EV V2G Rollout At Flinders University

Adelaide’s Flinders University will soon be powering its Bedford Park campus in the evenings with some added help from electric vehicles and V2G chargers.

In collaboration with ENGIE Australia & New Zealand, Flinders is to have 20 vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers installed at its Bedford Park campus; including two rapid charging stations. V2G chargers are bi-directional – meaning they can charge a vehicle and also discharge energy stored in an EV battery into the grid.

The electric vehicle fleet will be charged overnight by clean energy generated by ENGIE’s 119MW Willogoleche Wind Farm near Hallett in South Australia’s Mid North. Charging during the day will be supplemented by solar power systems at the University. Then between 5pm and 9pm – when electricity demand in South Australia is generally at its greatest –  the EV fleet will discharge the stored energy in its batteries into the campus grid.

“Our goal is to expand the Flinders University EV fleet so we can construct a 650kW virtual battery, using both smart charging stations and vehicle to grid technology,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling (pictured above). “This will allow our fleet of security and pool vehicles to operate in a way that embodies renewable energy generation, reducing the university’s peak demand while delivering benefits for the SA grid.”

V2G is exciting technology, but not all electric vehicles support it. The Nissan Leaf is among those that do and is what will be used in the Flinders trial. The V2G chargers will be installed by JET Charge¹ – 10 of which will be placed at car park nine and the other 10 at car park three.

Flinders Powered By 100% Renewable Energy

The University has a pretty impressive renewables street-cred, shifting to 100% renewable electricity in 2021 through a 5-year deal with ENGIE.

But in addition to wind power provided under that deal, Flinders also has significant on-site solar energy resources. Among its systems are 4,136 solar panels that were installed over a car park at its Bedford Park campus back in 2018. All told, there are more than 7,600 solar panels at Bedford Park for a collective PV capacity of 2.2MW – and more to come under the University’s Sustainability Plan to 2025.

South Australian EV Smart Charging Trials

The Flinders University initiative is being supported by more than $350,000 from the State Government as part of its $3.2 million Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Trials, which will help inform the future direction of EVs in South Australia.

On a related and unfortunate note, the Malinauskas Government recently decided to ditch a $12.25 million initiative created by the previous Marshall Government that would have provided thousands of generous subsidies to households for installing eligible smart EV charging systems.

While the Malinauskas Government says it is aiming “to make EVs the common choice for motorists by 2030 and the default choice by 2035”, ditching the household smart charging subsidy wasn’t particularly smart. Smart chargers will play an increasingly important role in the years ahead, alleviating pressure on the grid when owners plug their electric cars into mains supply for charging in the evenings.