Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, which sees over 50 million passengers each year, is giving new life to used electric car batteries. Through the PIONEER project, they are combining solar energy with a battery system, which can turn yesterday’s car power into today’s clean energy storage.
The project centres on a 22 megawatts solar plant, a mid-scale utility installation connected to the airport grid and a battery-energy storage system made from repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The system can deliver 2.5 megawatts of power and store 10 megawatt-hours of energy, roughly equivalent to 32 times an average European household’s monthly electricity consumption.
Over 750 second-life electric vehicle batteries from 3 major automotive companies are being combined into a single, safe storage unit. A mobile test bench screens each module on site, measuring capacity, resistance, and remaining life before installation.
The battery-energy storage system’s construction began in spring 2024 in the Cargo City area of Fiumicino Airport, led by Aeroporti di Roma and Enel, and supported by Fraunhofer ISE for battery analysis. The project was officially inaugurated in June 2025, marking an important milestone in producing a scalable model for circular battery reuse, smart energy integration and decarbonisation.
To support this effort, the Innovation Fund awarded the consortium €3.1 million to demonstrate that repurposed batteries can provide reliable, round-the-clock clean power to the airport while supporting the broader grid. As the Europe’s largest self-consuming energy storage plant powered by second-life batteries, this project is trailblazing an area crucial for Europe’s competitiveness and clean energy transition.
“The PIONEER project represents a concrete example of our strategy, because it brings together our strong commitment to environmental sustainability, the ability to enhance technological innovation and the determination to effectively work as a system with the country’s excellences, such as Enel,” said Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma.
“The project shows that innovation is the primary enabler of the energy transition: it accelerates electrification on a large scale thanks to a circular economy model that gives a new life to spent batteries,” stated Francesca Gostinelli, Head of Enel X Global Retail at Enel.
The plant will be the largest of its kind in Europe within airport premises, comprising 55 000 photovoltaic panels across 340 000 m² of airport land that will generate more than 30 gigawatt-hours each year for the Airport energy consumptions.
To make the most of this solar energy, PIONEER’s battery-energy storage system captures solar power during the day and discharges it in the evening. This cuts reliance on gas‑fired heat and power units, decarbonising operations and increasing energy independence. Over its first 10 years of operation, the system is expected to avoid more than 16 000 tonnes of CO2e net absolute greenhouse gas emissions – roughly the same as charging 32 billion smartphones.
Enel’s Distributed Energy Resource Optimization System (DER.OS) is key to managing the 2.5 MW/10 MWh second-life battery system at Rome’s airport. Specifically, DER.OS features an AI-powered, cloud-based platform that analyses real-time data (including weather forecasts, solar output, energy demand, market prices, and battery health) to predict supply and demand. It recalculates battery dispatch every minute to reduce peak consumption, extend battery life, lower costs, and enhance grid flexibility. Early tests show round‑trip efficiencies above 85 % and seamless switching between self‑consumption and grid‑support modes.
The exclusive use of second-life batteries from multiple car manufacturers stands out as innovative European breakthrough in terms of both scale and technological integration within airport infrastructure. This project not only showcases the impact of implementing circularity and repurposing EV batteries, but demonstrates how support from the Innovation Fund can help de-risk investments and thus accelerate the adoption of clean technologies In critical sectors.
About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund, financed by EU Emissions Trading System revenues, is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The Fund focuses on highly innovative clean technologies and big flagship projects with European added value that can bring significant greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Article published on 20 June 2025
- Start date
- 1 Jan 2022
- Project locations
- Italy
- EU contribution
- €3 102 623