Canadian cleantech company, Hygge Energy has announced that its software platform has been successfully implemented at an EV charging pilot project, aptly titled “Zero Emission Electric Mobility,” with global energy giant Indian Oil Corporation Limited at the latter’s retail outlet (RO).
IndianOil is keen on expanding Hygge Energy’s program to other such sites where EV charging can be supported by existing rooftop solar installations at these ROs for providing a zero-emission e-mobility experience to EV drivers and making the EV charging business profitable.
IndianOil has already taken a lead in promoting rooftop solar, and, through Zero Emission Electric Mobility, they have found an efficient way to aggressively promote EV charging throughout their 56,000-strong RO network.
They will spread awareness throughout their dealer network about Hygge Energy’s EV charging platform, and the benefits associated with it. In the context of this project, Hygge Energy’s platform is used to maximize usage of renewable energy for the purpose of EV charging, making it a profitable business for EV charging operators. The solution is supported by an immersive, end-to-end EV charging app that facilitates the entire EV charging experience.
The system was designed with three important objectives in mind: EVs are charged using solar power; no upgrades are required in grid infrastructure as the EV charging load is taken off-grid, hence avoiding high costs and delays associated with the process; and grid resiliency improves as the system has demonstrated 80% reduction in grid load dependency for RO operation.
Hygge Energy has been running several sustainable power projects, which find synergy with the local community in North America and Europe.
In addition to their collaboration with IndianOil, they have several high-profile projects in India as well, namely UC Berkeley Smart Village Movement’s Chief Minister Youth Center, wherein they empowered a remote Meghalayan village, GNDEC Ludhiana, with whom they did a captive power project, and THINK Gas for providing Zero Emission Electric Mobility to CNG stations.
Talking on the subject, Vigyan Kumar, Executive Director (Retail Sales), IndianOil, said, “As part of IndianOil’s foray into alternative energy, we have already set up 54 battery charging / swapping stations for electric vehicles in partnership with various companies. Given the challenges of grid capacity and reliability amid the uncertainty of EV adoption, we are committed to finding an integrated solution to ensure green power for EV charging at our fuel stations. This innovative solution developed by Hygge Energy has demonstrated feasibility to address these issues. We will conduct pilot studies at more fuel stations across Bangalore. This solution is unique as it leverages the existing investment made by us in solarising our fuel stations and gives us a good basis to roll-out our EV charging initiative”, he added.
Prateek Saxena, CEO of Hygge Energy, said, “We have achieved fantastic results from the IndianOil project, and found that Hygge’s solution can slash the payback period of rooftop solar by as much as 80% and drastically reduce electricity bills as well. We are committed to scale it and work with other EV charging service providers and DISCOMs. Now, in the next phase of the project, we are going to demonstrate how renewable energy-based EV charging can bring additional cash to large corporates like IndianOil in terms of carbon credits through our patented technology; each EV charging station could potentially generate Rs. 5 to 10 lakhs annually through our carbon trading system – this amounts to an additional Rs. 1000 crore in revenue from carbon credits for IndianOil’s proposed 10,000-strong network of EV charging stations.”
In Zero Emission Electric Mobility, EVs are charged by installing solar PV and batteries at the charging site and integrating them with grid infrastructure using Hygge Energy’s technology platform that enables tracking, measurement, optimization, allocation, accounting and trading of energy.
Built on Hygge’s patented solution, this is one of the most cost-effective solutions for the deployment of EV charging globally.