Integrating solar, storage, and EV charging

By aligning EV charging behaviour with new local, renewable generation, there is an opportunity to accelerate the decarbonisation of the overall electricity system and meet new EV charging requirements, all while avoiding stress on the low-voltage grid.

Source: GreenFlux
GreenFlux-Decarbonisation

Challenge

The world is heading towards a carbon-neutral future. The electric vehicle (EV) market is showing exciting growth and transport electrification is expected to play a crucial role in reducing emissions and building an energy-efficient society. By aligning EV charging behaviour with new local, renewable generation, there is an opportunity to accelerate the decarbonisation of the overall electricity system and meet new EV charging requirements, all while avoiding stress on the low-voltage grid.

CONNECT

CONNECT is an initiative by a consortium of 19 partners from five EU countries to create an ecosystem of integrated solar panels and battery storage to reduce dependency on primary energy sources and thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In the Netherlands, a subset of the CONNECT consortium created a unique ‘energy management ecosystem’ at the Transferium in 's-Hertogenbosch. The project intended to find efficient ways to charge electric busses and passenger vehicles while making the best use of renewable production and storage.

Solution

Within the CONNECT project, the Transferium site integrates solar panels, a power converter, stationary battery storage, a high-power city bus charger and 26 charge points.

Busses, passenger vehicles, and the Transferium itself can draw power either directly from the solar panels, the building grid, the stationary battery, or any combination of these, depending upon demand and the state of charge of the battery. During the day, EVs take energy from solar panels, and when demand rises additional power is taken from the stationary battery, and eventually the grid.

A cloud-based smart energy management platform, provided by GreenFlux, acts as the brain behind this ecosystem and ensures a balance between energy generation and demand.

Result

The smart management ecosystem helped reduce peak electricity demand by 71%, which ultimately resulted in less costly grid connection investment. Simultaneously, with the smart charging technologies developed in this project, it was possible to install ten times more charge stations at the Transferium while still achieving this peak demand reduction. As a result, the Transferium in 's-Hertogenbosch is now one of the most future-proof and scalable buildings in the country.

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