In this interview, we explore INEGI’s role within the HAVEN project, where they lead Work Package 7 (WP7). INEGI is responsible for ensuring compliance with sustainability requirements and enhancing the design of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (HESS) through eco-design principles. This includes minimizing the use of critical raw materials, promoting recyclability, and managing end-of-life technology impacts. They employ Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to optimize environmental and social performance, collaborating closely with partners to integrate sustainable practices and achieve project objectives.
- Can you describe INEGI’s role within HAVEN project?
INEGI will be WP7 leader, thus responsible for ensuring that the project complies with current and anticipated sustainability requirements, providing critical insights to enhance the design of the project’s developed HESS to include eco-design prospects. This will involve collaborating with project partners to create strategies that minimize the use of critical raw materials in line with European Initiative goals, incorporate design for recyclability, and consider end-of-life management in technology development. INEGI will also evaluate and address the main causes of environmental and social impacts, comparing the new HESS to existing technologies.
- Could you outline how INEGI contributes to achieving these objectives?
INEGI will assess the environmental and social performance of the developed HESS using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). This evaluation will help identify critical areas for optimization, where actions such as modifying materials and their proportions, selecting more sustainable material origins, and increasing the recycled material content will be suggested, when feasible, to reduce overall impacts. In this sense, INEGI will collaborate closely with project partners to develop eco-design guidelines that address multiple stages of the HESS life cycle, emphasizing the reduction of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) usage and integrating potential improvements into design iterations.
- In WP7, one of the main objectives is to support the design choices for the minimization of CRM usage in the HESS; how is INEGI approaching this challenge and what strategies are being employed to achieve this goal?
For the development of HAVEN’s eco-design guidelines, INEGI will use the Eco-design Directive as the foundation for identifying key considerations. The initial steps will involve a thorough analysis of the Eco-design Directive and other relevant directives and regulations to identify topics pertinent to the HESS and assess their applicability. Additionally, significant interaction with HAVEN technical partners will result in mapping the HESS components and production process, allowing for the identification of potential critical points of action, particularly where CRM usage can be optimized. Following this, comprehensive research into potential actions for incorporating eco-design into the HESS will be conducted, resulting in a compilation of best practices in sustainable energy storage design, with a focus on reducing CRM usage. A draft of possible actions will then be created, and close collaboration with project partners will ensure the feasibility of these actions. The result will be guidelines containing specific measures for each partner to consider and implement, enabling the project to achieve its defined eco-design KPIs and objectives.
ABOUT INEGI
INEGI – Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering is a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO), founded in 1986, focused on research and technology-based innovation activities, technology transfer, consulting and technological services, oriented to the development of industry and economy in general. A non-profit, private and recognised as a public utility entity.