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07 April 2023
 

Master Plan Part 3

Sustainable Energy for All of Earth


 

Published on April 5, 2023

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the many prior studies that have pushed the topic of a sustainable energy economy forward, the work of the International Energy Agency (IEA), U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA),
U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories, and the input from various non-Tesla affiliated advisors.

Tesla Contributors

Felix Maire
Matthew Fox
Mark Simons
Turner Caldwell
Alex Yoo
Eliah Gilfenbaum
Andrew Ulvestad

Tesla Advisors

Drew Baglino
Rohan Ma
Vineet Mehta

Executive Summary

On March 1, 2023, Tesla presented Master Plan Part 3 – a proposed path to reach a sustainable global energy economy through end-use electrification and sustainable electricity generation and storage. This paper outlines the assumptions, sources and calculations behind that proposal. Input and conversation are welcome.

The analysis has three main components:

Figure 1: Process overview

This paper finds a sustainable energy economy is technically feasible and requires less investment and less material extraction
than continuing today’s unsustainable energy economy. While many prior studies have come to a similar conclusion, this study
seeks to push the thinking forward related to material intensity, manufacturing capacity, and manufacturing investment required
for a transition across all energy sectors worldwide.

The Current Energy Economy is Wasteful

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2019 World Energy Balances, the global primary energy supply is 165 PWh/
year, and total fossil fuel supply is 134PWh/year
1ab. 37% (61PWh) is consumed before making it to the end consumer. This
includes the fossil fuel industries’ self-consumption during extraction/refining, and transformation losses during electricity generation. Another 27% (44PWh) is lost by inefficient end-uses such as internal combustion engine vehicles and natural gas furnaces. In total, only 36% (59PWh) of the primary energy supply produces useful work or heat for the economy. Analysis from Lawrence Livermore National Lab shows similar levels of inefficiency for the global and US energy supply
2,3.

Today’s Energy Economy (PWh/year)

a The 2021 and 2022 IEA World Energy Balances were not complete at the time of this work, and the 2020 dataset showed a decrease in energy consumption from 2019, which likely was pandemic-related and inconsistent with energy consumption trends.
b Excluded certain fuel supplies used for non-energy purposes, such as fossil fuels used in plastics manufacturing.

The Plan to Eliminate Fossil Fuels

In an electrified economy with sustainably generated energy, most of the upstream losses associated with mining, refining and
burning fuels to create electricity are eliminated, as are the downstream losses associated with non-electric end-uses. Some
industrial processes will require more energy input (producing green hydrogen for example), and some mining and refining
activity needs to increase (related to metals for batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, etc.)

The following 6 steps show the actions needed to fully electrify the economy and eliminate fossil fuel use. The 6 steps detail the
electricity demand assumptions for the sustainable energy economy and leads to the electricity demand curve that is modeled.

Modeling was done on the US energy economy using high-fidelity data available from the Energy Information Administration
(EIA) from 2019-2022c, and results were scaled to estimate actions needed for the global economy using a 6x scaling factor
based on the 2019 energy consumption scalar between the U.S. and the world, according to IEA Energy Balances. This is a
significant simplification and could be an area for improvement in future analyses, as global energy demands are different from
the U.S. in their composition and expected to increase over time. This analysis was conducted on the U.S. due to availability of
high-fidelity hourly data.

This plan considers onshore/offshore wind, solar, existing nuclear and hydro as sustainable electricity generation sources, and
considers existing biomass as sustainable although it will likely be phased out over time. Additionally, this plan does not address
sequestering carbon dioxide emitted over the past century of fossil fuel combustion, beyond the direct air capture required for
synthetic fuel generation; any future implementation of such technologies would likely increase global energy demand.

01 Repower the Existing Grid with Renewables

The existing US hourly electricity demand is modeled as an inflexible baseline demand taken from the EIA4. Four US sub-regions
(Texas, Pacific, Midwest, Eastern) are modeled to account for regional variations in demand, renewable resource availability,
weather, and grid transmission constraints. This existing electrical demand is the baseline load that must be supported by
sustainable generation and storage.

