Electrify America has launched a solar farm in California's San Bernardino County that promises to generate 75 megawatts of peak solar power.
The farm must generate enough electricity to simultaneously charge 500 EV at 150 kW.
Solar Glow covers one square kilometer and uses 200,000 individual solar panels.
A lot of talk about a future where most cars are electric vehicles is focused on power generation, and typically, "Where are we going to get all that power?" Questions about the resilience of US grids are common, especially given the large fluctuations associated with peak usage, often due to unusual weather events.
Is it possible to sell a new ZEV car in a decade, as a state like California plans to do by 2035?
This month, Volkswagen's charging arm, Electrify America, gave us a look at the solutions that might be needed for the projected energy crisis, opening a major new photovoltaic renewable energy project in the Golden State.
Dubbed Solar Glimmer, the array promises to generate 75 megawatts of peak solar power, enough to power 500 EVs with 150 kilowatts of simultaneous charging, calculated at a combined annual output of 225 gigawatt-hours (GWh).
To put that number into perspective, a fully electrified America by 2022 will provide 173 gigawatts of electricity, approximately 300 million miles of EV driving, while saving 21 million gallons of gasoline. Solar Glow's estimated annual production of 225 GWh easily exceeds that figure.
The project is part of what Electrify America calls "redundancy," the generation of renewable energy that cannot be produced any other way.
"As electric vehicle ownership continues to grow, we expect demand for our charging network to continue to grow," said Jigar Shah, director of energy services for Electrify America. "Solar Glow 1 adds new 100% renewable power generation with an estimated annual output that exceeds our grid usage by 2022."
Located in San Bernardino County, this farm covers an area of more than one square kilometer and consists of 200,000 solar panels. Built in partnership with Terra-Zen, the Solar Glow charging grid is one of the latest steps being taken to embrace renewable energy sources.
Of course, one solar farm will not solve all the energy needs of a state, or even a large city. But regionally, especially in sunny countries, the ability to charge 500 EVs simultaneously can be considered sufficient.
But solar charging stations could also be on a much smaller scale, with a solar panel capturing and storing energy in built-in batteries that can power one or two electric vehicles at a time. Such stations could be completely independent of the grid and are currently being developed and built for electric vehicle charging locations where it would be expensive to establish a separate grid connection.
As you may have guessed, the American Southwest is a great location for solar power plants along country highways, the kind that might not involve spending money on a grid-tied DC fast charging station.
For now, the cost of small individual stations is prohibitive, which is why Electrify America is focusing on large-scale electricity generation projects like SolarGlow. But even large solar farms with 200,000 panels are not cheap.
Can solar power meet some of the electricity needs of EVs a decade from now, or is the technology not yet widespread enough to meet the needs of EVs? Tell us what you think.
