Isles of Scilly Council appoints installation contractor for GO EV electric vehicle project
The Isles of Scilly Council has announced today (30th Nov 2020), the appointment of Natural Generation Limited as installation contractor for the GO-EV electric vehicle project. Natural Generation will be installing the project’s charging points, solar panels and solar canopies.
The GO-EV (Grid Optimised Electric Vehicles) project is a grant funded scheme which is enabling 10 V2G electric vehicles – that will be used as part of a car share scheme, as well as solar photovoltaic panels and at least 27 charging points. V2G (‘vehicle to grid’) means that vehicle batteries will be able to discharge electricity back to the grid during periods of high demand. The project is designed to test how this V2G technology can be used together with a car share scheme to give people a new choice in their travel options. The GO-EV project is being delivered for the Council by two project partners: Hitachi Europe Ltd and the Isles of Scilly Community Venture C.I.C.
Natural Generation will be working on the islands over the remainder of 2020 and the first part of 2021 to complete the installations. The intention is to launch the car sharing scheme in early 2021, allowing residents and businesses to book a range of vehicles. For more information, please visit www.ioscv.co.uk/carshare.
Managing Director for Natural Generation, Ivor Thomson, said: ‘we are absolutely delighted to be part of GO-EV on the Isles of Scilly. The project encapsulates our passion for renewable energy and our vision for a greener future. To be able to return to the islands to continue the electric revolution in such an iconic and beautiful location makes me incredibly proud. We honestly can’t wait to get started.’
The project, which also includes significant work around energy innovation, is being funded by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership with £606,000 from the government’s Local Growth Fund and £2.4 million from the European Regional Development Fund.
Councillor Jonathan Smith, Lead Member for Energy, Climate Change and Environment said: “after a lot of planning, it will be good to see the electric vehicle infrastructure being installed in the agreed locations on all the islands. The Prime Minister was clear in his announcement of the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution that EV’s are coming, and they will need to be charged! A network of chargers in place on Scilly will be a big benefit for the community, offering great opportunities for people to use either their own vehicle or one of the car share vehicles on the islands. Decarbonising our transport is an absolutely essential part of meeting our national collective zero carbon emissions commitments.