Globally, 65PWh/year of primary energy is supplied to the electricity sector, including 46PWh/year of fossil fuels; however only
26PWh/year of electricity is produced, due to inefficiencies transforming fossil fuels into electricityd. If the grid were instead
renewably powered, only 26PWh/year of sustainable generation would be required.

02 Switch to Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles are approximately 4x more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles due to higher powertrain
efficiency, regenerative braking capability, and optimized platform design. This ratio holds true across passenger vehicles, lightduty
trucks, and Class 8 semis as shown in the Table 1.

c US hourly time series data used as model inputs are available at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/ for download.
d Embedded in the 26 PWh/year is 3.5 PWh/year of useful heat, mostly produced in co-generation power stations, which generate heat and power electricity.
e Tesla’s global fleet average energy efficiency including Model 3, Y, S and X
f Tesla’s internal estimate based on industry knowledge

The Plan to Eliminate Fossil Fuels

As a specific example, Tesla’s Model 3 energy consumption is 131MPGe vs. a Toyota Corolla with 34MPG6,7, or 3.9x lower,
and the ratio increases when accounting for upstream losses such as the energy consumption related extracting and refining
fuel (See Figure 4).

To establish the electricity demand of an electrified transportation sector, historical monthly US transportation petroleum usage,
excluding aviation and ocean shipping, for each sub-region is scaled by the EV efficiency factor above (4x)
8. Tesla’s hour by
hour vehicle fleet charging behavior, split between inflexible and flexible portions, is assumed as the EV charging load curve in
the 100% electrified transportation sector. Supercharging, commercial vehicle charging, and vehicles with <50% state of charge
are considered inflexible demand. Home and workplace AC charging are flexible demand and modeled with a 72-hour energy
conservation constraint, modeling the fact that most drivers have flexibility to charge when renewable resources are abundant.
On average, Tesla drivers charge once every 1.7 days from 60% SOC to 90% SOC, so EVs have sufficient range relative to typical
daily mileage to optimize their charging around renewable power availability provided there is charging infrastructure at both
homes and workplaces.

Global electrification of the transportation sector eliminates 28 PWh/year of fossil fuel use and, applying the 4x EV efficiency
factor, creates ~7 PWh/year of additional electrical demand.

The Plan to Eliminate Fossil Fuels

03 Switch to Heat Pumps in Residential, Business & Industry
Heat pumps move heat from source to sink via the compression/expansion of an intermediate refrigerant
9. With the appropriate
selection of refrigerants, heat pump technology applies to space heating, water heating and laundry driers in residential and
commercial buildings, in addition to many industrial processes.

Air source heat pumps are the most suitable technology for retrofitting gas furnaces in existing homes, and can deliver 2.8 units
of heat per unit of energy consumed based on a heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) of 9.5 Btu/Wh, a typical efficiency
rating for heat-pumps today
11. Gas furnaces create heat by burning natural gas. They have an annual fuel utilization efficiency
(AFUE) of ~90%
12. Therefore, heat pumps use ~3x less energy than gas furnaces (2.8/0.9).

Residential and Commercial Sectors

The EIA provides historical monthly US natural gas usage for the residential and commercial sectors in each sub-region8. The 3x
heat-pump efficiency factor reduces the energy demand if all gas appliances are electrified. The hourly load factor of baseline
electricity demand was applied to estimate the hourly electricity demand variation from heat pumps, effectively ascribing
heating demand to those hours when homes are actively being heated or cooled. In summer, the residential/commercial demand
peaks mid-afternoon when cooling loads are highest, in winter demand follows the well-known “duck-curve” which peaks in
morning & evening.

Global electrification of residential and commercial appliances with heat pumps eliminates 18 PWh/year of fossil fuel and creates
6PWh/year of additional electrical demand.

