Toddington Harper – CEO of Gridserve – was interviewed on a recent episode of the Fully Charged podcast, and one of the key philosophies of his company is the ability to create power via solar farms and deliver that directly to vehicles. Power from Sun to Wheel.

Perhaps the best example of this in action at the moment is their facility in Cornwall Services. The grid connection at that remote location is only 100kW. Whilst this might be sufficient for a set of ‘fast’ 7kW chargers, it is completely inadequate for motorway charging infrastructure, where the individual chargers are working at speeds up to 350kW.

To overcome the challenges of delivering power in this remote location, Gridserve have come up with 3 complementary solutions. First is a battery capable of delivering 1MW of power. The battery acts as a buffer, continuously charging and then able to discharge whenever demand exceeds grid supply.

In addition, they have added a Solar Canopy over the site, capable of adding up to 60kWp of power. Interestingly, at this location, demand is greatest in the summer months, which correlates to the time of year when solar provision is at its greatest.

Finally, there are plans to deliver a solar farm adjacent to the site, which will feed into the battery directly, truly creating a Sun to Wheel system. Similar plans for a solar farm directly adjacent to the charging hub are in development at a number of other sites including one near Hartlepool.

From Sun to Wheel at home

In your own home, the technology now exists to implement this exact same strategy. With a solar array on your own roof, you can create your own power. When this is paired with a GivEnergy home storage battery, you can store that power for when you need it. Add a GivEnergy solar-divert EV charger and you can send excess power from your solar array into your electric vehicle. With a myenergi solar hot-water diverter, you can send excess electricity into your hot water tank via the immersion heater. If you install a Tepeo heating system, the solar power can be used to charge up the Tepeo. You can replicate Sun to Wheel, as well as Sun to Shower, and Sun to…..Stir Fry!

There are many reasons to implement your own Sun to Wheel energy ecosystem. You might want to reduce your carbon footprint or reduce your reliance on the National Grid. You might view Sun to Wheel as a good investment which will save you money or simply be drawn by the simplicity and beauty of creating your own electricity which then powers your life.

Here at Brimstone Energy UK, we are excited by all aspects of the energy ecosystem, whether that is having ‘free’ hot water for 8 months of the year or a ‘free’ Sunday Roast. And we know that the economics of Solar & Battery storage stack up.

If you want to create your own home energy eco-system, we can help. We’ll start your journey with a heat loss survey so that we can really get to know your property and your needs.