The Red Eléctrica Group and Ibil, the operator of charging technology and services, have signed a collaboration agreement to promote electric mobility in Spain through the development of ultra-fast charging infrastructure, the implementation of new tools that will help stabilise the system and the analysis of the impact of V2G technology, which will enable vehicles to feed electricity back into the grid. The signing ceremony was chaired by Jordi Sevilla, Chairman of the Red Eléctrica Group, and Emiliano López Atxurra, President of Ibil.

For Jordi Sevilla, "this agreement is an example of our firm commitment to electric mobility and our commitment to the transition towards a decarbonised energy model. We are working to promote the deployment of the electric vehicle in all cities and towns of Spain, through the agreement we signed with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, as well as in inter-city areas, in future scenarios with a massive implementation of the electric vehicle".

For his part, Emiliano López stressed that "with electric mobility in the context of the Energy Transition, a superb technological and industrial horizon opens up. This collaboration demonstrates that Spain has the technological, industrial and business capacity to be one of the European leaders in the transformative evolution of energy and mobility in urban systems. In addition, the foundations are being laid for the transition from the current electricity model to a new one, one in which the citizen is the protagonist and technology facilitates a safe, efficient and sustainable supply".

Within the framework of this agreement, Red Eléctrica and Ibil will work together so that the next ultra-fast charging infrastructure developed by Ibil is equipped with technology that will enable the electricity system to throttle the charge rate of vehicles in situations of frequency variation, an indicator that is essential to electricity system security. In September, Ibil will install four new 350 kW ultra-fast chargers in a service station belonging to the Repsol Group in the vicinity of Bilbao that will already incorporate this technology.

In addition, this collaboration will allow us to analyse the impact on the grid of the massive use of the charging infrastructure on the occasion of the Eco Rally that will take place on 12 October in Bilbao. During this event, 50 fast charges will take place in the same location within a 2 hour interval.

On the other hand, within the framework of this agreement, a true pilot project of V2G – vehicle to grid - technology will be launched to analyse the behaviour of the electricity system when this technological innovation is incorporated. With V2G, vehicles can provide services to the grid, throttling back the charging rate and providing the grid with the electricity stored in the batteries when it is favourable, for both the system and for the users of the vehicles. This pilot project will be developed using the charging points that Red Eléctrica has installed at its head offices in Madrid and which are operated by Ibil. The Group and Ibil are also analysing other possible pilot projects in island electricity systems.

Ibil and the Red Eléctrica Group will work on these two lines of collaboration and, subsequently, analyse the results and detect barriers. "The aim is to learn from these projects and propose solutions and recommendations so that electric mobility continues to be integrated into the system safely and with guarantees, even taking into account more account scenarios in which there is a substantially greater number of vehicles and therefore a higher penetration," says Juan José Prieto, Manager of System Operation Services Area.

This agreement strengthens the collaboration that the Group and Ibil already have and that has been key to the development of Red Eléctrica’s Control Centre for the Electric Vehicle (CECOVEL) with the aim of ensuring the safe and efficient integration of the electric vehicle. To this end, the Centre monitors and controls the electricity demand for the charging of these vehicles. Currently, it monitors 1,350 charging points throughout Spain, of which 67% are operated by Ibil.

According to Aitor Arzuaga, Managing Director of Ibil, "thanks to this agreement and the connection that already exists between our control centre and CECOVEL, we will be able to manage the demand that will be generated by the ultra-fast charge points and integrate it in the most efficient way for the electricity system through the exchange of information and operating orders".