Why not reintroduce the energy accumulated by the car during recharging to the grid and make it available, if this does not prevent the driver from finding his car charged when he needs it? This is the question to which Terna wants to help give an answer.
The group led by Stefano Donnarumma is the concessionaire for the dispatching activities of the national high and very high voltage transmission grid (NTG) and is the largest independent operator of electricity transmission grids (TSO) in Europe. At its headquarters in Turin, Terna built theE-mobility Lab, with the intention of transforming it into an innovation hub dedicated to electric mobility according to the principles of Open Innovation, or a technological hub open to all, designed to host electric cars and charging infrastructures.
Terna’s project: involving all the protagonists of E-mobility
Today the electric car is an object that transforms the energy stored in its batteries into motive power, as long as it is in motion. The idea behind the V2G, the natural extension of the V1G model for smart car charging, is to ensure that the vehicle is not just an energy “consumer”, but a real capable “battery on wheels” to reintroduce the accumulated energy into the electrical system when the vehicle is not in motion and is connected to the grid via the charging infrastructure.
To date, in fact, electric cars can be recharged at home or on the most common columns, at a power that is usually between 3 and 22 kW, while in our apartments the maximum absorbed power typically is just over 3 kW. If an electric vehicle were able to feed into the grid the same power it absorbs during a typical recharge, it could therefore power up to 6-7 apartments at the same time.
“The CO2 emission reduction targets set by the European Community – says Fabia Gasparotto, Terna’s Head of Innovation Factory System Operator – impose the ecological transition also in the transport sector which will see an important electrification of the fleet in circulation. These ‘batteries on wheels’ can represent a great opportunity in terms of flexibility for the development of a new, smarter and more sustainable electricity system ”.
A technology that can make the management of the electricity system more and more efficient
The fundamental challenge that the current ecological transition poses to the electricity system does not only concern the development and diffusion of renewable sources, primarily wind and photovoltaic, but also the more intelligent management of the energy produced and, above all, consumed. Guaranteeing the reliability, adequacy and safety of the entire system no longer depends only on cables, power plants and supports, but it is increasingly important to invest in digital solutions and use new ways of regulating energy exchanges, such as, for example , the V2G.
“Those who take part in the project will use the E-mobility Lab infrastructure free of charge – continues Fabia Gasparotto -, we want to involve car manufacturers, charging stations and all the other players in the supply chain in our experimentation, to find together a functional and efficient V2G model. Terna’s objective is to guide the development of a technology that is standard and optimally integrated with the electricity grid, in concert with the entire supply chain of the players involved “.
Terna, therefore, promotes the development of a new technological architecture which, through the charging columns, will allow not only smart charging, but also the withdrawal of energy from the car and subsequent injection into the grid, in order to increase the flexibility of the electrical system.
A model that will generate benefits for the end user
Building an efficient V2G model is a complex challenge, which presents obstacles in various areas, including technological ones, such as the need to develop and adopt standard protocols for exchanging data between cars, columns and the various players in the supply chain. The initiative conducted by Terna therefore takes on particular importance because it contributes to uniting various players in a complex system with enormous possibilities.
Finally, the potential of the initiative in both commercial and sustainability terms should be emphasized. First of all, the model represents a concrete action in terms of environmental and social sustainability that would benefit all the operators involved and, secondly, it could represent an excellent commercial lever also towards the user. As in the case of other flexibility resources, in fact, the service of energy storage and subsequent re-injection into the grid is remunerated within the context of the dispatching services market.
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