Taiwan-based battery swapping system provider Gogoro Inc. has partnered Italy-based energy services firm Enel X to deploy 2,500 Gogoro battery swapping stations across 1,000 locations in Enel X’s Virtual Power Plant (VPP) to support Taiwan’s renewable energy transition.
Gogoro said in a statement that the rollout follows the completion of a successful pilot program in 2022 and is the first commercial deployment of this technology in the world.
The companies have deployed nearly 1,300 GoStations across more than 500 locations this month and plan to deploy more than 2,500 GoStations in total across 1,000 locations by mid-2023 to support grid efficiency and stability.
“We are entering a new era of smart energy infrastructure, and by integrating the Gogoro Network with the Enel X Virtual Power Plant (VPP) in Taiwan, we are providing a new energy resource,” said Horace Luke, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gogoro.
According to him, it is the first time this technology has been deployed this way in the world, and it creates a new Gogoro revenue stream beyond mobility.
He said that the firm has always believed that time-shifting energy was key to enabling the sustainable transformation of energy and transportation, and Gogoro continues to be a key part of these advancements.
“Together, the Gogoro community is contributing to Taiwan’s net-zero targets by helping to integrate more variable power generation resources onto the grid,
“Today, when the energy grid begins to max out, we can dynamically pause our energy usage or provide energy back to the grid while continuing to operate our battery swapping service independently as needed,” he said.
In 2022, Gogoro and Enel X’s VPP pilot in Taiwan demonstrated that the Gogoro Network could safely pause charging if there was a grid imbalance or provide energy back to the grid as demand required.
Once the demand subsided, Enel X’s VPP sent a signal to the Gogoro Network to safely restore grid consumption.
The Gogoro Network performed these services without causing any interruptions to Gogoro Network battery swapping customers, demonstrating that the network is an ideal resource to support Taiwan’s energy transition.
Integrating Gogoro Network battery swapping energy into the Enel X VPP in Taiwan has the same effect as bringing new energy generation online to meet energy demand.
“The commercial expansion of the Gogoro and Enel X pilot program to more than 1,000 battery swapping locations highlights a significant step in our ancillary service to increase energy use efficiency,
“It is also an essential element in the development of large uptakes of renewable energy in the global electricity industry and a positive demonstration of how businesses like Gogoro can proactively participate in Taiwan’s energy market at scale,” said president of Taiwan Power Company (TPC), Yao-Ting Wang.
According to him, Enel X’s VPP aggregates Gogoro’s battery swapping energy load to contribute to TPC’s Energy Trading Platform for ancillary service.
“Our Energy Trading Platform allows organizations like Gogoro to be active contributors of energy in Taiwan and we encourage more businesses to participate through professional aggregators like Enel X, to work together towards Taiwan’s renewable energy future,” he said.
Jeff Renaud, Head of Enel X Asia and Oceania, said that the firm’s work with Gogoro showcases the vital role that VPPs will play in the transition to renewable energy.
“As new distributed resources are built to electrify and decarbonize our energy use, VPPs will unlock greater sustainability impacts and improved financial returns by connecting these assets to the broader energy system,” he said.
He said that the platform does this by aggregating thousands of these ‘new energy’ assets into a resource that can help balance the intermittency of large-scale renewable power stations.
“We believe our work with Gogoro is a world-leading demonstration of what VPPs can do, and we are honored and excited to continue growing our collaboration with them,” he added.
Taiwan Power Corporation has forecast that the future business opportunity in the electricity-sharing economy in Taiwan is predicted to be tens of billions of New Taiwan Dollars.
Enel X Taiwan has the largest VPP in Taiwan’s energy market today, managing the largest volume of distributed energy resources in TPC’s Energy Trading Platform.
Keyword: Gogoro partners Enel X to deploy 2,500 battery swapping stations in Taiwan