Nissan is preparing its “Second Life” project, aimed at combining batteries used in its LEAF with a power plant in Melilla, Spain, operated by electricity supplier Enel Group, in order to enhance grid stability in an isolated network.
As part of the collaboration, Nissan has provided new and used batteries from its electric vehicles to the Spanish power plant in order to do something useful with the batteries after they’re no longer useful in vehicles.
“This is a project we strongly believed in since day one,” said Ernesto Ciorra, the Enel Group’s Chief Innovability Officer. “We involved important partners alongside counting on the relentless dedication of our colleagues and on a real, operating plant where we could implement storage solutions through second-life batteries. And what would have been called impossible only a few years ago became possible, became real.”
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The system uses 48 used Nissan LEAF batteries and 30 new ones to create a backup generator that helps avoid interruptions of electricity supply during periods of excessive load. The system is similar to Tesla Megapack systems that have been set up in Australia and elsewhere.
Nissan‘s “Second Life” project will serve the town of Melilla, which has about 90,000 residents. It has a power of 4MW and the ability to produce 1.7 MWh of energy if the power plant becomes disconnected from it. It can power Melilla’s grid for 15 minutes, which is enough time for the plant to reset the system and restart the power supply.
“The development of storage technology is key if we want to foster greater renewable penetration in our energy systems, so we can truly shape the power generation of the future,” said Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power. “This project demonstrates that, in line with the Open Innovation principles, we can find solutions for the management of the end of life of essential equipment such as batteries, a topic which is at the core of the sustainable energy issue.”
