Second Life Idea: How Used Taycan Batteries Grew to become An Power Storage System for the Leipzig Plant – CleanTechnica – TechnoNews

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It’s the scale of virtually two basketball courts and consists of 4,400 battery modules: the brand new battery storage system to provide the Porsche Plant Leipzig with energy. The extraordinary factor is that this stationary power storage system was constructed out of used Taycan batteries. They had been taken from pre­collection and works automobiles and are actually being put to make use of as a stationary power storage system on the finish of their service life.

With the “Second Life” idea, Porsche is demonstrating how used high-voltage batteries from electrical automobiles might be put to good use and preserve sources in a second use section. The undertaking concept originated within the Environmental and Power Administration unit of the Stuttgart-based sports activities automobile producer.

A round economic system, good power provide and extra

The undertaking gives vital insights into how you can provide an automotive plant with power in an clever vogue. It additionally facilitates the enlargement of an adaptable energy grid. “Of course, this is about environmental aspects and the core issue of the energy supply. But it was also important to us to take a pioneering role with the storage system,” says Alwin Schmid, Head of Electrical Engineering at Porsche, explaining the targets of the undertaking.

Schmid is the initiator of the undertaking, which was based mostly on a feasibility research in collaboration with the College of Utilized Sciences Zwickau. “In this unprecedented model project, we were able to combine a number of different goals, including peak load capping, optimisation of self-consumption and simultaneous participation in the energy market.” This versatility by way of utilization makes the Porsche pilot undertaking distinctive within the subject of business power storage.

From the undertaking concept to implementation

“The project exemplifies how we can use resources sustainably and combine this commitment with business efficiency,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Government Board for Manufacturing and Logistics at Porsche AG.

“We wanted to create electricity storage capacities for the Leipzig plant in order to make the site even more economical and to increase its degree of self-sufficiency. So it was only logical to use batteries from Taycan preseries vehicles instead of recycling them,” explains Jonathan Dietrich, total undertaking supervisor for battery storage. “We hope to gain insights from the project in order to be able to equip other Porsche locations with similar systems and capabilities in the future. At the same time, we can utilise batteries from test cars that are no longer suitable for demanding use in the vehicle for a second useful deployment before their final recycling.”

“Power cubes” — the technical construction

The technical specs of the stationary battery storage system are spectacular: The overall capability is 5 megawatts with an power content material of 10 megawatt-hours. The storage system might be operated at as much as 20 per cent overload for brief intervals. It’s made up of 4,400 particular person battery modules, divided into 4 battery containers.

The battery modules used within the gruelling on a regular basis work of take a look at automobiles had been put in within the power storage system with none technical adjustments. The 4 battery strings are every related to an inverter and a transformer in a medium-voltage system. The whole system, together with the battery blocks, is designed for a helpful lifetime of greater than ten years; particular person battery modules might be changed individually if crucial.

Energy storage for the plant and a part of the power transition

The electrical energy for the storage system is partly generated by the plant’s personal photo voltaic programs with a peak output of 9.4 megawatts. When peak hundreds happen, the storage system helps to cut back them. This “peak shaving” is changing into more and more vital on this period of upper electrical energy necessities resulting from electromobility, warmth pumps and different electrical customers, as capped load peaks not solely cut back grid fees however ideally may cut back the necessity for expanded upstream grids.

Quickly controllable power storage programs such because the system on the Leipzig plant additionally play an vital position within the power market. The stationary battery storage system might be built-in into the balancing power market in each marketable type by the top of the 12 months — together with, along with peak shaving, as a grid stabiliser for the upstream distribution grids.

Porsche manufacturing — carbon-neutral and utilizing renewable power

Porsche manufacturing at its websites in Zuffenhausen, Leipzig and Weissach has been carbon-neutral since 2021. Since 2017, Porsche has been utilizing solely electrical energy from renewable power sources. The manufacturing websites in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Leipzig, for instance, obtain their power from inexperienced electrical energy and biomethane. The Leipzig website additionally obtains district heating from biomass.

Article by Porsche. Ekkehard Kleindienst, Spokesperson Manufacturing and Logistics.