Second-life EV batteries could cut renewable curtailment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 30 September 2026

Second‑life EV batteries can store surplus wind and solar output, lowering the need to curtail generation when networks are full. AFRY's analysis found that distribution‑grid queues across Europe contain 375 GW of planned clean‑energy generation alongside 455 GW of proposed battery storage; in 2024, 10 TWh of renewables were curtailed — a loss the EU values at €4.3 billion. Reusing retired EV packs, many with substantial usable energy remaining, can deliver local storage faster and cheaper than constructing new large battery plants and help shift generation toward evening and daytime demand peaks.

Old EV batteries really are a gold mine,

Adrian Hiel, director of Electrification Alliance

Why European grids curtail wind and solar

Europe’s transmission and distribution networks were designed around large, central fossil-fuel plants. Renewables are often remote and intermittent, so when generation exceeds local demand grid operators sometimes reduce output or switch farms off — a practice known as curtailment. That is expensive: 10 TWh of curtailed renewable power across the EU in 2024 is equivalent to the article’s €4.3 billion figure for wasted generation.

The mismatch shows up daily as a supply surplus during sunny afternoons and a rapid rise in demand after sundown — the pattern often called the duck curve. Without nearby storage, operators either export power at very low or negative prices or accept lost production. The AFRY analysis cited in the reporting highlights this operational bottleneck by placing hundreds of gigawatts of projects in queue, which keeps new solar, wind and heat-pump capacity from reaching consumers.

How used EV batteries map to the problem

Batteries pulled from vehicles rarely die; they typically reach end of service in cars when their usable energy falls below the threshold set for driving range, not because cells are unusable for storage. The reporting notes most retired packs still have significant energy left — enough to deliver stationary services for years — and modern passenger EVs carry much larger packs than a decade ago, improving the yield of second-life programmes.

That matters because the composition of the retired fleet is changing fast. IEA data show a massive ramp-up in new EV registrations: 215,000 sold in Europe in 2016 versus 4.2 million last year. The IEA also reports the EU added 27 GWh of grid batteries last year, while EVs supplied several times that amount through mobile storage, indicating a large future supply of second‑life packs as the vehicle fleet ages.

Existing pilots and practical use cases

Second-life batteries are already operating in commercial and community settings. The article describes a Californian project where hundreds of repurposed Honda EV packs form a 12 MWh facility that is paired with 1.5 MW of solar and sells energy and grid services into the California Independent System Operator market. That example shows how vehicle cells can provide capacity, shifting midday solar to evening peaks and offering frequency and other ancillary services.

Beyond utility-scale pilots, the reporting points at remote and off-grid opportunities. The World Bank estimate cited recommends roughly 160,000 mini-grids to reach unserved communities in Sub‑Saharan Africa, a use case where lower-cost second-life packs can replace or reduce diesel generation and support local renewables.

Barriers: recycling, safety and policy gaps

Reusing and recycling batteries are complementary but distinct routes. Recycling recovers critical minerals but requires lengthy preparation — discharge, dismantling, separation — and can expose workers and equipment to hazardous compounds such as hydrofluoric acid, a danger the article highlights. Those technical and safety costs raise the price of recycling and slow the economics of full-material recovery.

Repurposing faces its own hurdles: standardisation, testing protocols, warranties and grid interconnection rules vary across member states. The piece flags that many EU jurisdictions will need clearer regulatory frameworks and incentives to speed collection, certification and deployment of second‑life systems so they can be counted by network planners and included in connection offers.

How second-life batteries could change the balance

The bottom line

Repurposing EV batteries offers a near-term, practical way to reduce wasted wind and solar output and to relieve pressure on Europe’s congested distribution networks. The numbers cited — hundreds of gigawatts stuck in queues and 10 TWh curtailed in a single year — underline the size of the operational gap. To realise the potential of second‑life systems at scale, policy makers, network planners and industry must agree common testing, certification and interconnection rules, while expanding safe collection and recycling capacity so reused packs do not simply delay an end‑of‑life problem.

What to watch

• Watch for EU-level rules on second‑life battery certification and grid connection; no date has been set.
• Watch for national pilots scaling second‑life deployments beyond demonstrators; no date has been set.