Electric Car Charging Stations Network
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Electric cars are not going to be popular unless they can be charged with a minimum of ease at charging stations. That means setting up a network of charging stations just like existing network of fuel pumps. So far, nobody seems to have taken a lead in creating such a network, including governments.
It is in this context that the eVgo initiative NRG Energy becomes significant. Under the initiative, the company is building the first privately funded, comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem. There will be two types of charging stations:
* Freedom stations that will have Level 2 and DC chargers available 24/7 and
* Convenience stations hosted by retailers with Level 2 chargers available during their working hours
The company’s goal statement says: “Our goal is to provide complete range confidence across the metropolitan areas where eVgo operates. That means placing charging stations at the city center and at locations extending outward along major thoroughfares and at strategic destination points. In Houston, for example, charging stations are near the city center, at 25 miles out in all directions, and at points in between.”
Single family homes can have home charging docks. The company is now inviting the public to suggest retail and multifamily community locations for the eVgo stations, and planning to invest $10 million in expanding the network to cover the whole of Houston. Ironically, $10 million is not likely to be adequate for setting up more than two conventional fuel stations.
Tags: electric vehicles, ev charging stations, fossil fuels
Posted in business, clean technology, energy distribution, environment | No Comments »
Smart Electricity Grids and Energy Efficiency
Friday, October 15th, 2010
A huge amount of energy generated at power stations is lost at various points. There are losses during transmission of the energy to consumers, wasteful use of energy at the consumer ends and even theft of energy leading to unaccounted losses. Any effort at efficient use of energy, a scarce resource, can benefit communities significantly.
Smart Electricity Grids employ several means to achieve the final goal of efficient use of available energy. Sensing, measurement and control devices are used to automatically regulate energy consumption etc in response to specific conditions. Superconductive transmission lines might be used to reduce losses during transmission of power. Advanced Metering Systems is typically an essential component of smart grids.
Advanced Metering Systems (AMI) not only measure energy usage as conventional metering systems do but also analyze energy usage patterns and communicate relevant information to those involved, including suppliers and customers. Two-way communication allows information recipients to respond with actions that lead to solutions. For example, customers become aware of unexpectedly heavy energy usage and can respond with actions that lead to lowering of their energy bills.
Suppliers can tailor their charging pattern in ways that discourage energy use during peak load times. Advanced Electric Meters can record separately the energy usage in differentiated registers for each time period.
Read about a seminar on smart grid development in the Taiwan.
Tags: energy efficiency, information technology, smart grids
Posted in energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, information technology, sensors | 1 Comment »
Power Grids: Making them smart and smarter
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
With increasing demand for power, it becomes necessary to optimize the utilization of electricity grid capacity. This is sought to be done by incorporating information technology solutions to measure and report, and to sense and self-heal into the grid. R&D in this area also seeks to increase the quantity of power transmitted through the lines.
Superconductive transmission lines can reduce power loss, and tackling bottlenecks in transmission where certain lines remain under-utilized owing to full capacity utilization of connecting lines can increase overall capacity. Instabilities in the system is another area that R&D focuses upon as these can reduce the effective capacity compared to the technical one.
Integrating power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power generators pose its own problems owing to the differing nature of current flow. Technical issues resulting from intermittency, ramp rates, over supply and inertia are the problems in this area, according to an article on integrating renewables at intelligentutility.com.
Smart meters that report power consumption levels to the supplying utility automatically, programmable thermostats that can automatically adjust power utilization and smart home appliances that reduce power consumption can all be part of the overall campaign for creating a smart grid.
The intelligentutility.com website has resources on the practical issues of smart grids.
Tags: energy efficiency, energy generation, information technology, power transmission
Posted in energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage, information technology | No Comments »
Challenge to develop the next Generation Power Grid
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
General Electric, in partnership with venture capital firms Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital have announced a $200 million innovation challenge. The challenge asks technologists, entrepreneurs and startups to share their best ideas for an electric power grid that will meet the needs of the 21st century. The challenge, announced on July 13, 2010, is named as “GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid.”
The challenge, open immediately at Ecomagination Website is reportedly one of the largest of challenges ever announced.
The goals are to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint during electricity generation, optimize the flow of energy through distribution systems to minimize power losses and use energy more efficiently through better designed buildings and in other ways.
GE is already offering digital energy grids and wants to make it a comprehensive one by working with ideas generated globally. By accelerating the development of a cleaner, more efficient and economically viable grid through collaboration, GE hopes to “jump-start new ideas and deploy them on a scale that will modernize the electrical grid around the world.”
The fund of $200 million will be invested globally into promising startups and ideas. GE will also help the entrants in other ways. Read the news release at MarketWatch.
Tags: cleaner energy generation, digital electricity grids, energy efficiency, power transmission losses
Posted in business, clean technology, energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, environment, information technology, innovation | 1 Comment »
