Boralex plans li-ion and vanadium flow hybrid in France, Acciona colocates new and second-life EV batteries in Spain

Canadian company Boralex is developing a French solar-plus-storage project comprising a 124 MW solar plant and an innovative, 10 MW energy storage system which combines lithium-ion and vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery technology.

The Sovalis project, backed by €21 million ($21.8 million) from the European Union’s Innovation Fund, “offers a unique solution to overcome the limitations of each [battery] technology, individually,” according to Boralex. Whereas lithium-ion batteries offer attractive energy density and fast charging, they degrade over time. VRF devices can lack lithium-ion energy density but offer longer storage life and strong cycling performance.

VRF batteries also have stronger sustainability claims than lithium-ion devices, thanks to the more abundant availability of vanadium.

Boralex said the unique properties of each battery technology will extend the life of the energy storage system by up to 20%.

Spanish energy company Acciona Energía will include second-life EV batteries in a 2 MW/5 MWh pilot energy storage system at the Extremadura I-II-III solar site in Almendralejo, Badajoz which began construction in November 2021, and was commissioned in January 2023. The solar plant has secured a power purchase agreement from Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG.

The containerized battery system will include second-life units from Silence EVs as well as new electric car batteries so the performance and behavior of the two can be compared.

Spanish startup BeePlanet, which specializes in the stationary-energy-storage use of second-life, lithium-ion EV batteries will help carry out the analysis.

Acciona Energía inaugurated the first hybrid battery energy storage plant integrated into a grid-connected wind farm in Spain, in Barásoain, Navarra. In 2021, the company connected the first renewable energy storage plant featuring recycled batteries, at its experimental solart site in Tudela, Navarra, also in collaboration with BeePlanet.

In 2023, Acciona launched the 190 MW/380 MWh Cunningham energy storage project, the largest on the Texan grid. Work will begin on 230 MW/460 MWh Adelite and 170 MW/340 MWh Coneflower battery projects in Texas in the months ahead. Those sites were among 1 GW of United States energy storage projects Acciona Energía bought from Qcells in 2022.

From pv magazine España.