Spain: Petrol station installs first solar EV charging point in Andalusia
The service station also raises environmental awareness by providing additional information about the facility to its customers and visitors.
A gas station in Huércal de Almería, Andalucía, has installed the first solar recharging point for electric cars, reports the Junta de Andalucía. This is the first service station that offers fast recharge for electric vehicles in Andalusia where electricity is generated 'in situ' by means of photovoltaic solar energy, according to the press release.
This pioneering installation in Andalusia has been rolled out by the company Costa de Andarax. The service station located in the Los Naranjos Shopping Park allows to both quickly recharge two vehicles simultaneously and to supply 74% of the energy consumption needed at the station, which includes the supermarket, the office and the outdoor lighting.
"The aim is to become a multi-energy service station. The energy we supply to the electric vehicles comes directly from the sun and when there is no vehicle recharging, we use that energy for the building's facilities. It is an easily replicable project", said the project's promoter, Antonio Jesús Felices.
The recharging station for electric vehicles, with 211 square metres of photovoltaic solar surface area for self-consumption, produces approximately 65,670 kWh of renewable electricity per year. It expects to avoid the emission of 34 tons of CO2 per year.
The service station also performs awareness work by providing additional information about the installation to its customers and visitors. As it is monitored through an energy management system, users can see in real time the energy that is being generated and being used, indicating how many kilometres could be covered by an electric vehicle or how many four-person households could be supplied with that energy.
The project, which required an investment of 140,814 euros, has received 68,863 euros in funds from the Andalusian Energy Agency through the European Regional Development Fund.
