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EnBW and Audi launch second-life storage in Heilbronn

Automakers and energy providers commission an energy storage system made from used batteries for supply security in Heilbronn. Deployment planned in PV and wind farms.

Energizing the storage (from left to right): Fred Schulze, Head of Audi Werk Neckarsulm AUDI AG, Dr. Georg Stamatelopoulos, Board Member for Sustainable Production Infrastructure EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport for the State of Baden-Württemberg, Harry Mergel, Mayor of the City of Heilbronn. | Photo: EnBW / Photographer: Uli Deck
Energizing the storage (from left to right): Fred Schulze, Head of Audi Werk Neckarsulm AUDI AG, Dr. Georg Stamatelopoulos, Board Member for Sustainable Production Infrastructure EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport for the State of Baden-Württemberg, Harry Mergel, Mayor of the City of Heilbronn. | Photo: EnBW / Photographer: Uli Deck
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Johannes Reichel

AUDI AG and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG have launched a joint project featuring a stationary battery storage system for so-called Second Life batteries. The batteries come from disassembled test vehicles of Audi. The facility is intended to store electricity from renewable energies, balance fluctuations in the power grid, and thus contribute to supply security. Together with State Minister of Transport Winfried Hermann, the two cooperation partners officially commissioned the pilot plant at EnBW's power plant site in Heilbronn today.

“The commissioning of the battery storage system impressively demonstrates once again that the mobility and energy transition can only succeed together. Battery storage systems are indispensable for a successful energy transition. Making decommissioned batteries from e-cars part of a power storage system is a very promising approach. The renewable electricity can be temporarily stored, and the plants do not have to go offline in the event of an oversupply. This way, we achieve optimal use of renewable energies and valuable resources are used for longer," explained Transport Minister Hermann during the event.

Use beyond the end of a car's life

High-performance lithium-ion batteries are an important building block both for the mobility transition and for the design of a sustainable energy supply. Hagen Seifert, Head of the "Sustainability, Recycling, CO2 Fleet/Evaporative Emissions" department at Audi, sees attractive applications at the end of their use in vehicles. The battery cells are by no means unusable at that point, but still have a significant portion of their original performance capacity and can continue to be used well for the purpose they were built for in a second life – storing electricity. The collaboration in the field of energy storage results in cross-sector networking, where the automotive and energy industries grow closer together in terms of a circular economy.

Intelligent Battery Storage Systems as Helpers of the Energy Transition

For Georg Stamatelopoulos, Board Member for Sustainable Generation Infrastructure at EnBW, the Second Life battery storage is another piece of the mosaic in shaping the energy transition.

"For a reliable and future-oriented power supply, our energy system, which is increasingly characterized by renewable energies and electromobility, must become more flexible. Our task is to find solutions for meeting the rising energy demand with ever-higher peak loads. One of them comes into operation here in Heilbronn today," said Stamatelopoulos.

With intelligent battery storage systems, the energy transition can be made faster and economically more attractive, according to the conviction. They help to use renewable energies more efficiently and to establish a balance between supply and demand in the power grid. Stamatelopoulos points out that the storage system is the product of a partnership development in which Audi and EnBW have combined their respective expertise. The project is also symbolic of how the course for the future can be set.

"The energy transition and the mobility transition require a joint approach by all parties involved in order to make them successful," said the EnBW expert.

Storage from Twelve Batteries with Plug & Play Approach

The new battery storage system in Heilbronn consists of twelve high-voltage battery systems that come from disassembled development vehicles. Connected together, they achieve a total output of one megawatt (MW) – enough for the immediately deployable storage system to cover the electricity consumption of around 3,000 households for about an hour. The special feature is a "Plug & Play" approach, with which the vehicle batteries can be connected into a storage system easily and thus very cost-effectively, as outlined by the energy provider. The facility serves as a reference for initially four projects currently planned at EnBW for the near future.

Significantly Lower Currents in Second Life

Compared to their first life, the HV batteries are used in the Second Life deployment with significantly lower and more consistent currents. The stress is thus significantly less than in mobile use, where a lot of energy has to flow very quickly for acceleration. The project managers therefore expect a service life of at least five to ten years for the cells in their second life. After that, Audi leads the batteries to a final recycling process in which they are broken down into their individual components and raw materials to be potentially used again in new batteries.

Focus: Grid Stability and Activities in the Energy Market

In the coming weeks, the performance of the storage system will be tested and various deployment scenarios will be simulated. This includes, among other things, operation for providing control power, i.e., releasing energy when the grid frequency is too low because not enough electricity is being fed in. Conversely, storing energy when wind or PV systems feed so much electricity into the grid that the frequency rises too much. Additionally, it will be investigated how the storage capacity can be utilized in the energy market – depending on the availability of cheap electricity from renewable energies. It is also expected to be interesting in the future for municipal utilities, industrial companies, or operators of decentralized generation plants to use storage systems made from used battery modules: Because their use is both sustainable and economical.

Translated automatically from German.
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