 

Industrial Sector

Industrial processes up to ~200C, such as food, paper, textile and wood industries can also benefit from the efficiency gains
offered by heat pumps
13, although heat pump efficiency decreases with higher temperature differentials. Heat pump integration
is nuanced and exact efficiencies depend heavily on the temperature of the heat source the system is drawing from (temperature
rise is key in determining factor for heat pump efficiency), as such simplified assumptions for achievable COP by temperature
range are used:

Based on the temperature make-up of industrial heat according to the IEA and the assumed heat pump efficiency by
temperature in Table 2, the weighted industrial heat pump efficiency factor modeled is 2.2
14,15,16.

The EIA provides historical monthly fossil fuel usage for the industrial sector for each sub-region8. All industrial fossil fuel use,
excluding embedded fossil fuels in products (rubber, lubricants, others) is assumed to be used for process heat. According to
the IEA, 45% of process heat is below 200C, and when electrified with heat pumps requires 2.2x less input energy
16. The added
industrial heat-pump electrical demand was modeled as an inflexible, flat hourly demand.

Global electrification of industrial process heat <200C with heat pumps eliminates 12PWh/year of fossil fuels and creates
5PWh/year of additional electrical demand.

04 Electrify High Temperature Heat Delivery and Hydrogen Production

Electrify High Heat Industrial Processes
Industrial processes that require high temperatures (>200C), account for the remaining 55% of fossil fuel use and require special
consideration. This includes steel, chemical, fertilizer and cement production, among others.

These high-temperature industrial processes can be serviced directly by electric resistance heating, electric arc furnaces or
buffered through thermal storage to take advantage of low-cost renewable energy when it is available in excess. On-site thermal
storage may be valuable to cost effectively accelerate industrial electrification (e.g., directly using the thermal storage media and
radiative heating elements)
17,18.

Identify the optimal thermal storage media by temperature/application

Electric resistance heating, and electric arc furnaces, have similar efficiency to blast furnace heating, therefore will require a
similar amount of renewable primary energy input. These high-temperature processes are modeled as an inflexible, flat demand.

Thermal storage is modeled as an energy buffer for high-temperature process heat in the industrial sector, with a round trip
thermal efficiency of 95%. In regions with high solar installed capacity, thermal storage will tend to charge midday and discharge
during the nights to meet continuous 24/7 industrial thermal needs. Figure 9 shows possible heat carriers and illustrates that
several materials are candidates for providing process heat >1500C.

Global electrification of industrial process heat >200C eliminates 9PWh/year of fossil fuel fuels and creates 9PWh/year of
additional electrical demand, as equal heat delivery efficiency is assumed.

Note: Bubble diameters represent specific heat over usable range.

Sustainably Produce Hydrogen for Steel and Fertilizer
Today hydrogen is produced from coal, oil and natural gas, and is used in the refining of fossil fuels (notably diesel) and in
various industrial applications (including steel and fertilizer production).

Green hydrogen can be produced via the electrolysis of water (high energy intensity, no carbon containing products consumed/
produced) or via methane pyrolysis (lower energy intensity, produces a solid carbon-black byproduct that could be converted
into useful carbon-based products)g.

To conservatively estimate electricity demand for green hydrogen, the assumption is:
• No hydrogen will be needed for fossil fuel refining going forward
• Steel production will be converted to the Direct Reduced Iron process, requiring hydrogen as an input. Hydrogen demand to
reduce iron ore (assumed to be Fe3O4) is based on the following reduction reaction:

Reduction by H2

• Fe3O4 + H2 = 3FeO + H2O

• FeO + H2 = Fe + H2O

• All global hydrogen production will come from electrolysis

g Sustainable steel production may also be performed through molten oxide electrolysis, which requires heat and electricity, but does not require hydrogen as a reducing agent, and may be less energy intensive, but this benefit is beyond the scope of the analysis19.

These simplified assumptions for industrial demand, result in a global demand of 150Mt/yr of green hydrogen, and sourcing this

from electrolysis requires an estimated ~7.2PWh/year of sustainably generated electricityh,20,21.

