Baranduda is a rural locality in the Australian state of Victoria, located in the Hume Region, 10 kilometres southeast of the city of Wodonga. Last year, the local IGA supermarket added Electric Vehicle charging for customers, you can read about my charging experience here.
The chargers are provided by GET Electric, one of the growing number of charging networks in Australia. The site offers 2 x 22kW Fast EV Chargers, complete with large LCD displays for Digital Advertising which helps pay for the infrastructure and charging sessions.
Charging at the location currently costs $0.26/kWh.
On a Saturday morning ride on the Ebike, I stumbled across a big development at the site. Right now, installers are transforming the location from simply a charging location to a massive solar car park.
This development is great to see and more Australian car parks should follow suit.
One of the criticisms often aligned with charging EVs is the source of the power, with the suggestion that powering an EV from coal-fired energy is not exactly green. The reality is quite different, Australia’s grid is greening.
According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), renewables supplied 59.1% of Australia’s electricity on June 15, 2023. This was a record high and was driven by strong output from solar and wind farms. Solar and wind generation accounted for 44.1% and 15% of total generation, respectively.
While Australia’s energy transition is on target to reach net zero-emissions by 2050, in addition to that, Victoria has also set a targets for reducing emissions that aims to reduce emissions from the electricity sector by 80% by 2030.
Some businesses aren’t waiting to make changes, choosing to move to renewable energy early. While the IGA supermarket already featured rooftop solar, by converting the carpark into a solar carpark, there are multiple benefits.
- Electric Vehicle owners can benefit by knowing the energy used to recharge their car, is renewable energy.
- Other customers benefit from the additional share offered by the V-shaped solar panel roof.
- The business benefits over the long-term from reduced energy prices
