An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Residential Rooftop Photovoltaics with Second Life Batteries in the US

Abstract

The economic and environmental performance of residential rooftop photovoltaics (PVs) with Second Life Batteries (SLBs) was evaluated in five US cities. The annualized system cost and global warming potential (GWP) of SLB with PV were compared with those of grid-connected PV. Adding SLBs provided cost reduction relative to the grid-connected PV if excess electricity generated by the PV is not sold back to the grid; otherwise, adding SLBs increased the cost. The combination of SLBs with PV had the lowest GWP for all scenarios considered. Time-of-use pricing structure showed similar trends as well.