The electrical demand for hydrogen production is modeled as a flexible load with annual production constraints, with hydrogen

storage potential modeled in the form of underground gas storage facilities (like natural gas is stored today) with maximum

resource constraints. Underground gas storage facilities used today for natural gas storage can be retrofitted for hydrogen

storage; the modeled U.S. hydrogen storage requires ~30% of existing U.S. underground gas storage facilities22,23. Note that some

storage facilities, such as salt caverns, are not evenly geographically dispersed which may present challenges, and there may be

better alternative storage solutions.

Global sustainable green hydrogen eliminates 6 PWh/year of fossil fuel energy use, and 2 PWh/year of non-energy usei,24. The

fossil fuels are replaced by 7PWh/year of additional electrical demand.

05 Sustainably Fuel Planes & Boats
 

Both continental and intercontinental ocean shipping can be electrified by optimizing design speed and routes to enable smaller
batteries with more frequent charge stops on long routes. According to the IEA, ocean shipping consumes 3.2PWh/year globally.
By applying an estimated 1.5x electrification efficiency advantage, a fully-electrified global shipping fleet will consume 2.1PWh/
year of electricity
25.

Short distance flights can also be electrified through optimized aircraft design and flight trajectory at today’s battery energy
densities
26. Longer distance flights, estimated as 80% of air travel energy consumption (85B gallons/year of jet fuel globally), can be powered by synthetic fuels generated from excess renewable electricity leveraging the Fischer-Tropsch process, which
uses a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) to synthesize a wide variety of liquid hydrocarbons, and has been
demonstrated as a viable pathway for synthetic jet fuel synthesis
27. This requires an additional 5PWh/year of electricity, with:

- H2 generated from electrolysis21

- CO2 captured via direct air capture28, 29

- CO produced via electrolysis of CO2

Carbon and hydrogen for synthetic fuels may also be sourced from biomass. More efficient and cost-effective methods for
synthetic fuel generation may become available in time, and higher energy density batteries will enable longer-distance aircraft
to be electrified thus decreasing the need for synthetic fuels.

The electrical demand for synthetic fuel production was modeled as a flexible demand with an annual energy constraint. Storage
of synthetic fuel is possible with conventional fuel storage technologies, a 1:1 volume ratio is assumed. The electrical demand for
ocean shipping was modeled as a constant hourly demand.
Global sustainable synthetic fuel and electricity for boats and planes eliminates 7PWh/year of fossil fuels, and creates 7PWh/year
of additional global electrical demand.

06 Manufacture the Sustainable Energy Economy
Additional electricity is required to build the generation and storage portfolio - solar panels, wind turbines and
batteries - required for the sustainable energy economy. This electricity demand was modeled as an incremental, inflexible, flat hourly demand in the industrial sector. More details can be found in the Appendix: Build the Sustainable Energy
Economy - Energy Intensity.

h Adjusted current demand for hydrogen, removing demand related to oil refining, as that will not be required. Assumed all of the hydrogen produced from coal and natural gas today is replaced. Then, the energy required to produce the hydrogen from coal and natural gas, compared to electrolysis, is calculated.
i According to the IEA, 85% of natural gas non-energy consumption is consumed by fertilizer and methanol production

Modeling the Fully Sustainable Energy Economy

These 6 steps create a U.S. electrical demand to be fulfilled with sustainable generation and storage. To do so, the generation and storage portfolio is established using an hourly cost-optimal integrated capacity expansion and dispatch modelj. The model is split between four sub-regions of the US with transmission constraints modeled between regions and run over four weatheryears (2019-2022) to capture a range of weather conditionsk. Interregional transmission limits are estimated based on the current line capacity ratings on major transmission paths published by North American Electricity Reliability Council (NERC) Regional Entities (SERC30, WECC31, ERCOT32). Figure 11 shows the fully electrified economy energy demand for the full US.

