Planet Ark Power is a leading Australian clean energy provider for solar, storage, EV charging and microgrid solutions across the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector, as well as for recreation, education, health, and government facilities.
Internationally, they are known as eleXsys Energy. They are the developer of a unique, enabling technology that optimises the amount of renewable energy that distribution networks can host.
That enabling technology is eleXsys™. It’s a world’s first energy management system developed and manufactured in Australia that manages the stability and resilience of distributed energy resources (DER) and overcomes voltage problems to create genuine two-way smart grids. It enables the full potential of DER to be unleashed to rapidly accelerate the transition to a global clean energy future.
As demonstrated at the IKEA retail centre at Adelaide Airport, this solution transforms large C&I rooftops into urban solar power plants, creating a new asset class for investors, a secure revenue stream from energy trading, while reducing energy costs and helping the environment.
The IKEA eleXsys Microgrid project includes the installation of a 1.2MW of rooftop solar (3024 solar panels) and a 3.4 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) that enables the trading of excess energy while providing important frequency control services for the electricity network.
The eleXsys technology is also used for power conditioning and creates optimum conditions to enable the BESS to operate at peak efficiency and at peak capacity for maximum impact.
It means batteries of viable sizes can be connected to low voltage distribution grids where energy is consumed. With eleXsys, vital frequency and demand management services can be provided with the assurance that the export of surplus clean energy will not be curtailed by network operators due to voltage problems on the grid. This not only optimises the amount of surplus clean energy that can exported to the network but also maximises revenues for BESS and Microgrid owners.
In 2019, eleXsys won the “Smart Grids and Security” category of the Start-Up Energy Transition Awards in Berlin, hosted by the German Energy Agency (Dena) and the World Energy Council (WEC) and has since gone on to receive more awards both in Australia and internationally.
Co-founder of eleXsys Energy, Richard Romanowski, proudly claims that, “awareness of eleXsys keeps growing – attracting new interest, accolades, and investment. At the same time, our research and development team are finding more and more applications for eleXsys with most of our engineers now working on new R&D projects.
This commitment to ongoing research, development and innovation has resulted in Australia’s largest battery and EV charging station – the first of its kind with battery-to-grid capability – due to be opened by the end of 2023 at Adelaide’s Pasadena Shopping Centre.
eleXsys Energy’s co-founder and inventor of eleXsys, Dr Bevan Holcombe explains. “The eleXsys Electric Vehicle Energy Storage (EVES) system at Pasadena features a 1MW/1.25MWh battery energy storage system and 14 EV charging points, with grid-connection capable of purchasing clean energy from the grid during peak solar hours and storing it for EV charging.
Not only does the system operate at zero infrastructure cost to the landowner, but it also allows profitable energy arbitrage for unused stored electricity during off-peak EV charging times.”
Like the IKEA eleXsys Microgrid, this innovative project is being delivered with the generous assistance of the South Australian Government. Their EV Smart Trial Scheme is enabling the showcasing of grid-connected renewal energy storage and its suitability for EV charging in shopping centres and other public spaces.
According to Dr. Holcombe, ‘without innovative green energy solutions like eleXsys, the world will simply not be able to achieve the immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to limit climate change.
