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Behind the scenes of the award-winning Smart Solar Charging project

The Smart Solar Charging project is one of a kind. In Utrecht, the Netherlands, a unique collaboration between public, private, and research organisations has realised the world’s first bidirectional city, where a dynamic network of shared EVs offers both clean mobility solutions to Utrecht citizens as well as grid balancing solutions to the local network company.



We’re proud that our group company We Drive Solar has played a key role in designing, delivering and optimizing this integrated solution. And since the Smart Solar Charging project has recently been awarded the ISGAN Award of Excellence by the International Energy Agency, we thought it was time to take a look behind the scenes of this game-changing initiative.


We spoke to Robin Berg, CEO of shared mobility company We Drive Solar about the success, learnings and future plans for the project.



Robin, you are often referred to as the initiator of the Smart Solar Charging project in Utrecht. Can you give us a brief introduction to the project?


Robin:

Sure thing! Smart Solar Charging is essentially a new energy system on a more local, often city-level scale. Locally generated solar energy is stored using the batteries of (shared) EVs. Through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, this energy can later be fed back into the grid at times of peak demand or when the risk of power outages is high. The integration of energy generation, storage, and application on a very local level creates flexibility in the grid, which solves all kinds of challenges that come with the introduction of new energy technologies.



How did this all start?


Robin:

This all came together from a very small, personal project - right outside my house! I was the first person in Utrecht who was producing more electricity through the solar panels on the roof of my house than my entire household consumed. That was 23 years ago, and today that same roof, with new solar panels though, produces six times the amount of electricity than it did back then.


Back in 2016, I started to imagine how a new, local energy system could look like. And so we started building it! In Lombok, the neighbourhood where I live in Utrecht, we placed solar panels on the roofs of schools, installed roadside charging stations and connected it all in an independent local mini-grid. That was our very first model of the bi-directional Smart Solar Charging network.



So it’s really your personal brainchild, awesome! How did the project expand to a now city-wide network?


Robin:

The first step was to develop a bi-directional charger, so that we could use our EVs not only as cars, but also as batteries. We later introduced solar-controlled charging to this, so that the charger would automatically increase output during sunny weather. From there, things evolved step by step. We started installing more and more solar panels in new neighbourhoods, placing smart chargers and adding EVs through car-sharing models.



You recently won an award for the Smart Solar Charging project. What does the future look like?


Robin:

We will soon be supporting the city of Rotterdam in introducing a bi-directional local energy system. Our client Equans will install more than 1500 charging stations and We Drive Solar car-sharing will soon start in the city. We’re very excited to create an impact on that kind of scale!

 

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