The ACT Public Service’s fleet of electric vehicles (EV) is set to trial new vehicle-to-grid technology which would see the cars help power the Territory’s electricity grid in times of high demand.
Acting Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Mick Gentleman said the trial would allow EVs to operate like mobile batteries, using and storing electricity but then injecting power back to the grid when needed.
“The Realising Electric Vehicle to Grid Services (REVS) project aims to create a new business model to unlock the potential of electric vehicles to help our power grid when the cars are not in use,” Mr Gentleman said.
“If the project is successful, fleet owners will be paid for putting electricity from their car batteries back into the grid,” he said.
“In the future, we hope this can extend to Canberrans’ privately owned electric vehicles.”
Mr Gentleman said the project had the potential to improve financial incentives for buying electric vehicles, which was crucial for reducing ACT’s transport emissions.
“The new system could be particularly beneficial during times of peak power usage as a way of balancing renewable energy delivered into the grid,” he said.
He said the Government was working towards a zero emissions passenger vehicle fleet where possible and would be ordering 50 new Nissan Leaf bi-directional vehicles to help with the project
Mr Gentleman said the REVS project was co-funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the ACT Government and led by ActewAGL Retail in partnership with Evoenergy, Nissan, Jetcharge, SgFleet, the Australian National University and Accenture.
