Red dust, road trains and tornadoes: Why the world solar challenge is a real test

I’m back from the dead.

On Thursday this week I was fortunate enough to be in Tarntanya, hosting the first EV meet-up in Adelaide, sponsored by the RAA. It was no coincidence that this coincided with the arrival of the first finishers in this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in the heart of Kaurna Country.

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge has been running since 1987, stimulating innovation in electrified motoring. Teams from around the world compete for glory in the single-seater Challenger Class and Multi-Seat Cruiser Class, with a new Explorer Class projected for future events.

Today, teams are typically centred around university engineering departments, providing hands-on engineering education and experience to students while providing a platform for testing technologies that will feature in tomorrow’s EVs. And it is a real test: 3,000 km of challenging Australian roads, red dust, road trains and, as we were warned this morning, tornadoes.

This 3,000 km journey is a real test. Danny Kennedy of the Global Solar Council, who spoke at a Smart Energy Council event at the finish line on Friday, has been following the race as an ambassador.

He highlighted the engineers who were inspired by their work as students and team members in the race. These engineers include Tesla founder JB Straubel and Coco Wang, who went from the World Solar Challenge to Tesla and then returned to South Australia to help build the Hornsdale Power Reserve.

Adelaide is using this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge as part of its bid to host COP31 in 2027. Should Adelaide win, the next race would finish at the most important international forum for governments to address the climate crisis.

The city sees this as an opportunity to promote its vision of a low-carbon future on a global scale. South Australia is already a state that can meet most of its energy needs with renewable energy.

In the 12 months up to August, South Australia generated 73% of its energy consumption from renewable sources within the state; of this, rooftop solar contributed 23%. There are even days when rooftop solar alone powers the entire state.

To capitalise on this, the Global Solar Council and the Smart Energy Council launched their campaign today to install 300 million solar panels worldwide by 2027.

Electric vehicles (EVs) also have a role to play. South Australia has lagged behind other states in EV uptake, but COP31 provides an opportunity to catch up. Portia Rooney of Net-Zero Engineering Solutions is spearheading the initiative to establish Adelaide as the hub for V2G technology through a citywide V2G car-sharing programme.

This, of course, builds on the World Solar Challenge. In the Cruiser Class, EVs are permitted to charge along the route, and CSIRO has been using the race to assess the potential for EVs to provide grid support through charging.

Eighteen EVs plugging into a remote microgrid, such as the one at Coober Pedy, would represent a significant additional load, so CSIRO has been monitoring the impact on grid stability of these high-penetration charging events.