The largest European energy storage system using second-life and new electric-vehicle batteries in a commercial building went ‘live’ at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam at the end of last month.

This project is the result of collaboration between Nissan, Eaton, BAM, The Mobility House and the Arena, supported by the Amsterdam Climate and Energy Fund (AKEF) and Interreg; it means that the energy produced by the 4,200 solar panels on the roof can be stored.

The 3MW energy storage system combines Eaton power conversion units and the equivalent of 148 Nissan Leaf batteries.

Henk van Raan, director of innovation at the Arena, said: “Thanks to this energy storage system, the stadium will be able to use its own sustainable energy more intelligently.

“It is assured of a considerable amount of power, even during an outage, and it will contribute to a stable Dutch energy grid.

Francisco Carranza, managing director of Nissan Energy, said: “Thanks to the Johan Cruijff Arena, we can demonstrate that re-purposing the batteries of Nissan electric vehicles can contribute to making the whole energy system more efficient and sustainable.”