Buenos Aires outdoor power supply still uses lithium iron phosphate

State company Y-TEC, the tech arm of YPF, will open the first lithium battery cell factory in September, in La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province. Another plant, five times bigger, will kick off in Santiago del Estero in 2024.

The plant will generate 15 megawatts per year, which means it will produce lithium batteries capable of powering 2500 households. The batteries are envisaged for use in rural areas. For example, there is already a Buenos Aires province-backed project to supply the Paulino-Berisso island, home to 70 families who are currently off the power grid.

Lithium Ferro Phosphate batteries are extremely stable thermally, which means they are less likely to generate any heat or catch on fire, which makes them safer than other forms of lithium-ion batteries. This makes them even more preferred in many high reliability applications, including battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles.

LFP batteries have bulkier dimensions which make them less suitable for certain applications and are the reason why the lithium iron phosphate battery is less popular compared to other types of lithium-ion batteries, especially in areas where size and weight are concerned. For example- Lithium phosphate battery 12v is used in some renewable setups.

In the case of lithium, Y-TEC signed a contract with American company Livent, which extracts the mineral in Catamarca and, for the first time, sold part of its production in Argentina. According to Salvarezza, for industrialization to grow in scale, part of the production ought to be sold on the local market.

In order to produce LFP batteries, manufacturers need battery materials, including advanced phosphate products. ICL Group is one of the world's largest and most innovative suppliers of processed materials for lithium iron phosphate battery manufacturers. The group mines phosphate rock at its Rotem plant in Israel's Negev Desert and in China.