05 Feb 2021
Evoenergy is pleased to announce that it will be participating in The EV Grid: Enabling Electric Vehicle Friendly Networks and Neighbourhoods trial to understand more about how electric vehicle charging impacts the network.
With $1.6 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the trial will be led by Jemena in partnership with AusNet Services, Evoenergy, TasNetworks and United Energy to install smart, efficient wall chargers in the homes of participating electric vehicle owners.
Evoenergy’s Strategy and Operations Manager Leylann Hinch said that initiatives like The EV Grid are critical to inform the way distribution companies plan for the future to ensure an effective, safe and reliable network.
“Over the past two years, the number of electric vehicles in the ACT has increased significantly, and there are now over 1000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered locally,” said Mr Hinch.
“In addition to solar and batteries which are already very popular, we expect that Canberrans will continue to embrace electric vehicles, powered by a mix of user-generated and grid-supplied renewable energy.”
“It’s great to see electric vehicles adopted but as more enter the market, we need to evolve our approach to ensure we don’t limit technology potential or negatively impact customer experience, and maximise the effectiveness of the way the network operates at least cost.”
Over the next two years, Evoenergy will work with Jemena and JET Charge to install smart wall chargers for 25 local electric vehicles that are up to three times faster than regular chargers to observe the affect charging patterns have on network demand, and manage and optimise when charging occurs.
“[What we’ve seen is that] the majority of electric vehicle owners generally charge their vehicles at home during peak demand times, which both increases load on the network and increases the cost of charging,” said Mr Hinch.
“Through this trial, we will work with customers to automatically shift charging to times when there’s less demand on the network and the price of electricity is cheaper, which will benefit both the network and the customer.”
“We know Canberrans want innovative, sustainable and low-cost energy solutions, so rather than build more poles and wires, we’re focusing on a more proactive, responsive and flexible approach to balancing electricity supply and demand, while we continue to enable the integration of distributed energy resources like electric vehicles.”
“This trial is a great opportunity for Evoenergy to work with customers and other distributors to help build our knowledge about how we can plan for the future energy network.”
Background
The EV Grid: Enabling Electric Vehicle Friendly Networks and Neighbourhoods allows electric vehicle owners and energy distributors to collaborate on the integration and use of electric vehicles in the electricity network to help manage energy consumption at peak times. Chargers will be supplied and installed for free, saving participants around $2,000, and a bonus of up to $300 will be provided to participants who remain on the trial for the full trial period.
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