An electric vehicle charging hub supported by more than a megawatt of battery storage will be trialled by Planet Ark Power at the Foodland Pasadena Shopping Centre in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.
Funded by an $803,000 grant from the South Australia Labor government, the Planet Ark Power trial is one of eight recipients in the latest announcement from the state, which expects 170,000 EVs to be on the state’s roads by 2030.
New publicly accessible EV charging stations will also be installed at Wilson Parking Adelaide CBD Carparks, Port Adelaide Plaza, Flinders University, Victor Harbor Beachfront Holiday Park and other locations (see below for a full list).
At the same time, some of the grants will implement tests to see if using community-sized batteries will help ease demand on the grid as the EV fleet grows, and if time-of-use charging can encourage EV drivers to top up when supply of power is plentiful.
The Pasadena trial run by Planet Ark Power, for example, will see six ultra-fast and eight fast-charging stations powered by one megawatt, 1.25MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
The BESS will enable installers to avoid costly upgrades to the local network to operate the ultra-fast chargers, which are designed to draw from 350-450kW power each depending on the charging unit.
Connected to the grid via eleXsys energy units, the batteries will charge up during the day when the solar production is at its peak. This will ensure EVs are charged by renewable power at night, as well as easing pressure from the local grid in daylight hours when local solar power is at a high.
In addition to this, battery owners will be able to benefit from lower spot prices thanks to the introduction of 5-minute settlements by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in October 2021.
The full list of grant recipients includes:
- $267,756 for AGL smart charging at Wilson Parking Adelaide CBD Carparks and business/private locations for the City of Marion, Uniting Communities and Centacare.
- $345,000 for a Chargefox Time of Use Pricing Smart Charging Trial Port Adelaide Plaza
- $354,250 for Flinders University’s Virtual power plant, commercial fleet and public rapid charging network.
- $176,820 for smart charging station at Victor Harbor Beachfront Holiday Park.
- $357,490 for a new service station in Nuriootpa at Rocland Wines.
- $558,333 for metropolitan public charging stations.
- $803,000 for a Planet Ark Customer Boost EV Smart Charging Trial at Foodland Pasadena Shopping Centre.
- $81,000 for the City of Adelaide’s UPark EV Fleet Smart Charging Trial.
As noted by South Australia premier Tom Koutsantonis in a release about the new grants, “The electric vehicle smart charging trials will contribute towards our target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.