Amsterdam stadium integrates bi-directional charging

As of today, visitors to the Johan Cruijff Arena (JCA) in Amsterdam can actively contribute to the power supply of the arena with their electric cars by integrating them into the stadium’s power grid. The first of 15 bidirectional charging stations in the JCA is now officially in operation.

The project combines the 15 new charging stations with the existing 3 MW battery storage – consisting of 148 Nissan Leaf batteries – and the 1 MW photovoltaic system on the roof of the arena. An innovative charging and energy management system is working in the background.

In the future, all of JCA’s nearly 2,000 parking spaces will be successively equipped with intelligent charging infrastructure. “Enabling visitors to give back clean energy to the stadium ensures they have a smart way of doing their bit towards the ecosystem,” Gers Baron, CTO for the Amsterdam City Council.

The intelligent software control was supplied by The Mobility House, based in Munich, Germany. It coordinates the energy supply in both directions – car-to-stadium and stadium-to-car. This enables electric cars to transfer energy from stadium visitors – with their consent – to boost the maximum current capacity of the stadium, “thus reducing the stadium’s electricity bill and contributing to a more stable national grid.” At the same time, the system ensures that the car battery is recharged in time when visitors want to drive home.

The project is the result of a collaboration between the Royal BAM Group, The Mobility House and the Johan Cruijff Arena and is supported by SEEV4City, an initiative of the Interreg North Sea Region Programme and the Amsterdam Climate & Energy Fund. It is in line with Amsterdam’s goal to become the V2X capital of Europe, the partners said. According to The Mobility House, the project “represents a further milestone in the intelligent integration of vehicle batteries into the energy system and complements the existing V2G, smart charging and battery storage projects implemented in recent years with partners such as Daimler, Renault, Nissan, Audi and others”.

The technology company – founded in 2009 – is active in more than ten countries from its locations in Munich, Zurich and Sunnyvale in the US state of California. Only recently, The Mobility House announced the transfer of Diarmuid O’Connell, former Vice President of Corporate Development at Tesla, to its Board of Management, which is probably mainly due to growth plans in the USA. In addition to many automobile manufacturers, the service provider’s customers include fleet operators, installation companies, power utilities and electric car drivers.

Source: Press release via email