Life cycle assessment (LCA) of a battery home storage system based on primary data

While the market for battery home storage systems (HSS) is growing rapidly, there are still few well-modelled life cycle assessment (LCA) studies available for quantifying their potential environmental benefits and impacts. Existing studies mainly rely on data for electric vehicles and often lack a thorough modelling approach, especially regarding the peripheral components. This paper presents a full cradle to grave LCA of a Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery HSS based on primary data obtained by part-to-part dismantling of an existing commercial system with a focus on the impact of the peripheral components. Additionally, alternative battery chemistries (Sodium ion battery (SIB) and two lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides, (NMC811,and NMC622) are investigated under the consideration of the same periphery. This approach allows a comprehensive comparison between present and emerging cell chemistries that can be potentially considered for an HSS. The total greenhouse gas emissions of the HSS are 84 g CO(2)eq/KWh of electricity delivered over its lifetime in a residential PV application, or 31 g CO(2)eq/KWh over lifetime when excluding the use-phase impact. The peripheral components contribute between 37% and 85% to the total gross manufacturing impacts of the HSS, depending on the considered cell chemistry and the impact category. Especially the inverter plays an important role, and its impacts are significantly higher than those obtained when using the standard ecoinvent dataset, indicating that the contribution of power electronics might often be underestimated when using this dataset. In terms of cell chemistries, the considered SIB turns out to be not yet competitive with LIB chemistries due to its lower energy density and lifetime, but might become so when reaching similar lifetimes.

Automated summary

While the market for battery home storage systems is growing rapidly, there are still limited life cycle assessment studies available for quantifying their environmental benefits and impacts. This paper presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment of a Lithium iron phosphate battery home storage system, considering the impact of peripheral components. Alternative battery chemistries are also investigated, allowing for a comprehensive comparison. The study finds that peripheral components play an important role in the manufacturing impacts of the system.