Member - Snam Groupe

The Snam Group holding company is a subsidiary of the Belgian group Floridienne (2,200 employees). It was created in 2018 to facilitate the capitalisation and development of its various subsidiaries :  

- Experienced companies, with high growth potential, such as SNAM, one of the European leaders in the recycling of batteries, SOPAVE and VCD (Vera Chimie Développement), all companies that have ambitious projects in the field of hydrometallurgy and chemistry;   

- And the newly born subsidiary, Phenix Batteries, whose aim is to build a major European offer of 2nd life batteries for the market of stationary storage of intermittent renewable energies.  

Today, Snam Group has 170 employees in France, spread over two sites : Decazeville / Aveyron and St Quentin-Fallavier / Isère. Now that electric mobility is expanding worldwide and appears to be a necessity in view of the global challenges of reducing carbon impact, now that many countries are developing voluntary programmes for the development of intermittent renewable energies and that therefore the question of their storage is arising, the activities of Snam Group, all devoted to batteries, are a perfect example of a circular economy, as well as a relevant and complete response to a crucial problem : the cost, management, life and recycling of the batteries involved in clean mobility (cars, buses, etc.) The development prospects of these markets will be very important, in Europe or worldwide, and the group is ready to face this challenge. Indeed, we have more than 40 years of experience in the battery recycling sector, and a large logistics power spread throughout the European continent - and beyond. For the past six years, we have developed, with the help of the CEA, measuring systems that allow us to accurately test the various components of the batteries we receive, and to select from them the modules we can reuse to store energy from IREC. We have also the confidence of many of the world’s leading car manufacturers with whom we have signed contracts for the recovery and recycling of their end-of-life batteries used in their hybrid or electric vehicles. Nowadays, combining thermal and hydro-metallurgical processes, SNAM can recycle every battery chemistries (excluding lead). Its recycling rates are above 69% of the whole battery, a performance higher than the current European requirement for efficiency (50%). And as for the metals (Co, Ni, Li, Cu, Mn), the recycling rates are around 99%. Thus, SNAM produces 99% pure cobalt salts which can then be used for the manufacture of new lithium-ion batteries. For its part, the Phenix Batteries company manufactures 2nd life batteries, packaged in the form of standard modules packs that can be assembled, as needed, in cabinets or modular containers. The life extension of these batteries is around 7 or 9 years. The energy storage capacities of these new batteries can range from a few KWh to 2 MWh. These are new, tested, certified products that are guaranteed in contractual form, in terms of performance and service life, according to the conditions and characteristics of use required by the customer (number of charges and discharges, etc). The potential applications of these second-life batteries may be very varied : This can be a “stationary storage” type of use ; the batteries are then used to support the grid in cycles of high demand, or used to store energy produced intermittently in order to return it during the non-production phases (ex: return, at night, of solar energy; return, at day, of wind energy stored at night). Thanks to these batteries, it will also be easy for their users to optimise their electricity consumption rates, by storing it in low tariff periods and returning it in high tariff periods. Other possible applications : these batteries can be used in «inverter» function in order to avoid power cuts ; they can also be used to quickly recharge electric vehicles at terminals, etc. But whatever the function of these batteries, the activity deployed by Phenix Batteries will only take place within a B to B framework. The initial customers will be companies specialized in energy services (called integrators) and then, the energy companies, producers or distributors. All Snam Group’s activities are expected to create several hundred jobs in the 6 years to come.