Modeled Regions and Grid Interconnections


 

j Convex optimization models that can determine optimal capacity expansion and resource dispatch are widely used within the industry. For instance, by utilities or system operators to plan their systems (e.g., generation and grid investments required to meet their expected load), or to assess the impact of specific energy policies on the energy system. This model builds the least-cost generation and storage portfolio to meet demand every hour of the four-year period analyzed and dispatches that portfolio every hour to meet demand. The capacity expansion and dispatch decisions are optimized in one step, which ensures the portfolio is optimal over the period analyzed, storage value is fully reflected and the impact of weather variability modeled. Other analyses typically model capacity expansion and portfolio dispatch as two separate steps. The capacity expansion decisions are made first (e.g. how much generation and storage is estimated to be the least-cost portfolio over the time horizon), followed by separate dispatch modeling of the portfolio mix (e.g. how much generation and storage should be dispatched in each hour to meet demand with sufficient operating reserves). The two-stage approach produces pseudo-optimal results, but allows more computationally intensive models at each stage.
k The model is constrained to meet a 15% operating reserve margin every hour to ensure this generation and storage portfolio is robust to a range of weather and system conditions beyond those explicitely modeled.

Modeling the Fully Sustainable Energy Economy

Wind and solar resources for each region are modeled with their respective hourly capacity factor (i.e., how much electricity is produced hourly per MW of installed capacity), its interconnection cost and the maximum capacity available for the model to build. The wind and solar hourly capacity factors specific to each region were estimated using historical wind/solar generation taken from EIA in each region, thus capturing differences in resource potential due to regional weather patternsl,m. Capacity factors were scaled to represent forward looking trends based on the recent Princeton Net-Zero America study33. Figure 11 shows the hourly capacity factor for wind & solar versus time for the full US. Table 3 shows the average capacity factor and demand for each region of the US.

l EIA does not report offshore wind production for the period analyzed given the limited existing offshore wind installed capacity. The offshore wind generation profile was estimated by scaling the historical onshore wind generation profile to the offshore wind capacity factor estimated by the Princeton Net-Zero America study.
m Each region is modeled with two onshore wind and two solar resources with different capacity factor, interconnection cost and maximum potential. This accounts for the fact that the most economic sites are typically built first and subsequent projects typically have lower capacity factors and/or higher interconnection cost as they may be farther located from demand centers requiring more transmission or in locations with higher cost land.

The model builds generation and storage based on resource-specific cost and performance attributes, and a global objective of minimizing the levelized cost of energyn. The model assumes increased inter-regional transmission capacitieso.

To provide reliable year-round power, it is economically optimal to deploy excess solar and wind capacity, which leads to curtailment. Curtailment will happen when (1) solar and/or wind generation is higher than the electricity demand in a region, (2) storage is full and (3) there is no available transmission capacity to transmit the excess generation to other regions. There is an economic tradeoff between building excess renewable generation capacity, building grid storage, or expanding transmission capability. That tradeoff may evolve as grid storage technologies mature, but with the assumptions modeled, the optimal generation and storage portfolio resulted in 32% curtailment.

n Costs considered in the objective function: levelized capex of new generation and storage with a 5% discount rate, fixed and variable operational and maintenance (O&M) costs.
o 37 GW of transmission capacity is modeled between the Midwest and the East, 28 GW between Texas and the East, 24 GW between Pacific and the Midwest and 20 GW between Texas and the Midwest. This corresponds to ~3% of the modeled combined regional peak load. E.g., the peak load of the combined East and Midwest regions was ~1.2 TW, and the transmission capacity between Midwest and the East modeled as 37 GW. Currently, the transmission capacity is <1% of the combined regional peak loads (with transmission to/from Texas the lowest). Higher transmission capacities generally reduce the total generation and storage buildout, but there is an economic tradeoff between building more transmission and building more generation plus storage.

For context, curtailment already exists in markets with high renewable energy penetration. In 2020, 19% of the wind generation in Scotland was curtailed, and in 2022, 6% of solar generation in California (CAISO) was curtailed due to operational constraints, such as thermal generators’ inability to ramp down below their minimum operating level, or local congestion on the transmission system34,35.

The sustainable energy economy will have an abundance of inexpensive energy for consumers able to use it during periods of excess, which will impact how and when energy is used.

