Dr. Kevin Wood is part of $1.9M California Energy Commission (CEC) Award on "Validating Capability of Second-life Batteries to Cost-Effectively Integrate Solar Power for Small-Medium Commercial Building Applications".

The grant is for 1.9 million from the CEC over 3 years. Dr. Chris Mi, ECE, is the PI on the project and other co-PIs include Dr. Sridhar Seshagiri, ECE. The University of California San Diego, and University of California Riverside are collaborators on the project. The project seeks to develop and integrate commercial scale PV systems with reliable and cost effective, repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The goal is to ensure that second life EV batteries will last for a minimum of 10 years as part of a grid storage application with a degradation rate of 3% or less annually. This will result in a greater reliability of electricity and lower costs to ratepayers. The objectives of this proposal are to 1) create a second life ‘battery genome’ through Lab scale analysis (including operando studies) in order to improve battery management systems 2) design and build two pilot test facilities at Chula Vista’s Veterans Park and the SDSU Children’s Center 3) develop battery management system technologies, algorithms, and operation strategies which increase efficiency and 4) demonstrate that the second life EV battery can operate reliably, supports grid needs and reduce the total ownership cost.