Better Place sign $60m deal with ACT utility

Electric car infrastructure specialist Better Place has signed a deal with ACT energy utility ActewAGL for the supply of renewable energy to its EV charging network in Canberra.

Worth about $60 million over ten years, it's the largest supply deal of its kind in Australia, and the first of its kind to slide renewable energy sources in ahead of fossil fuels.  Its significance lies in its potential to substantially reduce the well-to-wheel carbon footprint of Better Place-powered vehicles.

Well-to-wheel analysis takes into account the sum totals of energy consumed and greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted over a vehicle's life cycle. That covers everything from conception to disposal, including the development, manufacture and fuelling of the car. In the case of the ActewAGL deal, it means the energy used by Better Place to charge EV batteries will come from wind, hydro and solar sources.

In a statement, Better Place Australia CEO Evan Thornley (pictured) described the deal as "a significant milestone" for the company in getting its EV charging infrastructure network up and running in Canberra later this year. "It demonstrates that renewable energy can and should play a leading role in integrating electric cars into Australia's sustainable transport mix," he said.

 "When it's done right, electric cars are the missing piece of the puzzle that can support renewables and help to de-carbonise the grid. The cars on our network will provide distributed storage, which is the key missing ingredient particularly for intermittent renewables like wind."

Distributed storage systems make the relationship between EV batteries and the grid bilateral. Rather than merely leaching the grid of energy, batteries store it and, through ‘smart' connections, return surplus energy to the grid to help fulfil demand elsewhere. This allows power suppliers to even out the collection and distribution of energy extracted from sources, like wind, which can't be relied upon to yield on demand.

The ActewAGL partnership is part of a nationwide deal with AGL aimed at offsetting Better Place charge points with similar inputs of energy from renewable sources.

Better Place is well advanced in its plans to roll out Australia's first EV network in Canberra before year's end. The vehicle fleet, predominantly distributed among federal public sector organisations in the early stages, will follow in 2012. From there, the company will expand its network through major metro areas of other cities and along major connecting corridors such as the Hume and Pacific Highways.

Picture courtesy of Pengo/Wikimedia Commons

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