Blink Charging Co., a Maryland-based owner, operator, provider, and manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment and services, has teamed up with Create Energy, a Tennessee-based renewable energy company, to offer a solar and EV charging solution.
In a release, the partners describe the system as removing common barriers such as “grid constraints, permitting delays, and extensive utility infrastructure, enabling access to locations previously considered too difficult or expensive to serve.”
The solution integrates Blink’s level-2 and DC fast charging (DCFC) EV chargers with Create Energy’s Nanogrid technology.
Chris Carr, senior vice president of Sales and Business Development at Blink Charging told pv magazine USA that the solution not only supports EV infrastructure, but also critical and operational loads for fleets, commercial and industrial businesses, municipalities, automotive original equipment manufacturers and auto dealers. In addition it can be used for grid resilience, demand charge management, virtual power plants and ancillary services, Carr said.
“Together, we’re not just building a one-stop-shop ecosystem—we’re adding serious muscle to our growing ‘un-evil empire’ of innovation,” said Dean Solon, founder and CEO of Create Energy. “This powerhouse collaboration puts groundbreaking Nanogrid technology at Blink customers’ fingertips, paving the way for enhanced resilience and a brighter energy future. Let’s Create change.”
Nanogrid is a microgrid solution Solon, described as a system that includes “canopy and rooftop solar, battery energy storage and site-load monitoring tied to level 2 and level 3 EV charging solutions.” Nanogrid is installed as a solar canopy solution at Nissan North America headquarters, and Create reported that it has “remained continuously operational since launch.”
The solar canopy array uses ReCreate DS-Titan 535 Wp solar modules. ReCreate is a joint venture between the founders of Create Energy and EU-based Recom Technologies. The venture announced last June a plan to build a 5 GW solar module and cell manufacturing facility in Portland, Tenn. The modules used in the solar canopy available today are manufactured overseas but will soon be manufactured in Tennessee, Carr said.
The example “block” outlined here is approximately 100 kW, but Create and Blink can work to design to the needs of each customer or client, Carr said. The size of the solar can be expanded as the need for peak load and shaded parking spots increases (e.g. > 3 DCFCs).
Energy from the solar array is stored in six 1.22 MWh lithium iron phosphate batteries energy storage systems (BESS). Create Energy currently provides the BESS solution in conjunction with Socomec, which is headquartered in France. Create Energy manufactures some of the components out of its facility in Portland, Tenn.
Blink’s principal line of products and services include Blink’s EV charging network, equipment and services. The Blink Network uses proprietary, cloud-based software that operates, maintains and tracks connected EV charging stations.
With this integrated solution, all Blink installations can include Create Energy’s Nanogrid system and all Nanogrid deployments can include Blink chargers. Carr said that the integrated solution is flexible and scalable to support virtually any EV charging deployment.
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