Renewables-Powered Public EV Charger For Yarra Glen

EV drivers visiting the Victorian town of Yarra Glen will soon be able to top up their electric vehicles at a new charging station.

Yarra Glen is part of Yarra Ranges Shire, which is situated on Melbourne’s eastern fringe. The town is home to around 3,000 people and is located approximately 40 km from Melbourne’s CBD.

Yarra Glen was selected for the Victorian State Government’s Destination Charging Across Victoria (DCAV) program, which will see the installation of 141 EV fast-chargers at 116 high-use sites across the state.

Through a partnership between Yarra Glenergy, the State Government and Yarra Ranges Council, a 50kW Level 3 DC EV charger¹ will be ready for use at Yarra Glen Memorial Hall in Bell Street before the end of June this year.

“We’re seeing more electric vehicle options come onto the market, and more community members and visitors taking up the opportunity to swap to more environmentally-friendly transport,” said Ryrie Ward Councillor Fiona McAllister. “Having public chargers is a great way to encourage more people to make the swap, while also promoting our region as a key tourist drawcard.

I’m not 100% certain on this, but judging by a small part of an image accompanying the Council news item, it looks like a Tritium RTM (pictured above) is to be installed. The charger will be pay-per-use (costs not mentioned), and resulting funds will go to community group Yarra Glenergy to support other environment and sustainability projects in the area.

Partly Powered By The Sun

The 50kW charging station will get some of its electricity from solar panels already in place atop the Memorial Hall, with the remainder coming from renewable energy purchased from the grid.

In addition to its new role in EV charging, the Hall acts as an emergency refuge centre; with a battery system installed last year to keep the lights on in a situation where mains grid supply is interrupted. Similar systems were also installed at The Memo in Healesville and the Yarra Centre in Yarra Junction, both of which are also emergency refuge centres.

Yarra Ranges Council Big On Renewables

Council is certainly charging into a renewables and EV future. We reported in February this year the organisation is powering ahead with solar installations on a bunch of community buildings across the LGA; adding to a tally of around 4,000 solar panels already installed on more than 50 public and community facilities.

There has also been strong uptake of solar power in Yarra Glen across the wider community; with more than 563 small-scale systems installed as at the end of March this year.

Beyond the Yarra Glen charging station, Council will continue to facilitate the development of a network of publicly available chargers within its boundaries. On a related note, Council has set goals of 100% renewable energy for corporate operations from 2030 and net zero emissions by 2040.