The biggest grid storage project using old batteries is online in…
The biggest grid storage project using old batteries is online in…
Excerpt from this story from Canary Media:
Cleaning up the grid will require installing a lot of batteries to store renewable energy. Startup Element Energy has delivered a powerful proofpoint for a new way to do that more cheaply without sacrificing safety.
Element has been operating what appears to be the largest grid storage plant in the world composed of previously used electric vehicle batteries, co-founder and CEO Tony Stratakos told Canary Media last week. The 53 megawatt-hour project, which is located in West Texas at a wind farm owned by mega-developer Nextera Energy Resources, came online in May, but the startup is going public with the information now for the first time.
Previously, the largest second-life grid battery that Canary Media had reported on was B2U Storage Solutions’ project in Lancaster, California, which has grown to 28 megawatt-hours.
Element got its hands on a warehouse full of modules taken out of used EV battery packs, all in various states of health after their time pushing different cars around. The startup repackages them into containers operated by its proprietary hardware and software, which fine-tune commands at the cell level, instead of treating all the batteries as a monolithic whole. This enables the system to get more use out of each cell without stressing any so much that they break down or — worst-case scenario for a battery plant — cause a fire.
Element Energy is technically the battery vendor to the power plant’s owner. So far, no company has publicly taken credit for buying this innovative system from Element and installing it, though a Department of Energy grant announcement for the project describes it as a joint pursuit with Nextera, which happens to own the wind farm location where the batteries were installed.
Since Element isn’t in the business of power plant development, its strategy relies on leveraging the success of this first major installation to convince more storage developers to buy its lower priced, refurbished grid batteries instead of the brand-new variety.
Venture capitalists have doubled down on that strategy, handing Element a $72 million Series B last November, alongside a $38 million debt facility from Keyframe Capital. That followed a $15 million Series A in 2019.
Stratakos also revealed that his company finalized a partnership with LG Energy Solution Vertech, the grid storage branch of one of the major global lithium-ion manufacturers. That much bigger company — which previously invested in Element through its venture arm — will take Element’s battery enclosures and supply the inverters and auxiliary equipment needed to make a turnkey power plant. LG will also provide operations and maintenance, alleviating the risks associated with buying a long-term grid asset from a young startup.