In the Rotterdam region, over 13.000 connected charging stations are helping to balance the power grid. With its SMATCH smart-charging solution, ENGIE Laborelec is providing the brains behind what is arguably the biggest smart-charging site in the world.
October 2024
A collaboration between ENGIE and charging station operator Equans, addresses major challenges associated with the energy transition. The power grid must become more adaptable to handle the unpredictable nature of sustainable energy from sources like the sun and wind. One effective strategy is to align energy consumption with periods when green energy is abundant. For example, charging electric vehicles outside of peak hours can help reduce the strain on the grid, ensuring a more balanced and efficient energy system.
Orchestrating EV charging to contribute to grid balancing
A simple observation about EV charging was what inspired ENGIE and Equans to address both challenges at once: the fact that, on average, electric vehicles are only charging for just one third of the time they are connected to a charging station. The idea is to orchestrate EV charging over a longer period of time to reduce peak demand and contribute to grid balancing. That’s exactly what SMATCH does across the 13.000 cloud-connected public charging points in the Rotterdam region. More precisely, SMATCH can modulate selected charging sessions for a short period of time based on real-time grid imbalance and peak demand data.
From a grid balancing point of view, the charging station network functions as a ‘virtual power plant’, which is a collection of devices that can either consume or produce energy.
Importantly, the solution has been implemented in such a way that EV drivers experience no discomfort: their cars are charged as expected, although possibly in slightly longer sessions.
A proven solution at scale
Currently orchestrating over 13.000 charging points in this way, Laborelec’s SMATCH is a proven solution that functions perfectly at scale. And it leads to other opportunities in addition to grid balancing. For example, SMATCH can be deployed in industrial, business, and residential situations to maximize renewable power self-consumption or reduce peak demand. SMATCH Product Manager Frederic China looks even further into the future: “Our objective is to enable holistic optimizations, encompassing all types of controllable equipment on a site, taking into account local constraints and network requirements, as well as price and weather forecasts.”