Is it unexpectedly sunny? That could provide a pleasant surprise for electric drivers. EV drivers could drive an average of 150 kilometers for free last Monday if they had charged with a Zonneplan charging station, the energy company reported.
Why this is important:
In the Netherlands, there is sometimes an imbalance on the grid. This creates unusual situations. Sometimes solar panels have to be switched off, and sometimes power is given away for free.
In total, EV drivers with a Zonneplan charging station charged for free for more than two hours last Monday. Assuming an 11 kW charging station, this corresponds to about 150 free kilometers. In addition, customers charging their cars during this period received compensation of over 15 euros.
Three weeks ago, Zonneplan introduced the smart system Powerplay. Frank Breukelman of Zonneplan explains: “In the app, you have two options. You can indicate that you have to leave at a certain time and that the battery must be full by then. In that case, charging is based on hourly rates. But you can also indicate that the car does not necessarily have to be full today, but you do connect the charging cable. In that case, we charge the car only when the power is free. So all customers who had this option set last Monday got quite a few miles for free.”
No more ‘throwing away’ renewable power
So the free mileage is due to an imbalance on the grid. Is there a peak on the grid? Then we can deal with it in two ways. By generating less power, or by storing excess energy. At times when wind turbines or solar panels generate a surplus of power, these are often temporarily switched off. However, this means that valuable, sustainable power will get lost.
A shame, according to Breukelman. “I myself made a few euros on Mondays by switching off my solar panels. But I do get a double feeling about that. In fact, potential renewable energy is then lost, which is contradictory to the energy transition.” At Zonneplan, they prefer to take a different approach. Namely: smart use of available energy, by charging cars at the right time, and providing compensation for this. “By doing so, we make sustainable behavior financially attractive.”
Free power: the details
Energy producers, such as gas and coal-fired power plants, owners of solar and wind farms, and power companies with customers who have solar panels, must give a day’s notice of how much power they can supply. Energy demand is also estimated. From this data, a power price is created. In case of overproduction and low demand, the power price, for example for charging electric cars, sometimes goes down significantly: a price incentive to keep the grid stable.
‘Will happen more often’
Was last Monday an outlier? Breukelman doesn’t think so. “I expect this to happen more often in the future. So many solar panels have now been added that it has become difficult to make a 100 percent accurate prediction.”
Zonneplan expects that on an annual basis, it will be possible to charge up to 20,000 kilometers for free.
Related Posts
