Hybrid power station developer, InnoVentum, is bidding to install their combined wind and solar solution in London, proposing to provide renewably sourced charging for electric vehicles (EVs).
Currently, the Swedish company is in discussions with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, about bringing their “Giraffe” system to the UK’s capital. The tower structure uses both wind and solar energy to facilitate distributed generation.
The electricity the “Giraffe” creates will be used to charge electric vehicles and feed the London grid.
“We make exclusive designs for those who can afford, and affordable designs for those who need,” said Sigvald Harryson, CEO and founder of InnoVentum. “For exclusive markets like London we look at the Giraffe, so we are pitching that towards Boris Johnson’s office.”
London has around 1,400 charging points, most of which are part of the Source London network. Recently, the public charging network, which was taken over by French company IER in September, has been experiencing issues with nearly a third of their points temporarily unavailable; however, IER has confirmed plans to expand the network to over 5,000 charging points in the future.
“The challenge with London is that it had a late start in EV infrastructure development,” Harryson continued. “But the goal is also to make [the 6,000] rapid chargers or even fast chargers. Currently, London is already suffering from blackouts. So imagine if you had 6,000 rapid-charging stations and people plugging in at the same time. That will, for sure, create a blackout.’
The new product from InnoVentum would take some of the stress off the grid. In fact, the Giraffe is a net contributor of energy to the grid instead of a drain on energy resources as it produces more energy than an EV requires to charge.It would also help reduce London’s dependency on fossil fuels and help lower CO2 emissions.
Harryson commented: ‘Our products are CO2 negative from the start, before they begin producing CO2-neutral energy, whereas a traditional turbine causes a terrible amount of emissions before it begins producing CO2-neutral energy. By using wood, you’re using material that has temporarily been absorbing CO2 instead of material that has caused CO2 emissions such as concrete, steel, and so on. There is no material in an Enercon or a Vestas turbine that has captured CO2; all of the materials they use cause emissions.’
The Engineer
