{"id":100964,"date":"2023-01-13T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/?p=100964"},"modified":"2023-01-11T10:04:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T15:04:22","slug":"want-to-avoid-red-tape-with-ev-charger-interconnection-go-off-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/2023\/01\/want-to-avoid-red-tape-with-ev-charger-interconnection-go-off-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to avoid red tape with EV charger interconnection? Go off-grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom McCalmont, CEO and co-founder of Paired Power<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Credit: Nissan<\/p><\/div>\n

The recent $5 billion in funding promised by the <\/a>Inflation Reduction Act will inevitably help fuel the fire in demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the United States. However, as the excitement and anticipation of these unprecedented incentives for EVs begins to wear off, the implications of how challenging it might be for existing utility grids to make use of these incentives to provide society with more chargers are surfacing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Mckinsey & Company<\/a> predicted that 50% of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030 would \u201crequire 1.2 million public EV chargers and 28 million private EV chargers by that year. All told, the country would need almost 20-times more chargers than it has now.\u201d This demand will only be exacerbated with the new IRA legislation and incentives for people to purchase EVs.<\/p>\n

With such tremendous demand for EV charging, the already monumental backlog of charging site permitting and interconnections with U.S. utilities is expected to grow exponentially. Waiting years for charging stations to be connected to the utility grid so they can finally be put into use is a serious barrier to entry for businesses and building owners that cannot be ignored. Enter the exponential opportunity for off-grid EV charging solutions.<\/p>\n

What makes grid modernization challenging?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bottlenecks in infrastructure and permitting in a building boom are inevitable, yet EV charging faces particularly unique challenges, especially when you factor in grid connectivity. The reality is that permitting and approvals<\/a> have gotten even more difficult over the last few decades, and while there are initiatives in place to alleviate this red tape, it still takes time for this to be executed.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Paired Power<\/p><\/div>\n

Just last year, the Dept. of Energy released a new initiative to help cut back on the lengthy permitting and interconnection process as they found the average project <\/a>(including solar, energy storage, and wind development) can take close to four years from the time it enters the interconnection queue to being up and running. However, like many government initiatives, change takes time, and for interconnections, this can mean years of delay, if not decades.<\/p>\n

Additional factors making it hard to accommodate a new generation of power include the fact that utilities are often slow to add new generating capacity as they require new transmission lines. These can often take decades for permitting approval and subsequent construction to occur. On top of this, customer sites can suffer dramatically higher bills through demand charges with the addition of EV chargers, especially if they max out the number of grid-connected chargers the site\u2019s service capacity can handle but still have a desire for more. Additionally, demand charges can quickly add up for facilities, businesses or individuals looking to add EV chargers to their properties. Because this monthly demand fee to maintain the electric utility\u2019s infrastructure can fluctuate based on how much energy is used in peak months, grid-connected EV charging sites can quickly become expensive to use and maintain. Moreover, according to McKinsey & Company<\/a>, the process to upgrade infrastructure and meet regulatory requirements can be lengthy and expensive.<\/p>\n

What can be done to alleviate these pain points?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For several reasons, off-grid EV chargers are a great solution to these pain points. They can be installed quickly (sometimes as fast as single-digit hours); they are often less expensive, reduce grid impacts from EV loads, and they can be more flexible than grid-tied EV chargers.<\/p>\n

In the face of permitting and interconnection challenges, off-grid charging solutions hold the key to meeting EV growth without the wait.<\/p>\n