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electricity

Amsterdam launches ‘largest smart electric vehicle charging network’

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A consortium of public-private companies and organisations in Amsterdam has launched what it claims is the “largest smart electric vehicle charging network” in the city.

Vattenfall and the City of Amsterdam, together with grid owner Liander, the infrastructure competence center Elaad, and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, launched what they call “Flexpower”.

They say it is the largest public smart charging network for electric vehicles in Amsterdam, and add that the innovative solution enables faster charging, maximal use of renewable electricity and more efficient use of the electric grid in Amsterdam.

[Read more…] about Amsterdam launches ‘largest smart electric vehicle charging network’

Toyota introduces station for the production and supply of hydrogen from renewable energy

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Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) has newly introduced ‘SimpleFuel’ to its Motomachi Plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

SimpleFuel is a small water electrolysis-based machine for hydrogen generation and filling that can produce, store, and supply hydrogen by making use of electricity generated from solar power.

It uses electricity from solar panels at the plant site to produce low-carbon hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, which is then supplied to fuel-cell (FC) forklifts after it is compressed and pressurised.

[Read more…] about Toyota introduces station for the production and supply of hydrogen from renewable energy

Power grid: Integrating large-scale battery energy into the electricity network

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One of the most challenging issues for power grids is energy storage. The ability to store energy would enable the supply of uninterrupted electricity to customers, but battery technology has been too expensive or not good enough – until now, with all the electric cars on the roads. Claude Olsen, of Gemini.no, explains

Batteries have become so cheap that they can be used for more than just smartphones and electric cars. Now, national electricity network companies will use them to stabilize the power grid.

In the Norwegian city of Skien, the Odds football stadium Skagerak Arena will, next year, be almost self-sufficient with electricity from 5,000 square meters of solar cells on the roof.

However, since the big peak in power consumption is on the day of the match, the energy produced on the other weekdays must be stored in large batteries.  [Read more…] about Power grid: Integrating large-scale battery energy into the electricity network

Electric power: Clean energy infrastructure driving switch from AC to DC

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nikola tesla
Nikoa Tesla, pictured in his Colorado Springs lab in 1899. Picture courtesy of Smithsonian.com

Nikola Tesla was a famous scientist who developed alternating current, the means of distribution for electricity for the vast majority of devices, appliances and machines in households and factories and just about every other electrified thing in the world today. 

But even as Tesla was inventing much of the technology used in the alternating current electricity supply system, another famous inventor, Thomas Edison argued that direct current was the best way to distribute electricity.

By the time Tesla tech came onstream, DC had already been in use for a decade, but within a relatively small area, and Edison lost that argument mostly because the components of an alternating current grid enabled electricity to be carried far and wide beyond the power generating facility.  [Read more…] about Electric power: Clean energy infrastructure driving switch from AC to DC

Siemens offers its employees free charging for their electric vehicles

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siemens ev charging point

Free “refuelling” at up to 100 Siemens locations in Germany, with charging stations “internationally linked”

Beginning in 2017, Siemens employees at as many as 100 of the company’s locations in Germany can “fill up” their electric vehicles free of charge. This will apply not only to all-electric vehicles but also to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

For this service, Siemens will use its existing network of charging stations, which it is expanding with normal and high-speed charging stations.

To reduce their carbon footprint, the charging points will supply electricity only from renewable energy sources. The electricity and the use of the charging stations are likely to be free for the duration of 2017.  [Read more…] about Siemens offers its employees free charging for their electric vehicles