The UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity and one of Britain’s leading car manufacturers are joining forces to work together on a number of projects that will support the adoption of electric vehicles and energy generation and storage solutions.
Nissan and EDF Energy, the manufacturer’s long-term UK supplier, signed the new agreement in Paris last week and the partnership will kick off with a first of its kind collaboration to explore how second-life Nissan EV batteries can support demand side management.
Both EDF Energy and Nissan have been at the forefront of developing the market for electric vehicles in the UK and will bring substantial technical expertise to the wide-ranging agreement that will support the transition to low carbon transport, such as smart charging, batteries, decentralised generation and grid integration.
The first joint project will see the partners explore the business case for recycling retired batteries from Nissan LEAF into commercial battery storage. The system would see electricity stored in the batteries and released back to the grid using EDF Energy’s PowerShift to react quickly to demand side response (DSR) initiatives. Storage systems offer a lower carbon solution compared to relying on coal and gas power stations to meet peaks of electricity demand on the grid.
The combined system will be trialled to see how it can support on site generation, greater control and flexibility over energy use, and provide additional revenue streams.
Already this year, there are more lithium-ion batteries being installed in electric vehicles than into consumer electronics and demand for electric mobility is only expected to increase, equating to millions of used electric vehicle batteries being available for the energy storage market. These batteries have as much as 70 percent of their original capacity and will still have more than 10 years of remaining life.
This partnership comes as EDF President Jean-Bernard Lévy detailed the Group’s strategic plans on electric transport this morning, including its plan to be the leading energy company for EVs by 2022 across its four largest European markets: France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Belgium.
