South Korea's leading battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution announced on the fourth that it has signed a long-term agreement with a Canadian company to secure supplies of lithium spodumene.

The company said in a press release that under the agreement, Elevra Lithium will supply 240,000 tons of lithium spodumene to LG Energy Solution over four years starting later this year.

LG Energy Solution expects the supply agreement to help strengthen its ability to respond to local customer demand while supporting the rapid growth of the North American energy storage system (ESS) market.

Lee Kang-yeol, head of LG Energy Solution's procurement center, said: "This agreement marks another important step in strengthening our raw material supply chain in North America and supporting the region's rapidly growing ESS market."

As demand for energy storage system (ESS) batteries grows, the company plans to achieve more than 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell capacity in North America by December.

This capacity layout covers three wholly owned plants — LG Energy Solution factories in Lansing and Holland, Michigan, as well as the NextStar Energy plant in Ontario, Canada — and two joint venture plants, namely one built with Honda Motor Co. in Ohio and one built with General Motors Co. in Tennessee.

Against the backdrop of a continued downturn in the electric vehicle (EV) market that has weakened demand for EV batteries, battery companies are stepping up efforts to secure more energy storage battery orders to offset this adverse impact.

According to market research firm Wood Mackenzie, the U.S. energy storage system market is expected to grow fourfold to 499 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by 2031.