EDF trials bi-directional charging for solar panel customers in UK
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EDF has launched a new trial looking into how bi-directional charging technology can be optimised to allow customers with solar panels to use the spare capacity in their EV batteries to power their homes.
Trialists will utilise EDF’s existing Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff and use Indra Renewables bi-directional chargers to integrate their EV battery and solar panels, enabling them to sell any surplus power from their car batteries to the grid at the best times.
According to the utility in a release, doing so will enable participants to potentially earn an average of £650 ($856) a year, compared to a smart charging baseline.
For the trial, Loughborough University and the University of Sheffield will carry out qualitative and quantitative studies with the customers, providing insight into the export tariff’s feasibility for optimising EV charging.
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EDF will be collecting data throughout the trial, which has already begun and ends in February 2025.
Commenting in a release was Patrick Dupeyrat, director of research and development at EDF: “Our mission at EDF is to help Britain to achieve net zero, and we will only succeed by empowering our customers and giving them the flexibility to manage their energy at home, saving them cash and carbon.
“This trial is exactly the type of innovation the industry should be striving for, delivering exciting new ways to reduce pressure on the grid and customers’ pockets and getting people across Britain engaged in their net zero journey.”
The trial is one of five that has been created and developed as part of a wider project by EDF’s Research and Development and Customer teams and is part of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s Alternative Energy Markets Innovation Programme.
This trial follows the launch by EDF of EVolve tariff and is backed by £1.3 million ($1.7 million) of funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).
