Australian EV charging infrastructure company JET Charge has joined a study to establish technology for discharging power from EVs into Australia’s national power grid. The study was led by the Australian National University (ANU) and the Realising Electric Vehicle-to-Grid Services (REVS) project of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The study monitored a fleet of 51 Nissan LEAF EVs installed across Canberra. The EVs had V2G chargers equipped with JET Charge’s proprietary technology that allows plugged-in vehicles to monitor the grid, detect when it is out of balance and respond by sending signals to all connected charging stations that instruct the vehicles to discharge.

The system was put to the test during a blackout caused by major storms on February 13 of this year. The storms toppled high-voltage transmission towers and triggered the disconnection of Loy Yang coal power station and two wind farms, cutting off power to 90,000 homes. In Canberra, 16 of the REVS EVs that were plugged in responded by rapidly discharging short bursts of electricity into the grid.

According to Dr. Bjorn Sturmberg, ANU’s lead researcher, it was the first time this type of V2G response to an emergency had been demonstrated. “In total, the vehicles provided 107 kilowatts of support to the national grid,” he said. “To put that in perspective, 105,000 vehicles responding in this way would fully cover the backup required for the whole of Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.”

Source: JET Charge