by Helen Chappell
North Carolina's first solar-powered charging stations were installed in December. In Asheville, Biowheels Responsible Transportation and their partners installed the first of four planned public solar charging installations. In Raleigh, Progress Energy and the City of Raleigh unveiled two solar stations to be used in a two-year research project.
The Asheville project was unveiled on December 11. Government officials and industry partners were in attendance to open a downtown solar installation that supports charging for three electric vehicles. When vehicles are not charging, electricity generated from the installation is fed into the grid. The stations are free to the public.
Local officials opened the Raleigh project on December 15. Two stations for the Progress Energy and City of Raleigh fleets are now connected to solar arrays; the stations will not be open for use by the public. When the charging station is not being used, the electricity generated by the solar arrays is fed into on-site batteries for later use. One of the project's partners, Advanced Energy, will collect charging and power information from the stations in a two-year project to evaluate the performance of the stations and how such stations might work with the electrical grid.
Links: http://www.raleighnc.gov/news/content/CorNews/Articles/SolarPoweredStati...
