Powering the circular future: Climate change and economic perspectives on second-life batteries in the Belgian context

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper calculates the future levelized cost of storage (LCOS) and conducts a prospective life cycle assessment (PLCA) for second-life batteries (SLB) in Flanders,Belgium. A cradle-to-grave approach is chosen for climate change (CC) and economic impacts of SLB. Impacts of processes related to the first and the second life are allocated according to the delivered electricity. Furthermore, impacts are determined according to their temporal occurrence. For LCOS, activities are time adjusted by dis-counting. For PLCA, new background databases are generated and changed based on the activities occurrence in time. Additionally, future CC impact of three Belgian energy paths is modeled, introducing user-defined scenarios of PLCA. To conceptualize impacts, three use cases are defined: (a) residential, (b) industrial and (c) utility use case (UTI). The residential and industrial use cases (INDs) represent photovoltaic(PV) installations with battery storage, the UTI is a large-scale battery participating in the Belgian secondary reserve market. Lowest LCOS of the SLB in 2050 are found in the IND, namely 39.66 €/MWh, and are below the benchmark batteries. CC impact of SLB in the residential is 58.7 gCO2 eq/kWh and below the benchmark batteries. The CC impact of SLB is 75.2 and 78.5 gCO 2 eq/kWh in the industrial and UTI and thus higher than the benchmark batteries. Crucial for both assessments are increased dismantling and repurposing facility throughput, fair charging tariffs, the manufacturing, the charging electricity generated by PV installations, and power electronics. On the contrary,changing the background does not lead to major changes in CC.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1940-1951
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Industrial Ecology
Volume28
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAVIO) [grant number HBC.2019.0125]. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Re2LiVe partners for sharing their data and providing valuable input for this work, in particular SIRIS, VIL, and VITO. A special thank you for granting access, providing data and discussing the data behind the Belgium Energy Pathways goes to our partners from the Sustainable Energy division at VITO.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Industrial Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Industrial Ecology.

Keywords

  • industrial ecology
  • levelized cost of storage
  • lithium-ion battery
  • perspective life cycle assessment
  • repurposing
  • second-life battery

Cite this