Hawaiian Electric & Greenlots test combined EV fast charging and energy storage
26 February 2016
Greenlots, a global provider of open standards-based technology solutions for electric vehicle (EV) networks (earlier post), has implemented its SKY platform—a scalable, vehicle-grid integration (VGI) technology—in an EV fast charger owned and operated by Hawaiian Electric Company as part of a joint research, development and demonstration project with the Electric Power Research Institute.
The innovative fast charger is located at Kapolei Commons, a popular shopping mall in West Oahu. By giving residents and visitors in the area a convenient place to quickly charge their EVs with minimal impact on the Oahu grid, the goal is to encourage EV adoption.
The fast charger’s integrated energy storage allows it to remain in full power using electricity stored at times when generation is abundant, such as mid-day when many rooftop solar panels are sending power to the grid. Stored energy is then available later in the day during peak use times when electricity is in high demand.
The fast charger allows electric vehicle owners to get up to an 80% charge in as little as 30%. Drivers can easily locate the fast-charge stations and charge using the Greenlots mobile app and pay for a charge through the app or by using a credit card.
A similar fast charger system will also be used when Hawaiian Electric opens its fifth utility-owned fast charger at its Ward Avenue facility next month. By harmonizing electric vehicles with the grid, Greenlots has created a flexible grid management platform to meet the specific electricity demand needs of Hawaiian Electric and electric vehicle drivers alike.
In leveraging the industry’s leading open standards for demand response and price communications, OpenADR and the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), the Greenlots SKY Smart Charging platform can respond to demand response load modification requests and allow HECO to remotely control grid loads through demand response actions.
The fast charger allows electric vehicle owners to get up to an 80% charge in as little as 30%.
I assume this is 30 minutes rather than 30%.
Is this charging using storage from other batteries to charge?
Is HECO using battery storage in all the solar systems and electric cars to meet peak demands.
I'm not sure what they mean by vehicle integration. Is it just one to the car but the car is not used to help the grid?
Posted by: Jeffgreen54 | 26 February 2016 at 02:27 PM
Presumably they want to be able to charge when there is a lot of solar on the grid and refuse to charge when there is an excess of demand over supply.
This would work well with slow speed (all day or all night) charging, but would not work well with fast chargers, where presumably people want the power asap.
Posted by: mahonj | 27 February 2016 at 04:24 AM