World’s largest second-life battery storage project joins Texas grid

Menlo Park-headquartered startup Element Energy has announced the commissioning of the world’s largest second-life, grid-connected battery energy storage installation.

The 53 MWh storage project, made up of Element Energy’s retooled electric vehicle batteries, has been operating commercially, storing and dispatching power to the ERCOT grid, since May 2024.

The startup enabled the reuse of 900 EV batteries to make up the project by applying its proprietary hardware and software algorithms, which were developed to improve the safety, intelligence, and economics of large-format battery systems.

The company’s proprietary technology replaces a traditional power conversion system with a distributed power conversion approach for a more granular level of control. Instead of controlling a megawatt-hour scale battery as a single element with thousands of cells all subjected to the same use profile, Element’s technology independently controls the power flowing in and out of each module (tens of cells).

“We’re thrilled that our technology completes the circular supply chain for energy storage, while also making batteries safer. With our commercial project in West Central Texas, we have validated our technology at scale. We are now focused on deploying our growing supply of second-life batteries,” said Tony Stratakos, CEO and co-founder of Element Energy.

In 2022, Element Energy received $7.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to complete its 53 MWh commercial project. According to the DoE grant announcement, the project was deployed in cooperation with NextEra Energy Resources, which operates nearby wind facilities.

“This provides an opportunity for Element’s technology to be deployed in a real-world application on the grid, which is key to validating the viability and value proposition provided by Element’s unique technology,” the DoE said at the time.

2 GWh of second-life battery inventory

Element Energy says it has received and screened nearly 2 GWh of second-life batteries and will deploy them for grid-scale projects. For the 2 GWh of batteries that Element Energy has already procured, the company calculates that approximately 8,500 metric tons of post-recycling waste and 150 metric tons of carbon dioxide can be avoided by reusing instead of recycling batteries.

Only a day after the Texas project announcement this week, the startup announced its partnership with LG Energy Solution Vertech, the US battery storage system integrator arm of Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES), to provide full turnkey second-life battery energy storage systems for select customers.

Under the deal, Element Energy will provide containerized second-life batteries with its proprietary battery management system (BMS) hardware and software, while LG Energy Solution Vertech will provide system integration, power equipment, energy management system hardware and software, plus operations and maintenance services.

Earlier this year, Element Energy announced that it had raised $111 million in capital, comprised of a $73 million Series B equity investment and a $38 million debt facility provided by Keyframe Capital Partners.