ENEA's energy storage activities in the Italian Electric System Research Project

Since 2006, ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) has been carrying out R&D activities as part of the National Electric System Research Project. In this Project there are activities devoted to the energy storage technologies and their representative applications for the electricity grids. In the third program agreement, started in 2012, ENEA activities have been focused on research of advanced batteries (Li-ion, high temperatures, redox flow), studies of applications and battery “second life” and analysis of environmental and safety aspects associated to the use and recycling of batteries. This paper summarizes major results achieved during the execution of the second year of this program agreement with focus on scale up of Li-ion cells for high power and high energy applications, experimental results of the “second life” campaign, and the technical and economical evaluation of an energy storage application to a tramway system for urban transport.