With the advent of renewable energy and electric mobility, the concern for battery waste is becoming an increasingly concerning issue. Many countries still lack afterlife management plans or processing capacity for retired batteries, yet these batteries retain storage capacity at their retirement. This creates a huge environmental and health hazard, but also a market and impact opportunity that companies like SLS Energy, which operates in Rwanda, are leveraging by providing energy storage services using batteries retired from electric vehicles or salvaged from the electronic waste stream. These repurposed batteries are also known as “second-life” batteries.

Second-life batteries are suited for multiple applications

Second-life batteries are evolving from a hope or hype phase into a reality. Many market applications are being designed, and some are already adopted. These applications include the more common power backup services, but they could also be more complex applications such as peak shaving or load shifting, as well as larger-scale grid services. In addition to their environmental […]

image : @Roberto Sorin on Unsplash