recyclable battery

Recycling costs to be added to purchase cost of renewable energy storage batteries – new Australian legislation coming.

When looking at the cost of a battery system, either domestically or commercially or as an electric vehicle it is important to look at “total cost of ownership” of TCO.

This means not only considering the initial cost of the battery but;
the costs of all the components of a battery system that are needed for an installation including inverters, MPPT’s, communications etc.,
the length of time to install a complete system,
The running costs associated with the system, including maintenance,
The expected lifetime of the battery installation
End of life disposal costs.

Up until now, in Australia, end of life costs for batteries have not been considered. This is becoming increasingly problematic for lithium-ion batteries. Multiple lithium-ion chemistries need to have multiple processes for dismantling, recycling and recovery processing, meaning there is not a standard recycling process that can be put in place.

In fact, lithium phosphate batteries (LFP), which are a safer lithium-ion battery technology, due to it being less likely to catch fire, actually have less value when recycling, meaning LFP batteries have a higher upfront cost but will also have a higher recycling cost, although they are inherently safer than Li-NMC batteries.

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SoNick – the Cradle to Grave certified battery

A crucial part of our new energy transition is the usage of batteries to store energy, either as backup power for when the grid goes down or to reduce energy costs, to stabilize the grid or in EV’s. This transition will involve trade-offs and by adhering to ESG principles companies can make sure their governance covers factors that make sure that the net result of this transition is positive from the environment and social angles.

Many battery manufacturing companies claim their batteries will be good for the environment, however they fail many of the ESG markers.

One way to ensure batteries or indeed any other product will be good for the environment overall is to make sure that all parts of a products life from a cradle to grave or life cycle assessment perspective are taken into account.

This includes taking into account;

  • Raw Material Extraction
  • Manufacturing
  • Internal and external production processes
  • Transportation
  • Life usage
  • End-of-Life disposal
  • System Boundary to ensure all relevant stages of the lifecycle are included

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SoNick – the ESG battery

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is a term that is often used by ethical investors to evaluate a company’s sustainable and ethical performance when they are investigating the long term investability of a company.

A crucial part of our new energy transition is the usage of batteries to store energy, either as backup power, to stabilize the grid or in EV’s. This transition will involve trade-offs and by adhering to ESG principles companies can make sure their governance covers factors that make sure that the net result of this transition is positive from the environment and social angles.

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Domestic Case Study using SoNick batteries – SA

This domestic installation in rural South Australia was designed to run as a grid minimisation installation. Although the grid remains connected it is rarely used to power the house, although excess power is exported to take advantage of the feed in tariff available.

Before the battery installation this household had a 5 kW solar PV system installed with a Fronius solar inverter.

The battery installation was done in stages as requirements changed.

The original battery installation had one 9.6 kWh SoNick battery with 2 Victron 3 KVa Multigrid inverters and a Victron colour controller for communication.

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Battery Recycling

One of the things that you should consider when putting battery storage on your home is whether or not the battery will be recyclable at the end of its life.
Recycling batteries at the end of their life has a number of benefits:

  • It enables the recovery and reuse of materials including lead, iron, plastics, aluminium, copper, lithium, cobalt and electrolyte
  • It diverts toxic and hazardous materials from landfill
  • It ensures that batteries are managed safely
  • There may be a financial return (depending on the battery type).

Often, one of the reasons that people put solar panels on their house and put in battery storage to collect the excess usage is to protect the environment and reduce the need for coal powered power stations. This can be counterproductive if you choose a battery that is made from toxic materials or has components that can’t be recycled at end of life of the battery.

When batteries go to landfill toxic substances can cause damage to the waste stream, waterways, humans and the general environment. This can be nickel, cadmium, lead or lithium ion.

Recycling of energy storage batteries is a current weakness in the industry for many battery technologies.

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