BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE–WHY SECOND LIFE SYSTEMS SHOULD BE THE FIRST CHOICE

organisations are seeking to invest in energy solutions such as solar PV to get a grip on rising costs. However, solar without battery energy storage can be energy wasted. Battery energy storage can be a key component of PV investment, ensuring that energy generated is stored for use at a later time.

Matthew Lumsden, CEO, Connected Energy

With the Ukrainian conflict, volatile energy prices and increasing pressure to reach net-zero, commercial, industrial, and public bodies are looking for different energy models that reduce carbon impact and bring financial benefits. Organisations are seeking new ways of optimising their energy and more frequently, these models focus on energy storage.

Batteries as part of energy storage are in high demand. But, it’s not just the demand for batteries which is growing; attitudes towards sustainable energy systems have also fundamentally changed.

New Energy Models

Energy storage can bring huge benefits to organisations wishing to optimise their current energy systems. They provide reliable storage for electricity, and backed by an intelligent management system, can help organisations to maximise the value of electricity generated by renewables on site and reduce expenditure on energy by storing energy when tariffs are low and using it when tariffs are at their peak.

Energy bills account for 5-20% of operating costs for around half of UK businesses. So, it’s no wonder that

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) provide more additional benefits. Increasingly, battery energy storage is being used by organisations to solve on-site problems caused by constrained grid connections. At Connected Energy, we have supported many organisations facing a problem caused by peak load spikes due to energy-intensive equipment and other decarbonisation measures including air source heat pumps, waste management systems and EV charging. Batteries can be cheaper and more beneficial than a grid connection upgrade and can bring a range of additional benefits.

Our E-STOR systems not only support energy management but also enable new revenue to be generated by providing commercial services to the grid operator. These services reward energy storage operators for charging and discharging power and energy into the grid thereby assisting the grid operator to manage the imbalances often caused by varying levels of renewable generation.

Notably, at Connected Energy we’re witnessing organisations in both private and public spheres seeking both technological and commercial solutions to their energy requirements.

Positive Carbon And Cash Flow Benefits

Battery energy systems have a key role to play in the energy system of the future; however, if organisations are driven by improving their sustainability credentials, they should consider choosing a system using second-life batteries.

A recent study by McKinsey1 estimated that, in 2025, there will be 800m tonnes of electric vehicle batteries

1 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/ automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/ second-life-ev-batteries-the-newest-valuepool-in-energy-storage ending their first life applications. Naturally, this will only increase, following the EV adoption curve. They believe that the most cost-effective second life for EV batteries is in stationary energy storage – and this is where Connected Energy comes in.

Our assessment is that up to 30% of batteries can be re-used in secondlife energy storage; those used in our systems should provide a further ten years life to a battery. It’s easy to see why some people suggest it’s a “criminal” waste of resources not to re-use batteries considering the environmental impact of creating them in the first place.

For organisations looking to improve their sustainability credentials, BESS units made with second life batteries provide a positive carbon benefit of 450tCO2e for every 1MWh installed with the same functionality of those made with new units. For large carbon emitters, this level of carbon saving is hard to achieve through any other means.

Similarly, the Battery Storage as a Service (BSaaS) model provides an opportunity for parties to adopt energy storage without a large investment upfront. Using a feasibility study, Connected Energy can determine the monthly BSaaS costs versus revenue generation and the overall return of the project for each client.

Changing Perceptions In The Upstream Battery Value Chain

Equal to the growth we are seeing in downstream demand for battery energy storage deployment, we’ve also noticed a shift in perceptions upstream in the battery value chain. Potential battery suppliers and automotive companies are redoubling their focus on secondlife use to improve their sustainability credentials and revenue models.

Renault has long been ahead of the game supplying batteries for our energy storage. In fact, each E-STOR system is made up of 24 Renault Kangoo batteries. We’re seeing more companies looking to follow in Renault’s wake and we’ve secured suppliers who will provide the batteries from electric trucks and buses down the line.

Capitalising On Growing Momentum

With more operational energy storage systems using second life batteries than any other company in Europe, no business knows better than us the engineering skill and ingenuity it takes to harness the power of second life batteries.

Second life batteries should come first in energy storage and should be incentivised or legislated due to their environmental credentials. The EU has acknowledged this with its Green Deal for Sustainable Batteries2 requirement that ‘batteries have to be long-lasting and safe, and at the end of their life, they should be repurposed, remanufactured or recycled, feeding valuable materials back into the economy.’

We are calling on the UK government’s newly formed government Department for Energy Security

2 https://single-market-economy.ec.europa. eu/news/green-deal-sustainablebatteries-circular-and-climate-neutraleconomy-2020-12-10_en and Net-Zero, to do the same in the UK. Meanwhile, energy managers can put themselves ahead of the curve by specifying energy systems made from second life batteries.

Hard And Soft Benefits

As second life energy storage systems make better use of embedded carbon and all the safety and research invested in vehicle batteries, they address a key challenge of our time. This is a case where environmental commitment can be clearly demonstrated, whilst energy managers can also address their energy security issues at the same time.

Last month we celebrated World Battery Day. This is a great time to acknowledge that batteries are ubiquitous to our everyday lives from the smartwatches on our wrists, the laptops on our desks and the cars we drive.

But as energy storage systems become ubiquitous too, we should make sure those systems are the best possible ones, from an environmental, emotional and financial perspective, and made from second life batteries.

https://connected-energy.co.uk/