PROGRESSUS delivers 10-15x more EV charging stations per network connection

A three year EU project directed at energy conversion, intelligent electricity management and secure network monitoring called PROGRESSUS, has come up with a way which would make it possible to operate ten to fifteen times more electric car charging stations on a single network connection.

The €20 million Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership Joint Undertaking (ECSEL-JU) project was backed by Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain and involved 22 organisations led by Infineon.

The project developed electric power converters which minimise loss while integrating battery storage systems and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic. The converters integrate sensors and SiC MOSFETs which can be switched at speeds which make them suitable for use in charging systems for EVs which either reduce the peak power consumption at the site level by as much as 90%, without significantly longer charging times, or support ten to fifteen times more charging stations on the same network connection.

Joint energy management of multiple buildings can also help relieve power networks. PROGRESSUS project partners have simulated this kind of energy management system based on real data from 16 buildings with photovoltaic systems and energy storage systems.

The result showed that kind of joint energy management could reduce electricity peak demands present in the public network by an average up to 80%, without affecting customers’ requirements .