In Figure 12 below, hourly dispatch is depicted across a sample of fall days, showing the role of each generation and storage resource in balancing supply and demand, as well as the concentration of economic curtailment in the middle of the day when solar is abundant.

 

In Figure 14, hydrogen storage is generally filled during the shoulder months (spring and fall) when electricity demand is lower as heating and cooling seasons are over, and solar and wind generation is relatively high. Similarly, as excess generation declines in summer and winter months, hydrogen reservoirs decline providing inter-seasonal hydrogen storage.

Energy Storage Technologies Evaluated

For stationary applications, the energy storage technologies in Table 4 below, which are currently deployed at scale, are considered. Li-ion means LiFePO4/Graphite lithium-ion batteries. A range of conservative future installed costs are listed for lithium ion given the volatility in commodities prices (especially lithium). While there are other emerging technologies such as metal-air (Fe <-> Fe2O3 redox couple) and Na-ion, these are not commercially deployed and therefore not considered.

p This includes the storage equipment cost, balance of system, interconnection and installation cost.
q Efficiency for the electricity to thermal conversion. The model does not include generating electricity from heat.

Generation Technologies Evaluated

The Table below details all the generation technologies considered in the sustainable energy economy. Installed costs were taken from studies for 2030-2040 from NREL and the Princeton Net-Zero America study.

r Internal estimate.
s Assumed lifetime improvement. The NREL 2019 Cost of Wind Energy Review estimates wind cost with 25-year lifetime as reference and creates sensitivities with 30-year lifetime
t Assumed 50% higher capex than the EIA Cost and Performance Characteristics of New Generating Technologies
u Excluding Deep Enhanced Geothermal System Resources

Model Results

US Only Model Results – Meeting New Electrification Demand For the US, the optimal generation and storage portfolio to meet the electricity demand, each hour, for the years modeled is shown in the Table below.

In addition, 1.2 TWh of distributed stationary batteries are added based on incremental deployments of distributed stationary storage alongside rooftop solar at residential and commercial buildings. This includes storage deployments at 15 million single-family homes48 with rooftop solar, industrial storage paired with 43GW49,50 of commercial rooftop solar, and storage replacement of at least 200GW51 of existing backup generator capacityy. Distributed storage deployments are exogenous to the model outputs given deployment driven by factors not fully reflected in a least-cost model framework, including end-user resiliency and self-sufficiency when storage is paired with rooftop solar.

v After accounting for curtailment.
w The model curtails wind/solar generation when the electricity supply is higher than the electricity demand and battery/thermal/hydrogen storage are full already. Curtailed wind/solar generation is generation that isn’t consumed by end-uses.
x 17.8 TWh of jet fuel derived from H2 are stored with current infrastructure
y Solar and storage is deployed at less than one-third of suitable residential buildings designated by NREL. Four hours of storage is
assumed for C&I deployment and for backup generator substitution.

World Model Results – Meeting New Electrification Demand

Applying the 6 steps to the world’s energy flow would displace all 125PWh/year of fossil fuels used for energy use and replacethem with
66PWh/year of sustainably generated electricityz. An additional 4PWh/year of new industry is needed to manufacture the required batteries, solar panels and wind turbines (assumptions can be found in Appendix: Build the Sustainable Energy Economy – Energy Intensity).

The global generation and storage portfolio to meet the electricity demand was calculated by scaling the US resource mix by 6x. As noted above, this is a significant simplification and could be an area for improvement in future analyses, as global energy demands are different from the U.S. in their composition and expected to increase over time. This analysis was conducted on the U.S. due to availability of high-fidelity hourly data.

Sustainable Energy Economy [PWh/year]

z Remaining ~9PWh/year of fossil fuels are consumed through non-energy uses

Batteries for Transportation

Vehicles

Today there are 1.4B vehicles globally and annual passenger vehicle production of ~85M vehicles, according to OICA. Based on pack size assumptions, the vehicle fleet will require 112 TWh of batteriesaa. Autonomy has potential to reduce the global fleet, and annual production required, through improved vehicle utilization.

