Published on July 2nd, 2016 | by Jake Richardson July 2nd, 2016 by Jake Richardson Nissan EV batteries that were no longer suitable for vehicles have found another life as stationary energy storage at a data center in France. Saint-Romain de Colbosc Eco Park is the site of the Webaxys data center. Nissan collaborated with Eaton, a power management company, to create the energy storage system. “This installation at Webaxys marks an important historical moment for data centres in their quest to become energy autonomous in the near future. By combining Nissan’s expertise in vehicle design and reliable battery technology with Eaton’s leadership in power quality and electronics, we hope to demonstrate that data centre energy management can be stable, sustainable and cost efficient in the near future,” said Gareth Dunsmore, Nissan Europe’s Director of Electric Vehicles. Webaxys is a webhosting company with locations in Sotteville-lès-Rouen and LeHavre. The company intends to open more data centers using the Nissan/Eaton energy storage technology. Though technical details about the Saint-Romain de Colbosc Eco Park data center energy storage system are not in the recent Nissan press release, some clues might be gleaned from a 2015 announcement that Nissan and Eaton were beginning to work together. This source says the Eaton technology Nissan was considering was a 93PM UPS, in combination with not more than 4 reused Nissan Leaf batteries. The system was said to have about 20 kWh available for each battery, so a 4-battery system would obviously have 80 kWh. It also says the cost of the Eaton technology was expected to be about €10,000, and for the batteries, it would be €400 to €500 per kWh. The system could be used for peak shaving and renewables integration. Another potential use mentioned was in areas of the developing world where grid-connected electricity is currently not available. Nissan EV batteries are also being used within a home energy storage product, and Eaton is again involved. Over 90,000 employees work for Eaton and the company has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. The North American regional headquarters is located in Cleveland, Ohio. Related: Nissan Reuses EV Batteries For Home Energy Storage — xStorage Nissan & Eaton Put Used EV Batteries To Use In Stationary Storage Systems Image Credits: Nissan Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter. Tags: Battery Second Life, Eaton, EV batteries, France, Nissan, used EV batteries, Webaxys Jake Richardson Hello, I have been writing online for some time, and enjoy the outdoors. If you like, you can follow me on Google Plus.
Nissan has partnered with Dublin-based power-management company Eaton that uses old batteries from Nissan's Leaf EVs to power data centre Webaxys at Saint-Romain de Colbosc Eco Park in France. Although no official details have been released, it is thought that up to four Leaf batteries could be used as part of a "peak shaving" system. Webaxys plans to open more data centres using the technology provided by the Nissan-Eaton partnership.