Enel e Rome airports announce a collaboration to give life to the “Pioneer” project, which aims to develop a 10 MWh storage system with second life batteries, i.e. repurposed electric vehicle batteries. The infrastructure, according to a note, will have several objectives: to absorb the excess energy produced by the existing solar system, to cover the airport's evening energy demand peaks and to provide services to the grid.
The "Pioneer" project, continues the note, has been awarded European funding of over three million euros from the Innovation Fund, the European Union's climate innovation fund, and will make it possible to drastically reduce emissions from the largest Italian airport hub, improving the sustainability of the battery supply chain.
"For the first time a large industrial site such as Fiumicino Airport, the largest Italian airport, will be able to make use of an energy storage system that will use second life batteries from electric cars - underlines Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel X – We will leverage a modular design to optimize integration costs and make the use of automotive-derived batteries flexible”.
The project contributes “to a continuous and constant recovery of the aviation sector in the direction of eco-sustainability – he adds Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma – Furthermore, it is a concrete demonstration of the credibility and proactive and creative capacity that it is necessary to express in order to fully seize all the opportunities for European and national support to support the transition of a strategic sector for the country ”.
Finally, "the combination of the storage system with the photovoltaic system will allow the airport managed by Aeroporti di Roma to accelerate the achievement of the goal of zero CO2 emissions by 2030 - concludes the note - The project, in addition to increasing the penetration of renewable generation, will bring benefits to the entire electric mobility chain, helping to increase the life time of the batteries, in a circular economy perspective".
