The batteries will be stored in containers installed at three locations across the Wykes-owned Chelveston renewable energy park in Northamptonshire, and JLR aims to supply enough to store a total of 7.5MWh of energy – enough to power 750 homes for a day – by the end of 2023.
After this point more containers can be created to house additional second-life batteries removed from used production vehicles in the future.
A single Wykes Engineering Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) utilises 30 second-life I-PACE batteries, and can store up to 2.5MWh of energy at full capacity.
Each BESS, which is linked to an advanced inverter to maximise efficiency and manage energy, is capable of supplying power direct to the National Grid during peak hours as well as drawing power out of the grid during off-peak hours to store for future use.
Once the battery health falls below the required level for these second-life use cases, JLR will recycle the batteries so that raw materials can be recovered for re-use as part of a true circular economy.
David Wykes, Managing Director of Wykes Engineering, said: “One of the major benefits of the system we’ve developed is that the containers are connected to the Grid in such a way that they can absorb solar energy ,that could otherwise be lost when the grid reaches capacity .This excess energy can now be stored in the second life I-PACE batteries and discharged later.
“This allows us to ‘overplant’ the solar park and maximise the amount of power we generate for the area of land we are using.”
