Investigating the Impact of Cycling Aging on the Long-Term Performance of RES-Driven, Second-Life EV Battery Storage Configurations in Residential-Scale Applications

Battery storage is nowadays considered a key component not only in off-grid applications but also in the context of grid-tied, residential-scale systems, facilitating the broader use of RES even in heavily congested distribution grids. Since batteries normally comprise the costliest part in similar configurations, their optimal sizing is a priority. Informed decisions to that end should not be limited to rough, initial-cost estimations alone; instead, they should also take into account the life-cycle costs of batteries, which, in turn, relate to battery aging mechanisms and the gradual, cycling-based fading of the batteries’ useful capacity. Acknowledging the above, the impact of battery cycling aging on the performance of typical, residential-scale, RES-based battery storage configurations is investigated herein, considering also the utilization of second-life lithium-ion EV batteries. To that end, we used a literature-informed empirical aging model and performed a simulation exercise for a broad set of different RES-battery configurations, with our results indicating the importance of the aging factor while also designating areas of optimum sizing with regard to the long-term energy and economic performance of similar solutions.