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    Electrify America tops 30 MW in installed Battery Storage at EV Charging Stations

    Dec. 3, 2021
    Electrify America reported the milestone at 140 direct current fast charging stations nationwide. More than 90 of those behind-the-meter battery storage systems are in California
    Image credit Electrify America
    Electrify America Chargers 61aa286313668

    By Rod Walton, EnergyTech Senior Editor

    The electric vehicle charging infrastructure wing of Volkswagen has reached 30 MW of installed battery storage capacity at its stations across the United States, and now may utilize of that power to help deal with peak demand on the macro grid.

    Electrify America reported the milestone at 140 direct current fast charging stations nationwide. More than 90 of those behind-the-meter battery storage systems are in California.

    Due to its growing capacity, the company is initiating virtual power plant (VPP) services in which stored power at charging stations can be discharged back into the grid at high points of demand.

    “We are constantly striving to introduce innovations that will drive the EV industry forward,” said Giovanni Palazzo, president and chief executive officer at Electrify America. “With this significant deployment of battery energy storage, Electrify America will be able to help ensure a more efficient customer experience, especially as EV adoption increases and infrastructure demands continue to grow.”

    Electrify America says these services will smooth out price fluctuations which can spike during times of peak demand. When traditional demand charges are levied upon high-capacity, low-utilization infrastructure such as high-powered EV charging stations, they place a disproportionate cost burden on the station owners.

    Beyond this current installed energy storage portfolio, Electrify America is working on certification and initial roll-out of its next generation of onsite behind-the-meter battery energy storage early next year that will support higher peak power or demand mitigation capability in approximately the same footprint.

    The company also selected Olivine to help promote vehicle-to-grid integration in wholesale energy markets. Behind-the-meter services such as demand response help support vehicle-grid integration by reducing the need for more costly and often more polluting peaking power plants.

    Volkswagen Group of America founded the EV charging infrastructure offshoot four years ago. Part of the impetus behind the Electrify America formation was an agreement with U.S. regulators in the fallout of the company’s emissions scandal.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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