On the occasion of Renault eWays, a new event dedicated to zero-carbon mobility, Groupe Renault presents new concrete solutions for energy management:
Commissioning of the first Advanced Battery Storage (ABS) in Douai,
SmartHubs project with Connected Energy in West Sussex (UK).
The Groupe Renault is continuing its commitment to sustainable mobility by acting on the electric ecosystem as a whole. With the Advanced Battery Storage project in France and the SmartHubs project in the UK, it is initiating two major projects in Europe using second-life battery technologies. The common objective is to manage the gap between electricity consumption and production in order to increase the share of renewable energies in the energy mix. The aim is to maintain the balance between supply and demand on the electricity grid by integrating different energy sources with intermittent production capacities.
The Georges Besse factory in Douai is home to the first Advanced Battery Storage installation, delivered by NIDEC ASI, an integrator partner and storage solution provider. This project is part of the Groupe Renault’s strategy to develop an intelligent electrical ecosystem in favour of the energy transition. This new project is based on the observation that the slightest discrepancy between consumption and production triggers disturbances that can compromise the stability of the frequency of the domestic network. Stationary energy storage thus makes it possible to regulate and stabilise the network by charging the batteries when demand is low, then reinjecting the energy contained in these batteries back into the network as soon as demand is high.
Advanced Battery Storage is based on electric car batteries compiled in containers and targets an installed capacity of nearly 50 MWh at several sites in France. The Douai site has a total installed capacity of 4.7 MWh using second life batteries, as well as new batteries stored for future after-sales use.
The Advanced Battery Storage project is being carried out in partnership with the Banque des Territoires, the Ecological Transport Modernisation Fund managed by Demeter and the German startup The Mobility House. It demonstrates the Group’s ability to anticipate environmental issues and provide opportunities to innovate with new services.
The SmartHubs project with Connected Energy is located in West Sussex, UK. Second life batteries from Renault vehicles will be operated alongside other technologies as part of a local energy system to help provide cleaner, lower cost energy for use in social housing, transport, infrastructure, private homes and local businesses. The second life batteries will be incorporated into Connected Energy’s specially designed E-STOR systems.
The SmartHubs project will install several 360kWh E-STOR systems on industrial and commercial sites, with some linked to solar panels and EV chargers to help sites reduce energy costs and optimize the use of renewable energy. A large E-STOR system using around 1000 second life batteries to store 14.5 MWh of energy will also be installed, this will rapidly charge and discharge to help balance the electricity network. It will store enough energy to power 1,695 average homes for a full day. The SmartHubs project is one of four UK government initiated projects designed to help design the energy systems of the future.
The SmartHubs project is carried out by a consortium led by Connected Energy with partners Moixa, PassivSystems, ICAX, Newcastle University, West Sussex County Council and Innovate UK.
As part of Renault eWays, a round table on energy storage will take place on Wednesday October 21st from 1:00 pm to 1:45 pm in the presence of Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy, Yannick Jacquemart Director of the Electric System Economics Department de RTE and Christophe Dudezert Program Manager Energy Services of Groupe Renault.
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