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14
INNOVATION
October/November 2012 www.esb.ie/em
ESB ecars announces 21 ecar ambassadors
IN JUNE, ESB ecars invited members of the public to join a team of ecar ambassadors to take part in the Great Electric Drive, electric car trial. The goal was to recruit people from all over Ireland, with a range of different lifestyles, to get plugged into electric motoring and to share their driving experience with others.
From more than 12,000 applications, 19 people and two companies were chosen to participate in the yearlong trial. Driving either a Nissan LEAF or a Mistubishi iMiEV, three of the ambassadors will trial an ecar for a year and 16 will trial ecars for a three month period. The ecar ambassadors are from all over the country and hail from Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Leitrim, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.
One of the commercial participants is Glenisk Organic Dairy who will add a Renault Kangoo ZE electric van to their fleet for one year. The other is Galway-based Rusheen Bay Windsurfing School, who will trial a Smith Edison electric vehicle to transport equipment to and from water sports locations.
Speaking at the announcement of the ambassadors, ESB Head of Innovation John McSweeney said, “The Great Electric Drive offers the public a wonderful opportunity to test out the concept of electric driving as part of a year long trial. Research about the attitudes and behaviour of early adopters, such as the ecar ambassadors, is vitally important to help us to gain a better insight into the driving patterns, charging requirements and the needs of drivers. The data gathered will help us to show that electric vehicles can fit into the daily lives of the Irish public and, in turn, it will also feed in to the international EU research projects in which ESB ecars plays a key role.”
Each ecar ambassador will have a charge point installed in their home or workplace and will also be able to power-up using the public charge point network that is being rolled out nationwide by ESB ecars. The public charging network now covers about 82% of all major towns and cities in Republic of Ireland. Exploring the cities and towns of Northern Ireland is no hassle either as the charging systems on either side of the border are 100% compatible with each other.
Our selected drivers will be blogging as they go, so you can keep up to date with all their comings and goings and follow their electric journey on the blog www.ESBecarsblog.ie or via www.Facebook.com/ESBecars.
ECAR POOLING SCHEME
Dublin City Council is operating this scheme with the help of Renault Ireland and ESB
THE SCHEME, which was launched at the Mansion House by Lord Mayor Naoise Ó Muirí in September, gives employees in the council’s head office at Wood Quay access to two Renault Fluence ZE electric cars and one Renault Kangoo Maxi ZE five-seater electric van.
The ecars are charged on site by charge points supplied and installed by ESB ecars and manufactured by M2C, an Irish company. The vehicles can also be powered by a public share point network, which currently has coverage in 82% of Ireland’s main towns and cities.
“The cost of powering an electric vehicle is approximately one tenth of the cost of an equivalent petrol car with carbon emissions being reduced by over 50%. By introducing this scheme, Dublin City Council is clearly making headway in reducing its carbon footprint,” said the Lord Mayor.
“Dublin City Council is delighted to be involved with ESB ecars and Renault Ireland in introducing these ecars to our fleet adding to the sustainability and smart city initiatives ongoing within the council,” said the City Manager John Tierney.
The ecar pooling scheme also promotes Dublin City Council’s seven sustainability focus areas: energy, water, waste, biodiversity, transport, society and procurement. A similar scheme has been successfully implemented in ESB head office and has resulted in lower transport running costs as well as a platform to promote the benefits of electric vehicles.
ESB ecars Manager Dermot McArdle said, “This is a great move forward in the development of sustainable commercial fleets and an endorsement of Ireland’s roll out of electric vehicles. We commend Dublin City Council for taking this step and being an example to other organisations to and demonstrating how electric transport can be of benefit both from an environmental and cost efficiency perspective”.
Renault Ireland Marketing Director Julien Lelorrain said his company was delighted to support the scheme. “Renault Ireland hopes to see many more electric fleet car sharing initiatives like this in Dublin and other cities and towns around the country.”
Suitably, the launch took place during Mobility Week, an initiative to promote sustainable modes of travel and improvement of the urban environment, which ran from Sunday to Saturday September 16th to 22nd.
ecars blog goes live!
FOLLOWING THE appointment of 21 ecar ambassadors as part of The Great Electric Drive, ESB ecars is proud to launch www.ESBecarsblog.ie.
The blog allows everyone to share in the experiences of our ecar Ambassadors as they embark on their electric journey.
The organic dairy company Glenisk, which was chosen as one of the commercial ambassadors, will be blogging about its experiences throughout the year. It said in a recent post, “We are excited to be part of ESB ecars’ initiative ‘The Great Electric Drive’. So much of the planning of previous years is coming to fruition all at once – the fantastic, accessible infrastructure installed by ESB ecars, the government support and the ever-evolving technology of the car industry making strides in the quality of electric vehicles and the range they provide. There has never been a better time to go electric and over the next 12 months, we’re looking forward to sharing our experiences in our brand spanking new 100% electric Renault Kangoo ZE. Hope to see you on the road!”
ESBI’S ASSET MANAGEMENT SERVICES ENERGISE 400KV PORTAN CONVERTOR STATION
AFTER FOUR months of commissioning work, the 400kV Portan AC/DC Convertor Station, located near Batterstown in County Meath, was successfully energised in July 2012. Portan station is the transmission system connection interface for the 500MW east-west interconnector between Ireland and Wales.
ESBI’s Asset Management Services HV Substation Commissioning team (comprising Dominick Fitzsimons and Damien Kelly supported by Paul Clancy and Declan O’Neill of the AMS Stations Primary Plant team) was responsible for carrying out the commissioning of the station, as well as the connections to the existing Woodland 400kV station and the Portan Convertor Station.
This project presented a unique set of technical challenges. To overcome these and to ensure the successful energisation of the Portan convertor station, close cooperation between many stakeholders was required including ESB Networks site staff, ABB commissioning engineers and EirGrid System Operators.
The east-west interconnector is a 230km underground oil-free DC cable of which 185km is located under the Irish Sea. At full capacity, this link will be able to supply power for up to 350,000 homes. This project is of strategic importance, not only to Ireland’s energy supply, but also to Europe, as it will support a single European Electricity Market. Further benefits of the project are the facilitation of the growth of renewable energy in Ireland, the import and export of energy, the increase in competition and reducing the future cost of electricity.
The project was completed ahead of schedule and the east-west interconnector is due to start commercial operation in September 2012.
