Robots were shopping.
It was the day before production to start, and every few seconds, the machines folded a stack of thin battery cells in a metal sheath. Then they sealed the pocket on the edges.
This closely choreographed mounting chain is the result of American efforts for several years to correspond to the industrial policy of China in fields such as the manufacture of batteries. In the end, the batteries produced in this Michigan factory by LG Energy Solution, a South Korean company, will help balance the supply and demand for energy on American electrical networks.
Silver sachets – about the size of two computer keyboards fixed at the end – will be placed in large battery containers which can measure more than 20 feet wide. In recent years, public electricity services and other energy companies have started to spend billions of dollars to install dozens of batteries of such major batteries across the country in parking lots, on old industrial sites and on what was previously agricultural land.
The batteries play an increasingly central role in the electricity sector, in particular in states such as California and Texas, which have many solar and wind parks that produce energy at a relatively low cost, but only part of the time. The batteries serve as a sponge, absorbing energy when available and dispenses it when houses and businesses need it most.
But President Trump’s prices on China can eliminate this emerging industry. Another threat is preparing for Congress, where the Republicans of the Chamber, with the blessing of Mr. Trump, adopted a budget bill which, according to analysts, would considerably limit access to subsidies to make and use rechargeable batteries.
Tristan Doherty, product manager of the American Energy Solution American energy storage unit, Vertech, compared the prices to a drug that can be fatal at high concentrations.
