A brief overview of how the charging station works. How much organic waste is needed per day to keep it running?
Traditionally, diesel or petrol is used to power generators (gensets), which are commonly used as power back ups in apartments, societies, offices and institutions. In the case of our EV charging station, diesel/petrol is replaced by the green fuel alternative biogas. Pure biogas is fed into a genset that is designed to use the biogas as fuel, which in turn produces current. This renewable energy then becomes the input for the EV charging station, which supplies renewable energy to charge electric vehicles.
While the correlation depends on a number of constraints and variables, when at 100% capacity utilization, this particular plant produces approximately 240 cubic meters of biogas a day, which can be used to charge up to 8 cars (eg. Tata Nexon) The charger used is a “fast” charger that can complete a charge cycle in about 45 minutes.
The biogas plant set up at Haji Ali has a processing capacity of 2 tonnes of organic waste per day, and would require 1 to 2 tonnes of wet waste to remain operational on a daily basis.
How efficient can these chargers be (in terms of number of vehicles that can be charged per day, emissions, rate of charging)?
This particular biogas powered charging station is a fast-charging station, which ideally takes a maximum time of 45 minutes to fully charge a 4-wheeler.
GPS Renewables’ state-of-the-art captive biogas technology called BioEnergy is designed in such a compact way to avoid any leakage in the form of emissions. Due to the design of the bioenergy, which keeps it completely sealed, there are no emissions from the biogas generation plant. As fossil fuels are replaced, GHG emissions are reduced to a minimum.
How big does a biomethane plant need to be for an EV charging station to be able to produce 220 units of electricity?
The power generation is based on the quality and quantity of biogas generated and the conversion efficiency of the genset (electricity generated per m3 of biogas).
This particular plant with the required quality of organic waste can produce about 240 cubic meters of biogas per day and can generate 300 units of electricity.
What is the outlook for feedstock collection?
The project receives its input product from installations in its local environment. Restaurants, motels, hotels and small eateries in and around the area release organic wet waste from their operations which goes to the plant as feedstock. This waste is collected and brought to the site by Green Waste Collector trucks appointed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).
The biogas plant installed at Haji Ali has a capacity of 2 tonnes of organic waste per day, and would require 1 to 2 tonnes of wet waste to remain operational on a daily basis.
The Biogas Plant installed along with the EV Charging Station at Haji Ali completely complements the EV Charging Station itself 100%. Used to its full capacity, the station can fully recharge up to 8 cars per day.
Why is the use of electricity generated from biogas not widespread? What are the challenges in mass adoption of such EV chargers?
Powering an EV charging station with electricity generated from biogas is a truly new concept that has been started by GPS Renewables with the Haji Ali initiative. Hence, it will take time to create awareness about this concept and hence lead to its mass adoption.
One of the major challenges that need to be addressed for setting up such plants is the supply of organic feedstock. Such a biogas plant requires a regular supply of organic feed, and setting up logistics to ensure the transport of wet waste from the bulk waste generator to the plant can be a bit troublesome. However, GPS recently obtained a patent for a possible solution to this logistical issue through its DISPRED model. The DISPRED model removes the space/distance constraint and facilitates continuous biogas production through centralized digesters that collect organic supplies from decentralized facilities in a given area.
There is also a broader reason why biogas can be used more profitably to replace fossil fuels (LPG/PNG) in obvious thermal applications. Some places can benefit from EV charging through such green power.
The scope of applications for this technology. Expansion Plans for the Brand (Geographically)
EV charging is just one option for biogas as a renewable fuel. Buoyed by the welcome reception received by GPS’s Biogas Powered EV Charging Station, we have focused on strategies to scale up this model Biogas Powered Charging Stations across regions and locations. For example, today there are already 100+ GPS Bioenergy installed in India and across the world. “Bioenergy” is GPS’s flagship biogas technology that is most efficient in generating energy from organic waste in the segment in which it operates. This technology through GPS has viability across geographies, and we are proud to make this Indian brand visible and active. First in South and SE Asia followed by MENA regions and then.