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Determination Of The Most Feasible Configuration For A Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station In Jamaica

Published in: Prospective and trends in technology and skills for sustainable social development. Leveraging emerging technologies to construct the future: Proceedings of the 19th LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education and Technology
Date of Conference: July 19-23, 2021
Location of Conference: Virtual
Authors: Shanroy Dennis (UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JM)
Dianne Plummer (UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JM)
Full Paper: #565

Abstract:

With the 2021 roll out of the ten electrical vehicle charging stations across Jamaica, there is now a need to provide alternative energy sources in keeping with the government’s mandate to have 50% renewables by 2030. This research focused on the viability of switching from grid power to solar for the charging of EVs.This in turn entailed the design and costing of a photovoltaic standard electric vehicle charging station with battery storage. Using Simulink software, the maximum point was investigated using varying ambient conditions. When the irradiance was held constant at 1000 W/m2and the ambient temperature varied, an inverse relationship between the output voltage and the temperature was observed. On the other hand, keeping the temperature constant at STC of 25 oC, the current varied linearly with the irradiance. Therefore, for higher maximum power points, the temperature should be low and the irradiance high. From the Simulink software, it was observed that charging the EVCS battery bank, the current decreases with increasing State of Charge); while the voltage only increases slightly as the SoC increases. It was calculated that 175.6 A charging current is required for the system, with this current it took 11 hrs and 20 minutes for the battery pack to fully charge. At which point, the voltage across its terminals was 55.6 V while the current was -0.00147 A