Standard-range vehicles can utilize the lower energy density chemistries (LFP), whereas long-range vehicles require higher energy density chemistries (high nickel). Cathode assignment to vehicle segment is listed in the table below. High Nickel refers to low to zero cobalt Nickel Manganese cathodes currently in production, under development at Tesla, Tesla’s suppliers and in research groups.

aa To approximate the battery storage required to displace 100% of road vehicles, the global fleet size, pack size (kWh)/ Global passenger fleet size and annual production (~85M vehicles/year) is based on data from OICA. The number of vehicles by segment is estimated based on S&P Global sales data. For buses and trucks, the US-to-global fleet scalar of ~5x is used as global data was unavailable

Global Electric Fleet

World Model Results – Electrification & Transportation Batteries

Table 9 summarizes the generation and storage portfolio to meet the global electricity demand and the transportation storage required based on the vehicle, ship and plane assumptions. Explanation of how the generation and storage portfolios were allocated to end-uses can be found in Appendix: Generation and storage allocation to end-uses.

World Model Results – Electrification & Batteries for Transportation

Investment Required

Investment catalogued here is inclusive of the manufacturing facilities, mining and refining operations for materials that require
significant growth, and hydrogen storage salt cavern installation. Manufacturing facilities are sized to the replacement rate of each asset, and upstream operations (e.g., mining) are sized accordinglybb. Materials that require significant capacity growth are:

For mining: nickel, lithium, graphite and copper.

For refining: nickel, lithium, graphite, cobalt, copper, battery grade iron and manganese.

In addition to initial capex, 5%/year maintenance capex with a 20-year horizon is included in the investment estimate. Using
these assumptions, building the manufacturing infrastructure for the sustainable energy economy will cost $10 trillioncc, as compared to the $14 trillion projected 20-year spend on fossil fuels at the 2022 investment rate
52.

A Sustainable Energy Economy is 60% the Cost of Continuing Fossil Fuel Investments

bb For example, if 46 TWh of stationary LFP battery storage is required, and the life of a battery is 20 years, then the manufacturing capacity is sized to 2.3 TWh/year
cc In-scope manufacturing capacity investments: wind turbines, solar panels, battery cells, upstream battery inputs, mining, refining, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and electrolyzers, carbon capture, and Fischer Tropsch. Salt cavern hydrogen storage is also included

Investment Required

Table 13 Provides additional detail into mining, refining, vehicle factories, battery factories and recycling assumptions. Mining and
refining assumptions are an internal estimate of industry average based on public industry reports:

 

Materials Required

Assumptions
The total materials required for solar panels, wind turbines, and circuit miles miles are calculated based on third party material intensity assumptions. Battery material intensity is based on internal estimates. Solar panel and wind turbine material intensity assumptions are from a European Commission report. Solar cells are wafer-based crystalline silicon, and rare earth minerals are eliminated from wind turbines, given the progress demonstrated in developing technologies
59.

Based on IEA’s 2050 Net Zero pathways study, approximately 60 million circuit miles will need to be added or reconductored globally to achieve a fully sustainable, electrified global economy. Distribution capacity will primarily be expanded by reconductoring existing lines and expanding substation capacity that can accommodate significant growth in peak and average end-user demand. High-voltage transmission will primarily expand geographic coverage to connect large wind and solar generation capacity to densely populated areas. For purposes of estimating material requirements, 90% of the 60 million circuit miles will be reconductoring of existing low-voltage distribution systems and 10% will be new circuit-miles from high-voltage transmission, which is the current ratio of US circuit miles between high-voltage transmission and low-voltage distribution60,61.

 

* LHM is equivalent to LiOH-H2O and has approximately 6x the mass as the Lithium alone

 

dd Assume 50% of the Lithium was extracted from brine. 100% ore mined for that portion of Lithium supply

Materials Required

 

 

ee Including 8 TWh of stationary electricity storage, excluding h2 storage.

ff Energy intensity of graphite is used as a proxy for thermal batteries
gg Internal estimate

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