Redwood Materials, GM Commit Second-Life Batteries to Grid-Scale Capacity Battle
Energy storage recycling firm Redwood Materials is extending its collaboration with General Motors to explore using GM’s U.S.-manufactured and second-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries for stationary and grid-scale repurposing.
The memorandum of understanding between Redwood and GM builds on the recycler’s earlier agreement with Ultium Cells, the battery joint venture of GM and LG Energy Solution which provides the power behind GM’s new generation of EVs. The move would recycle EV batteries, which still retain a large part of their lifecycle after even 100,000 miles on the road.
Many proponents for extended life energy storage contend that the still-powerful capacity from used EV batteries can help meet future AI data center demand as well as utility-scale battery farms.
“The market for grid-scale batteries and backup power isn’t just expanding, it’s becoming essential infrastructure,” Kurt Kelty, vice president of batteries, propulsion, and sustainability at GM, said in a statement. “Electricity demand is climbing, and it’s only going to accelerate. To meet that challenge, the U.S. needs energy storage solutions that can be deployed quickly, economically, and made right here at home. GM batteries can play an integral role. We’re not just making better cars - we’re shaping the future of energy resilience.”
Second-life GM EV batteries are already being repurposed to power a microgrid at Redwood’s facility in Spark, Nevada, which supports backup power for AI infrastructure company Crusoe. The 12-MW battery storage array can deliver 63 MWh in backup generation capacity.
Redwood earlier this summer announced its deal with GM and LG’s Ultium Cells which is committed to shipping recycled production scrap from the joint venture’s facilities in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee. Those materials include cathode and anode in addition to battery cell scrap.
Data center demand, driven by expansion in AI computing capacity, is expected to grow more than 100 GW in the U.S. over the next decade.
“Electricity demand is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, driven by AI and the rapid electrification of everything from transportation to industry,” said JB Straubel, founder and CEO of Redwood Materials. “Both GM’s second-life EV batteries and new batteries can be deployed in Redwood’s energy storage systems, delivering fast, flexible power solutions and strengthening America’s energy and manufacturing independence.”
GM and Redwood Materials promise to release more details on the collaboration later this year. In the meantime, data center demand may account for 12% of total U.S. utility-scale electricity load before the end of the decade—nearly triple the current use, according to reports.
About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.
