A German firm is placing used electrical car batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size models that properties and companies can use to retailer their extra photo voltaic and wind power.
This week, the corporate Voltfang — which suggests “catching volts” — opened its first industrial website in Aachen, close to the Belgian and Dutch borders.
With round 100 workers, Voltfang says it’s the greatest facility of its type in Europe within the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries.
Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would assist Europe’s greatest economic system ween itself off fossil fuels and more and more depend on climate-friendly renewables.
Whereas wind generators now dot Germany’s countryside and photovoltaic panels are discovered on many rooftops, he says the nation nonetheless must construct up battery storage capability.
“We need to guarantee European sovereignty in power provide by enabling renewable power manufacturing by way of storage,” Oudsandji, 29, instructed AFP.
“We will generate monumental quantities of electrical energy from photo voltaic and wind power, then retailer it in a decentralised approach all throughout Germany and distribute it,” he mentioned.
“Which means that the extra renewable power we use, the extra storage capability we deploy, the much less we want fossil gasoline or oil.”
Inside the positioning, technicians obtain used EV batteries and take a look at them to find out their remaining lifespans.
These nonetheless discovered to be in good situation are reconditioned for his or her “second life” and fitted inside cupboards the dimensions of enormous fridges — successfully enormous energy banks for extra electrical energy.
Among the many first clients is the low cost grocery store chain Aldi Nord, which desires to retailer energy from its rooftop photo voltaic panels for later use.
– Clear power push –
Voltfang, based in 2020 by three college engineering college students, goals to provide sufficient techniques by 2030 to retailer a capability of 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electrical energy per 12 months, sufficient for 300 properties.
It’s one in every of many small steps meant to assist Germany’s decades-old “Energiewende”, or power transition.
Final 12 months, renewables lined practically 60 % of electrical energy produced in Germany, and the goal is 80 % by 2030.
One downside for photo voltaic and wind is what to do on days when the solar would not shine and the wind would not blow.
Such “darkish lulls”, commonest in winter, have at instances pressured Germany to quickly import energy produced by French nuclear reactors or Polish coal vegetation.
To ensure a safe provide, conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s authorities plans to construct round 20 new gas-fired energy vegetation by 2030.
