Jaguar takes steps to repurpose used EV batteries into battery storage: UK giant car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has partnered with UK renewables and waste-to-energy equipment manufacturer Wykes Engineering to develop one of the largest energy storage systems in Britain from used EV batteries, according to a statement. Wykes will use 30 second-hand Jaguar I-Pace batteries to build one unit of its storage system with a capacity up to 2.5 MWh. JLR and Wyke’s project is one of the first trials of its kind and the auto company aims to supply enough batteries to store a total of 7.5 MWh of energy — enough to power 750 homes for a day — by the end of 2023.

The storage systems will support renewables projects: Each of JLR’s battery systems will be able to supply, store, and draw power directly from the national grid, making it a crucial component in stabilizing fluctuations in the grid, especially with regards to renewables generation where weather conditions cause production to fluctuate significantly, the statement explains. “The containers are connected to the grid in such a way that they can absorb solar energy that could otherwise be lost when the grid reaches capacity,” Wykes’ managing director said.

The equipment’s design makes repurposing easy: The system is designed in a way that eliminates the need for additional manufacturing steps or the removal of battery modules when developing the storage system from the used batteries. The batteries are simply removed from the Jaguar I-PACE and slotted into racks in the containers on-site.

Recycling EV batteries has huge potential: Second-life battery supply for stationary applications, like renewable energy storage, could exceed 200 GWh per year by 2030, creating a sector with a value of over USD 30 bn, the statement said, citing a report by McKinsey. Batteries that no longer meet the standard for usage in EVs still maintain up to 80% of their usable capacity, equivalent to TWs of unused energy storage space, creating huge potential for recycling, the agency added.

Investments in grid-scale storage needed to unlock renewables potential: In the net zero scenario, installed grid-scale battery storage capacity would need to expand 35-fold between 2022 and 2030 to nearly 970 GW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and most Gulf states are motivated to increase storage deployment due to their ambitious renewable energy targets, the Middle East Institute writes.

Storage expansion is one of the barriers to low-carbon hydrogen scale up: Meeting the national goals for green hydrogen production would require several times the total output from all renewable energy generated today. This will add further pressures on the grid and increase the need for sufficient grid storage systems, especially if the renewables plants are far from the hydrogen production facility. 11% of participants in a DNV survey (pdf) said that advances in battery technologies pose a risk to progressing the hydrogen economy.

Storage projects are starting to take off in our region: The UAE and Turkey announced in July intentions to partner up in battery storage projects. Masdar plans to deploy up to 3-5 GW in battery storage capacity over the next five to seven years through its newly acquired renewables and BESS arm Masdar Arlington. Acwa Power inked an agreement with China’s Sungrow to build a 536 MW battery storage system in Neom. Egypt is considering utility-scale batteries as a potential solution for smoothing the integration of wind and solar-generated electricity into the national grid. Regional energy storage projects that use batteries are expected to jump from the current 7% to 45% by 2025.

But we have yet to set goals and policies to expand grid storage: While a number of projects show a growth in storage, the MENA region falls behind others in incentivising grid-storage expansion. For example, China has announced plans to install over 30 GW of energy storage by 2025, India aims to have between 51 to 84 GW of grid storage installed by 2031-32, and Australia announced funding support for a total of 2 GW of grid-scale storage capacity, the IEA report notes. The EU published a series of recommendations on energy storage, and the US’ Inflation Reduction Act includes an investment tax credit for stand-alone storage which is expected to make new grid-scale storage projects more competitive, the report added.

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