Redwood unveils plan for data centre powered by used batteries
Batteries on site at a data centre on Redwood Materials' campus in Sparks, Nevada - Bloomberg
Sparks (Nevada): Battery recycling company Redwood Materials Inc has launched what it says is the largest deployment of reused batteries globally.
They're powering a data centre operated by Crusoe, a member of OpenAI's Project Stargate.
Demand for clean, reliable power is increasing, spurred by the rise of data centres powering artificial intelligence (AI).
Grid-scale batteries are key to fulfilling this demand and supporting intermittent renewables.
The 2,000-GPU data centre is located on Redwood's Sparks, Nevada, campus, where the firm runs a large battery recycling operation.
The storage system uses hundreds of repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries, according to Cal Lankton, the company's chief commercial officer.
Solar panels help provide electricity for a system with 12 megawatts of power and 63 megawatt-hours of capacity. That's enough to power about 9,000 homes. The system is the largest microgrid in North America, according to Redwood.
Redwood founder and chief executive officer J B Straubel said in an interview on Bloomberg TV last Thursday that the company is 'aiming at projects that are 20 to 100 times larger than this' for its next deployments. 'There's a lot to come in the pipeline,' Straubel said.
Data centres are putting a greater strain on the grid. A new BloombergNEF report published last Wednesday found that their energy demand last year was equal to 1.4% of global supply. Nearly half of all data centre capacity is in the United States.
Founded in 2017 by Straubel, who also co-founded Tesla Inc, Redwood recycles, refines and produces battery materials and is one of the biggest battery recyclers in North America.
The end-of-life EV packs and modules it takes in are no longer suitable for transportation due to demand for greater range and better battery health.
But they're still usable for grid-scale storage, Lankton said, which will be the focus of its new division dubbed Redwood Energy.
'Think of this almost like a retirement home for these batteries,' Lankton said of the new installation.
He added that Redwood's reused batteries are half the cost of new lithium-ion systems but offer the same performance.
That's possible, he said, because stationary storage is less hard on the batteries than powering an EV.
When paired with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, stationary energy storage systems help stabilise the grid while reducing costs by smoothing out fluctuations in power demand.
Redwood generated about US$200mil in revenue last year through its recycling operations, and Lankton said the company expects a 'meaningful increase in revenue in the back half of this year as we deploy more storage projects'.
He declined to name customers of upcoming projects. — Bloomberg
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Barnama
21 minutes ago
- Barnama
Bullish Sentiment On Equities Drags Gold Futures Lower
He said the decline was driven by improving trade sentiment, spurred by the United States–China framework deal and ongoing negotiations with key Asian partners. KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Bernama) -- Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended lower today as global sentiment turned more bullish towards equities, said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes. The spot-month June 2025 contract fell to US$3,277.30 per troy ounce from US$3,340.80 per troy ounce on Thursday last week, while July 2025 dropped to US$3,296.80 from US$3,355.10 per troy ounce previously. The August, September and October 2025 contracts all declined to US$3,312.50 per troy ounce from US$3,370.80 per troy ounce last Thursday. Trading volume shrank to three lots versus 13 lots previously, while open interest narrowed to 24 contracts from 36 contracts.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
United Nations chief warns of 'decimated' aid budgets at development conference
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (left) and with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrive to give a joint press conference during the United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing and Development in Seville, on June 30, 2025. A UN conference is gathering in the city of Seville from June 30 to July 3. - Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP OVIEDO, Spain (Bernama-Anadolu): United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that foreign aid budgets have been "decimated,' saying this isn't a crisis of numbers but of "families going hungry, children unvaccinated, children dropping out of school,' at a major development conference in Seville. According to Anadolu Ajansi (AA), Guterres noted that meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals - a global agenda to end poverty, protect the planet and promote peace - requires about US$4 trillion a year. "But we are here in Seville to change course, to restore a message of fairness and justice for all,' Guterres added. The secretary-general was addressing the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development - the first such gathering in a decade. About 50 world leaders and 4,000 representatives from business, civil society and financial institutions are attending the four-day event. Earlier this month, the United States (US) announced it would not attend. Washington, which recently cut funding to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - historically one of the world's largest aid agencies - has also formally rejected the Sustainable Development Goals. "For decades, the mission of sustainable development has united countries large and small. Together, we achieved progress,' Guterres said. "But today, development and international cooperation are facing massive headwinds. We are living in a world where trust is fraying and multilateralism is strained,' he said. - Bernama-Anadolu
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Indonesia begins US$5.9bil EV battery project despite environmental fears
This aerial handout picture taken and released on June 29, 2025 by Indonesia's Presidential Palace shows the prospective site of South-East Asia's largest battery industry project, inaugurated by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Karawang, West Java. Indonesia broke ground on June 29 on a USD 5.9 billion megaproject for EV battery production backed by Chinese giant CATL, despite NGOs raising concerns over a lack of environmental guarantees. - AFP Jakarta, June 29, 2025 (AFP) - Indonesia broke ground Sunday on a US$5.9 billion megaproject for EV battery production backed by Chinese giant CATL, despite NGOs raising concerns over a lack of environmental guarantees. Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer and it is trying to capitalise on its vast reserves, with a 2020 export ban spurring a domestic industrial boom of the key metal used in EV batteries and stainless steel. The EV battery project will include a $4.7 billion investment on the eastern island of Halmahera and a $1.2 billion investment in West Java, energy minister Bahlil Lahadalia said in a speech alongside President Prabowo Subianto. "According to my calculation, it won't take long, in probably between five to six years we will be able to reach energy self-sufficiency," Prabowo said at a groundbreaking ceremony in Karawang, West Java. Bahlil said the Halmahera complex will focus on mining, smelting and production of cathodes which are a key component in rechargeable batteries. The West Java complex will focus on battery cell production, the minister said. The two politicians did not say when the megaproject was slated to be operational, but Indonesian officials have said a CATL plant in Halmahera would open in March next year. Alongside CATL, the Halmahera complex is backed by China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and Indonesia's state-owned Antam. Climate Rights International (CRI) and Greenpeace Indonesia this week issued a call for greater assurances from Jakarta that measures were in place to protect the surrounding environment at the bigger complex in eastern Halmahera. Environmental group Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) said in a statement Saturday that Jakarta was "chasing vague economic growth while consciously ignoring the people's scream" to end damage to the environment and residents' livelihoods. Halmahera, a once-pristine island in the Maluku archipelago, has seen environmental damage increase as operations have grown at a large industrial park that hosts the world's largest nickel mine. A CRI report this month warned the Indonesian government was allowing environmental damage to go unchecked around the Weda Bay mine and the industrial park that hosts it. An AFP report last month detailed how the home of the nomadic Hongana Manyawa tribe was being eaten away by mining operations there. - AFP
