College of Engineering Hosts on Supply Chain in Energy Transition

The College of Engineering at the University of Bahrain hosted Prof. Lawrence Jones, Senior Vice President for International Programs at the Edison Electrical Institute (EEI), who delivered a lecture titled “Global Perspectives on Supply Chain Related to Energy Transition”.

The lecture was organized in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat).

In his presentation, which was attended by professors and students of the university’s related doctoral programs, Dr. Jones highlighted an aspect that is often overlooked when talking about the energy transition: the supply chain of key metals such as lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and uranium.

These metals are key components of the main enablers currently driving the energy transition, such as solar panels, batteries, wind turbines and nuclear reactors of various sizes.

Prof.  Jones pointed out that the current landscape and state of supply chain management of these minerals could allow some large industrialized countries to establish a semi-monopoly and exercise some kind of control over the prices of these minerals in a way that may hinder progress in energy transition programs, and called on energy transition policymakers to carefully consider the mineral production chain and take it into account when formulating their strategy.