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Life Cycle Assessment of Stationary Storage Systems within the Italian Electric Network

Author

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  • Maria Leonor Carvalho

    (Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, Via R. Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy)

  • Andrea Temporelli

    (Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, Via R. Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy)

  • Pierpaolo Girardi

    (Ricerca Sistema Energetico–RSE SpA, Via R. Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

The introduction of stationary storage systems into the Italian electric network is necessary to accommodate the increasing share of energy from non-programmable renewable sources and to reach progressive decarbonization targets. In this framework, a life cycle assessment is a suitable tool to assess environmental impacts during the entire life cycle of stationary storage systems, i.e., their sustainability. A Li-ion battery (lithium–iron–phosphate (LFP), nickel–manganese–cobalt (NMC) 532, and NMC 622) entire life cycle assessment (LCA) based on primary and literature data was performed. The LCA results showed that energy consumption (predominantly during cell production), battery design (particularly binder choice), inventory accuracy, and data quality are key aspects that can strongly affect results. Regarding the battery construction phase, LFP batteries showed better performance than the NMC ones, but when the end-of-life (EoL) stage was included, NMC cell performance became very close to those of LFPs. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, done using the Monte Carlo methodology, confirmed that the results (except for the freshwater eutrophication indicator) were characterized by a low dispersion and that the energy mix choice, during the different battery life phases, was able to greatly influence the overall impact. The use of primary and updated data related to battery cell production, like those used in the present paper, was necessary to obtain reliable results, and the application to a European production line is an item of novelty of this paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Leonor Carvalho & Andrea Temporelli & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Stationary Storage Systems within the Italian Electric Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:8:p:2047-:d:531809
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Spanos, Constantine & Turney, Damon E. & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2015. "Life-cycle analysis of flow-assisted nickel zinc-, manganese dioxide-, and valve-regulated lead-acid batteries designed for demand-charge reduction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 478-494.
    2. Vandepaer, Laurent & Cloutier, Julie & Amor, Ben, 2017. "Environmental impacts of Lithium Metal Polymer and Lithium-ion stationary batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 46-60.
    3. Alessia Gargiulo & Maria Leonor Carvalho & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Italian Electricity Scenarios to 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Chowdhury, Jahedul Islam & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Goglio, Pietro & Hu, Yukun & Varga, Liz & McCabe, Leah, 2020. "Techno-environmental analysis of battery storage for grid level energy services," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Andrea Temporelli & Maria Leonor Carvalho & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Electric Vehicle Batteries: An Overview of Recent Literature," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-13, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Agnieszka Jachura & Robert Sekret, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Phase Change Material in an Evacuated Solar Tube Collector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    2. Maria Leonor Carvalho & Giulio Mela & Andrea Temporelli & Elisabetta Brivio & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2022. "Sodium-Ion Batteries with Ti 1 Al 1 TiC 1.85 MXene as Negative Electrode: Life Cycle Assessment and Life Critical Resource Use Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Andrea Temporelli & Paola Cristina Brambilla & Elisabetta Brivio & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2022. "Last Mile Logistics Life Cycle Assessment: A Comparative Analysis from Diesel Van to E-Cargo Bike," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Giulio Mela & Maria Leonor Carvalho & Andrea Temporelli & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2021. "The Commodity Life Cycle Costing Indicator. An Economic Measure of Natural Resource Use in the Life Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.

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