Stenkamp Logistik has long been producing the annual electricity requirement of its own company building on its own roof - at a minimum. Now, the surplus electricity is channelled into a new charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The two PV systems on the roofs of the company buildings of Stenkamp Logistik produce a total peak output of almost 400 kilowatt-peak. With this output, there is usually green energy left over for additional projects. Now, Elektro Niehoff GmbH has enabled the logistics service provider from Borken-Burlo to also charge electric cars with the self-generated green electricity. The project was implemented using eight AC SMART VALUE charging boxes from Weidmüller and the corresponding load management system SMARTcharge. The charging boxes enable charging with up to 22 kW.
It's obvious to us to utilize surplus electricity from our PV systems to power our company vehicles, as well as employee and customer cars. This has now become a reality with Weidmüller's load management, reports Bernd Stenkamp, Managing Director of Stenkamp Logistik GmbH. ‘I'm particularly impressed by the clarity and ease of use of the system,‘ emphasizes Stenkamp, adding, ‘We can easily configure the system to utilize only surplus PV power, allowing us to charge our vehicles completely independently from the grid operation. We can also use our employees' existing RFID access chips to start and stop charging processes. This makes it easier for us to manage the charging infrastructure and employees don't have to carry another chip with them.'
'The installation of the charging infrastructure required the installation of two energy meters in the existing transformer station – one measures the electricity generated by the PV system, and the second measures the building's mains electricity consumption. With this information, SMARTcharge calculates how much electricity can still be used for charging electric vehicles. It then intelligently distributes this electricity to the charging stations based on prioritization,' explains Christian Deppermann, Business Development Manager at Weidmüller.
In the future, Stenkamp Logistik plans to add more charging points. Up to 50 charging points in SMARTcharge are easily possible.
Andre Remmelt, Co-Managing Director of Elektro-Niehoff GmbH from Borken-Weseke, installed the SMARTcharge load management system for the first time together with experts from Weidmüller and reports: "We have been relying on Weidmüller products for a long time. They are well thought out, developed by experts, and I know they personally take care of us when we have questions. In addition to the numerous features that SMARTcharge offers our customers, I particularly like the installation wizard. It guides step by step through the commissioning process. This saves my employees a lot of time during system configuration."