Audi and RWE are breaking new ground together to drive the energy revolution forward. RWE has brought an energy storage facility on stream in Herdecke, Germany, that uses used lithium-ion batteries from Audi electric cars. With the help of 60 battery systems, the new type of storage facility on the site of RWE’s pumped-storage power plant on Lake Hengstey will be able to temporarily store around 4.5 megawatt hours of electricity.The decommissioned batteries provided for the project come from Audi e-tron development vehicles. After their first life in the car, they still have a residual capacity of more than 80 percent. This makes these “second-life batteries” perfect for use in stationary power storage systems. Depending on how they are used, these batteries still have up to ten years of remaining service life. In addition, they are significantly cheaper than new cells. And that’s what a second life is all about – the carbon emissions generated during battery production are sustainably distributed over two lifetimes (one in the car and one as electricity storage).RWE has already built a 160-square-meter hall in lightweight design for the 60 battery modules, which weigh around 700 kilograms, on the site of its pumped-storage power plant in Herdecke. The installation of the battery systems inside the hall was completed in October. Individual components were brought on stream beginning in November.RWE expects to begin marketing the storage capacity of its second-life battery storage system in early 2022 – initially to support the power grid as part of frequency maintenance. After that, the company plans to flexibly test other marketing methods.
Audi and RWE are breaking new ground together to drive the energy revolution forward. RWE has brought an energy storage facility on stream in Herdecke, Germany, that uses used lithium-ion batteries from Audi electric cars. With the help of 60 battery systems, the new type of storage facility on the site of RWE’s pumped-storage power plant on Lake Hengstey will be able to temporarily store around 4.5 megawatt hours of electricity.The decommissioned batteries provided for the project come from Audi e-tron development vehicles. After their first life in the car, they still have a residual capacity of more than 80 percent. This makes these “second-life batteries” perfect for use in stationary power storage systems. Depending on how they are used, these batteries still have up to ten years of remaining service life. In addition, they are significantly cheaper than new cells. And that’s what a second life is all about – the carbon emissions generated during battery production are sustainably distributed over two lifetimes (one in the car and one as electricity storage).RWE has already built a 160-square-meter hall in lightweight design for the 60 battery modules, which weigh around 700 kilograms, on the site of its pumped-storage power plant in Herdecke. The installation of the battery systems inside the hall was completed in October. Individual components were brought on stream beginning in November.RWE expects to begin marketing the storage capacity of its second-life battery storage system in early 2022 – initially to support the power grid as part of frequency maintenance. After that, the company plans to flexibly test other marketing methods.
