Just Charge It: The EV Solar Carport of the Future0

ecomagination · GE Reports

Earlier this summer, GE Reports featured the new 100-kilowatt-hour, solar-powered, electric vehicle-charging carport that GE installed in Plainville, Connecticut. While carports may conjure images of 1960s suburbia, this one is decidedly non-retro, with its ability to fully charge 13 EVs a day with renewable energy.

Great idea, advanced technology and cool design, and as of today, not a one-off deal: GE Energy Industrial Solutions and U.S. solar power distribution and integration company Inovateus Solar, who collaborated on the Plainville carport, announced a partnership agreement at Greenbuild 2011, the world’s largest green building confab.

The new partnership will replicate that model, scalable to differing needs, at a variety of sites.

The concept, as installed in Plainville, is holistic and simple: solar panels generate enough energy to offset the power needed to charge—with 6 Level 2 GE DuraStation1 EV charging stations—up to 13 EVs a day with enough juice left over for the parking lot’s overhead lighting. The new partnership will replicate that model, scalable to differing needs, at a variety of sites, from universities to municipal and office buildings to sports complexes. Inovateus will incorporate GE’s EverGold* Solar combiner boxes and safety switches, DuraStation and WattStation EV charging stations and its more traditional electrical distribution panels and switches into the carports.

“This agreement is a fantastic opportunity that will help us bring to market and develop new systems for generating renewable energy,” said T.J. Kanczuzewski, the president of Inovateus.

This story was originally published by GE Reports.