Hitachi ABB Power Grids has teamed up with Groupe Renault to give EV batteries a new lease of life and support the integration of renewable energy into the grid, as part of the ‘Sustainable Porto Santo’ initiative.

Porto Santo, a Portuguese island in the Madeira archipelago, is home to about 6,000 people. The Portuguese government aims to make Porto Santo the first smart, fossil-free island in the world and launched the “Sustainable Porto Santo” initiative. A fundamental part of this initiative is to increase the production of renewable energy. The challenge, however, is the unpredictable and intermittent nature of solar and wind energy.

Groupe Renault, Europe’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has provided the island with a sustainable energy transition platform comprising of a full ecosystem of EV solutions based on Vehicle-to-Grid technologies, and an aggregation platform to manage the flexibility provided by EVs and their batteries. When EV batteries reach the end of their useful first lives, they are either disposed, recycled or reused. At the end of their service life in electric vehicles, however, batteries may still retain 70-80 percent of their initial capacity.

“Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ energy storage solution will be part of an intelligent electrical ecosystem for Porto Santo and ensure the complete utilization of the island’s wind and solar generation potential,” said Markus Heimbach, Managing Director of Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ High Voltage business unit. “This is yet another example of how Power Grids’ is contributing toward a sustainable energy future through a stronger, smarter and greener grid.”

“Integrating second life EV batteries from Groupe Renault with Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ battery energy storage solution provides the capability to store excess energy generated by the island’s renewable sources,” says Yasmina Badreddine, Project manager 2^nd life batteries, Group Renault. “This way, the power stored in the batteries can be fed back into the network during periods of high demand, with smart precision.”