium directly in melt inclusions. The trace elements can be used as a proxy for original lithium concentration. For example, greater abundance of easily analyzed rubidium in the bulk deposits indicates more lithium, whereas high concentrations of zirconium indicate less lithium.

“We can essentially use the zirconium content to determine the lithium content within about 100 parts per million,” Benson said. “Now that we have a way to easily find more of these lithium deposits, it shows that this fundamental geological work can help solve societal problems — that’s really exciting.”