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

Maria Leonor Carvalho, Andrea Temporelli and Pierpaolo Girardi
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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

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-19

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.

Keywords: lithium-ion batteries; stationary storage; life cycle assessment; environmental impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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