Powering the circular future: Climate change and economic perspectives on second-life batteries in the Belgian context

Abstract

This paper calculates the future levelized cost of storage (LCOS) and conducts a prospective life cycle assessment (PLCA) for second-life batteries (SLB) in Flanders, Belgium. A cradle-to-grave approach is chosen for climate change (CC) and economic impacts of SLB. Impacts of processes related to the first and the second life are allocated according to the delivered electricity. Furthermore, impacts are determined according to their temporal occurrence. For LCOS, activities are time adjusted by discounting. For PLCA, new background databases are generated and changed based on the activities occurrence in time. Additionally, future CC impact of three Belgian energy paths is modeled, introducing user-defined scenarios of PLCA. To conceptualize impacts, three use cases are defined: (a) residential, (b) industrial and (c) utility use case (UTI). The residential and industrial use cases (INDs) represent photovoltaic (PV) installations with battery storage, the UTI is a large-scale battery participating in the Belgian secondary reserve market. Lowest LCOS of the SLB in 2050 are found in the IND, namely 39.66 €/MWh, and are below the benchmark batteries. CC impact of SLB in the residential is 58.7 ${\text{gCO}}_2\mathrm{eq}$/kWh and below the benchmark batteries. The CC impact of SLB is 75.2 and 78.5 ${\text{gCO}}_2\mathrm{eq}$/kWh in the industrial and UTI and thus higher than the benchmark batteries. Crucial for both assessments are increased dismantling and repurposing facility throughput, fair charging tariffs, the manufacturing, the charging electricity generated by PV installations, and power electronics. On the contrary, changing the background does not lead to major changes in CC.