EDMONTON — Students, staff and visitors with electric vehicles (EVs) are able to charge up while parked at the University of Alberta.
The university received a $81,000 grant through the SouthGrow Regional Initiative’s EV Charging Program, administered by Municipal Climate Change Action Centre with funding sourced from Natural Resources Canada, to install 20 charging stations at the Windsor Park and Stadium parkades.
“These chargers will benefit students, employees, and also the public who drive EVs,” says Michael Versteege, director of energy and climate action with U of A Facilities and Operations. “They’re a great addition to the chargers we already had on campus for fleet use.”
The charging stations were installed in the early fall at dedicated spots in the parkades. The stations are configured in plug-and-charge mode. An additional fee of $2.25 per hour, to cover the cost of electricity, is added to the standard parking rate of the stall. Drivers can pay using the existing payment machine or the U of A’s Honk parking app. You can find the EV charging locations at the university parking service website here.
The project adopted a smart micro-grid EV-charging solution developed by Swift Charge. This grid controls the charging power of individual chargers in real-time to minimize the peak charging demand. By doing this, more chargers were able to be installed with minimal infrastructure upgrades while delivering the desired amount of energy to all vehicles. This project also integrates the EV-charging stations with existing campus electrical systems to minimize GHG emissions and energy curtailment.
“These EV chargers are yet another way the University of Alberta demonstrates that it is a global leader in contributing to the achievement of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We’re proud to be one of the top 15 post-secondary institutions in the world for its efforts to create sustainability on campus and in the local and global community,” says Versteege.
To arrange an interview or opportunities to gather visuals, please contact:
Michael Brown, U of A media strategist
michael.brown@ualberta.ca | 780-977-1411