The US battery recycler Redwood Materials has founded a new business unit called Redwood Energy to reuse batteries from electric vehicles in stationary energy storage systems. The battery recycling firm has already built what it claims is “the largest microgrid in North America” for a data centre in Abilene, Texas.
Redwood is expanding into second-life applications for used and unused batteries. The new subsidiary, Redwood Energy, has been founded to tackle the increasing demand for energy from data centres to power AI, as well as to balance electricity supply and demand for the rapidly growing renewable energy sector, and make use of both used and unused batteries before they are recycled. This layer of the battery value chain makes use of up to 10 or even 15 years of battery life beyond use in electric vehicles, before they are shredded and the materials are processed to extract raw materials for new batteries.
Redwood Materials has been ramping up to recycle the expected glut of batteries from the uptake of electric vehicles in North America, having already collected considerable supplies of used batteries. Redwood Materials claims to receive over 20 GWh of batteries annually through its supply chain for used batteries. This is roughly equivalent to 250,000 electric cars and, according to Redwood, represents 90 per cent of all lithium-ion batteries and battery materials recycled in North America. These batteries reach the company’s sorting and recycling infrastructure via the US-wide logistics network.
Redwood has already begun with a 12 MW and 63 MWh capacity microgrid powering a modular data centre for AI infrastructure company Crusoe at an energy cost lower than the grid. The company says, “The system demonstrates exactly what Redwood Energy is designed to do: bring resilient, low-cost power to market, fast.” The project captured the attention of international media, as the energy consumption of data centres has elicited concern about unsustainable energy use.
Batteries for stationary storage balance intermittent renewable energy in the troughs and highs of electricity production and demand. Stationary storage applications can be used as microgrids for applications such as data centres or charging parks while utilities struggle with permitting processes and capacity on main grid systems. Used electric vehicle batteries are ideal for these applications.
While the uptake of electric vehicles in the USA is slower than expected, batteries are developing at a rapid pace. Battery types and chemistries are being quickly superseded by new technology, leaving batteries left over from unsold vehicles or those with newly installed batteries. These are joined by batteries that no longer have enough capacity for high-performance electric vehicles (cars or larger), after 6-10 years of use in an electric car, for example.
While this area of the battery lifecycle was identified in European industrial and battery policies and has long been implemented in China, the USA is very much an emerging market. Grid balancing is increasingly important with the uptake of electric vehicles, but off-grid applications are beginning to flourish as permitting and grid accessibility are notoriously slow. Companies entering this aspect of the battery life cycle in the USA include Circunomics, which offers a marketplace for batteries at all points of their lifecycle. Circunomics recently expanded into the USA.
redwoodmaterials.com
