First aid for green power for businesses
Electric cars are cleaner, quieter and emit less CO2. So it is good for less noise pollution as well as for our planet. Electric driving is therefore becoming increasingly popular. One by one, companies are switching to a partly or fully electric fleet. Machinery fleets are also gradually being upgraded and electrified.
Thus, from our own experience, we can now tell you about the successful deployment of five electric mini-excavators and an extensive replacement of our vibratory rammers, vibratory plates, power saws, etc. with all-electric models.
Increasingly, however, companies are running into a major problem in the drive to go green: The difference between the available payload and the requested payload.
Grid congestion forces us to think differently
To electrify a fleet or equipment, there also needs to be sufficient charging capacity. However, the necessary capacity for this is not always available. The newspapers are full of it: "The grid is full". In Amsterdam, for example, it has been announced that no new companies can be connected to the electricity grid for the time being. So companies that need a wholesale connection cannot currently start up, and existing companies cannot expand their connection.
That grid congestion is fine to solve, but not if we stay stuck in the traditional way of thinking: investing in thick cables and building new substations and transformer stations. This way, the whole energy transition comes to a very quick halt. In fact, this solution depends on expanding the high-voltage grid, which is very labour-intensive. This while our technical labour capacity is under pressure.
The power consumption of businesses is increasing. On the one hand due to electric alternatives for transport and work equipment, and on the other due to the replacement of gas heaters. But ultimately, grid congestion is a problem that in many cases occurs only a few moments in a year. By making smart use of our limited available power and applying various techniques, the grid can still be used optimally.
3 SMART & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Not a new technique, but a common solution to control power consumption within companies is opting for solar panels. With a relatively low investment, companies can reduce their consumption of purchased expensive power by installing a PV system. By installing solar panels, you can generate decentralised green energy, which can also be used directly for your company's electric fleet during the hours when the sun shines. The output of a PV installation can be matched to the average consumption or to the available feed-in capacity of your company's connection.
In order to charge, an EV installation should be made through the installation of charging stations. Current electric chargers (AC) can supply between 11 and 22 kW of energy. By comparison, an air conditioner requires 2.5 kW. However, with several charging points, more cars and other objects to be charged, the power demand quickly becomes too high for your connection. We can solve this by upgrading your connection to the grid by installing a medium-voltage cabin. But even better is to avoid this by applying smart load management.
The load manager oversees power demand across the entire operation thanks to accurate metering. The available power that remains is used for your EV installation. This is how we optimise available power as a first step. The smart load manager can even be set to prioritise certain charge points or certain cars in terms of charging speed. A practical example is that, as a company, you can prioritise your shared pool cars over the personal cars that are likely to idle in the company car park for 8 hours.
During sunny hours, you can use the full power up to a maximum of the available power of the connection. By storing electricity additionally in batteries, you can go even further. A battery works like a cistern. They can be constantly fed from the PV system and possibly even from the connection to the grid.
Often, a company's base load is much lower than the power peaks demanded from the grid for short (or longer) periods of time. When a temporary peak occurs, such as at peak times of electric car charging, the combination of panels and batteries is ready to deliver the high power requested. The moment consumption is lower, we recharge the battery. Ready for the next peak and ready for, say, power consumption in the early, dark morning a day later.
Is your company also about to make a commitment to a greener future, but still have questions? Would you like professional advice from an experienced facilitator? Then you have come to the correct address.
Belgium: You can reach us by mailing to laadpalen@apkgroup.eu or by calling +32 50 313 857
Netherlands: You can reach us by sending an e-mail to newenergy@apkgroup.eu or call +31 6 82275168