As Americans continue to come to grips with the reality that China is their main ideological and geopolitical competitor, stories about how to counter an economically ambitious CCP have tended to focus on the notion that much of China’s global market dominance has relied a great deal on theft of intellectual property. Which makes a recent story from NPR — one that details how the U.S. Department of Energy simply gave away cutting edge battery technology that U.S. scientists and engineers spent years developing — particulary disturbing.
But it gets worse. It is also believed that American companies were denied licenses by the agency to produce the batteries which the Chinese are currently developing.
In Mukilteo in Washington, engineers created the battery 10 years back. They hoped that they would be a major step towards clean energy.
[The]Vanadium redoxflow battery [was]This design was derived from a two-dozen U.S. scientist’s work at a federal lab. These batteries, which were the same size as a fridge, could last for many decades and stored enough energy to run a home. They were pictured by engineers as people setting them aside next to their air conditioners. Attaching solar panels would allow them to be used for years. Everyone living off the grid.
“It was beyond promise,” said Chris Howard, one of the engineers who worked there for a U.S. company called UniEnergy. “We were seeing it functioning as designed, as expected.”
But that’s not what happened. The warehouse has been shuttered, and is empty. Instead of batteries being the next American success story. All employees that worked in the warehouse were dismissed. A Chinese firm is working in Dalian to make the batteries. This is more than 5200 miles from where I live.
NPR’s investigation suggests the U.S. Department of Energy simply gave the technology away beginning in 2017 as part of a license transfer that vioated the agency’s own licensing rules and regulations about protecting U.S. workers.
China continues to invest millions in green technology, which was meant to boost the U.S. economy and keep it ahead.
Further disturbing is that reports have emerged that U.S.-based companies that produce batteries and have applied for licensing have been rejected.
Forever Energy is a Bellevue-based company that has been trying for a license to manufacture the batteries from the Department of Energy. Joanne Skievaski, Forever Energy’s chief financial officer, has been trying to get hold of a license for more than a year and called the department’s decision to allow foreign manufacturing “mind boggling.”
“This is technology made from taxpayer dollars,” Skievaski said. “It was invented in a national lab. (Now) it’s deployed in China, and it’s held in China. To say it’s frustrating is an understatement.”
According to NPR, following a letter they sent to the agency for answers, DOE rescinded the license for the Chinese company making the batteries, Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd., and is conducting an internal review of the licensing arrangement and whether it “violated U.S. manufacturing requirements.”
It is a fascinating tale about supply chains and licensing requirements. NPR’s piece covers that journey.
Now that American engineers are ready for the construction of the batteries, taxpayers have paid them to build, critics are pointing out that the Americans may not know how to do the actual work.
Skievaski expressed hope that Forever Energy, now that the Department of Energy has removed the license from her hands, will be able acquire it or receive a comparable license. According to the company, it plans to start manufacturing in Louisiana by next year. She bristles at the idea that U.S. engineers aren’t up to the challenge.
“That’s hogwash,” she said. “We are ready to go with this technology.”
However, it may be too late. As NPR reports: “Chinese news reports say the country is about to bring online one of the largest battery farms the world has ever seen. The reports say the entire farm is made up of vanadium redux flow batteries.”
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