What to expect from an EV or Solar feasibility study
Commissioning a feasibility study for electric vehicle (EV) charging or solar power should provide your company with a good base to decide whether to adopt these technologies.
EV feasibility assessment
Working with SaveMoneyCutCarbon, the first step would be “no cost” EV Desktop Feasibility Assessment (DTFA). This would provide a vital overview of potential EV charging investment and best technical solutions.
It would also identify potential challenges, to avoid unexpected technical issues or additional costs during installation or day-to-day operation. In addition, it should highlight the resulting carbon emissions reduction, and where appropriate, the potential EV charging revenue generation.
Many think EV charging is not much more than a socket and plug to charge electric vehicles but the truth is that it is much more complicated which is why many chargers are difficult to use or never work properly.
With hundreds of charger manufacturers, many software and payment options, regulations, grants, and increasing challenges with correct power connections and related safety requirements, there is a lot to consider for a successful EV installation and ongoing pain-free operation.
A DTFA as first step should provide your business with detailed analysis while identifying the best charging technology and infrastructure, back-office software, grid connections, user and operator preferences.
Technology options
It should lay out the most suitable technology options and deliver a customised financial model tailored to meet the specific needs of a company. Our modelling tools should help to provide you with a realistic assessment of EV charging investment and ROI expectations.
We would also advise on available grant opportunities to be explored, while ensuring adoption of the most suitable technology and giving essential information about relevant government policies.
There are over 50 manufacturers of EV Chargers available in UK, and an effective DTFA should outline the best solution for charging needs – from a single AC chargers to the largest DC Rapid and truck / bus chargers. We would also specify software options for payment and monitoring/maintenance.
The desktop assessment would harness online visuals and data to provide an initial site plan with potential installation placements, with indicative proposals of power supply, dynamic load balancing and any upgrades, together with outline of any groundworks.
Cost breakdown
The DTFA should provide your company with cost breakdown, including any potential groundworks/civil engineering work, together with bay marking options.
Background knowledge to help you understand EV charging is important and a DTFA should give details of charging times and speeds. Although chargers are capable of charging anywhere from 3kW to 350kW, there are other factors to be considered when looking at charging speeds. Different vehicles charge at different speeds, for example:
- The Tesla Model Y can take 11kW AC and 250kW DC
- The MG4 can take 6.6kW AC and up to 144kW DC
- The Audi Q4 e-tron 45 can take 11kW AC and 135kW DC
The feasibility study should include details, where appropriate, of charging payment options, costs and payback, together with potential grant discounts, and regulatory needs.
A detailed initial EV charging feasibility study should provide your business with the confidence to move forward and commission next-step full on-site survey, backed by an investment-grade proposal.
Solar feasibility
A DTFA for solar power would be an ideal way for your company to sound out potential and options. The first step would be to gather data on current electrical usage and tariffs before SaveMoneyCutCarbon conducts a preliminary evaluation of the available roof space of a business, using online visual technology.
This would enable the initial design of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, with the goal of enhancing energy efficiency. Any solar array should be sized to maximise on-site consumption of generated electricity, which should help to ensure the most favourable Return on Investment (ROI).
The initial assessment for your company would review the available space of the building to establish the outline feasibility of a rooftop solar PV array, including analysis of:
- Roof size, pitch, orientation, condition, structure and construction
- Shading assessment – looking at surrounding trees or buildings which may hinder the array’s performance
- Regulatory compliance assessment (planning requirements, glint & glare, nuisance)
- Site electricity demand.
The DTFA would advise on appropriate solar panel products, pitching requirements and siting of any inverters and should indicate kWp capacity with potential annual kWh electricity generation, with the modelling giving indications of consumption on-site and potential for energy export.
Initial assessment should also advise on a monitoring platform which shows the performance of each panel string as well as the overall system to assist with maintenance and help identify issues quickly.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon would utilise energy consumption data for 12 months, and model that against the anticipated generation profile of several rooftop solar PV layouts.
Solar PV cells utilise the photoelectric effect to transform solar radiation into electricity. An inverter or multiple inverters are employed to convert the Direct Current (DC) power from the panels into Alternating Current (AC) electricity.
Through this approach, the ‘grid-tied’ PV system’s renewable energy can be fed into the mains electricity grid and used on-site to reduce power demands from the grid.
Energy export
Any excess electricity generated may be exported to the mains grid, subject to agreement with the Distribution Network Operator and system arrangements. The reduction in electricity imported from the grid results in a direct cost saving since the renewable energy generated by the solar PV is free.
Initial planning risk assessment for the business premises should be undertaken to evaluate any local planning restrictions, such as those covering listed buildings and conservation areas. If the proposed installed capacity exceeds 50 kWp, a Certificate or Prior Notification Application would be required, to be included if the project goes ahead.
Project cost itemisation
A comprehensive DTFA should include itemised costs developed using benchmarking, previous project experience and assumptions based on building type. It would be useful to include operations & maintenance (O&M) costs to ensure transparency about the ongoing costs required to maintain the system.
Cashflow analysis should help to identify benefits associated with the system over the minimum anticipated lifecycle, which should be 25 years using the best available technology.
A comprehensive DTFA for solar power should enable a company to move forward with confidence, commissioning full on-site survey as a next step, backed by an investment-grade proposal.
Conclusion
The DTFA process for EV charging and solar power should identify potential business benefits for your company, while pinpointing any challenges, and should be a no-risk opportunity that provides peace-of-mind and a positive base for moving forward with adoption of climate-friendly, cost-effective technologies.