Audi and the utility EnBW are pioneering an energy storage facility built on retired electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This partnership is being billed as the solution to a major problem in each industry.
For automobile manufacturers, the question of how to recycle retired batteries has been pressing for some time. Utilities have been struggling with the perverse problem that excess generation from renewable sources has been slowing adoption, as surges from those sources can disrupt the stability of power grids.
EV batteries have a functional life of 3-10 years after they are retired from vehicle use, making them a ready tool for use by utilities.
Portland General Electric Company (PGE) also is seeking to create a more resilient grid for the utilization of renewable energy sources. They are launching a pilot program to incentivize the installation of home battery systems to act as a virtual power plant.
In addition to utilizing this extra storage to balance energy production and demand, PGE is hoping that the residential network can eventually be used to provide power to customers even in the event of a central outage. This pilot system is also being used to test a more-refined control system that seeks to use data on inconsistent energy generation from renewable sources and sudden, less-predictable energy consumption, like from EV charging, to inform an active management system of power distribution.
Source: New York Times. Read The Article
Source: Yahoo Finance. Read The Article
PSR Analysis: Whenever I am speaking with people who are skeptical about the future of battery-powered vehicles and renewable energy sources, I invariably hear two things. The first is that batteries are terrible for the environment, because when they are dead, you are left with a dead battery as garbage, not to mention the environmental impact of mining for raw materials.
The second is that renewable energy sources are not viable because we don’t have the storage systems in place to make them a stable source of power. Innovations like those being made by Audi and EnBW, and by PGE are just examples of how a rapidly-evolving industry seeks to address these critics.
At some point, maybe people will be able to convert their EV batteries into a home battery system that operates as part of a virtual power plant. Maybe automakers will eventually not be required as middlemen supplying those used batteries to utilities, and residential owners will be able to sell the batteries directly to the utility, helping to reduce the lifetime cost of an electric vehicle to a point that makes them more affordable for a larger segment of the population.
I wrote last month about the risks of future hype, but it is just as risky for industry actors to sit on the sidelines of the energy revolution because they think that the hurdles in front of them today will never be overcome by the ingenuity present in the market. PSR
Tyler Wiegert Is Project Manager and Power Systems Analyst
