Simplifying & Accelerating the Grid Connection & Permitting Processes: An Open Letter from Europe's EV Charge Point Operators
To meet the urgency of the moment Europe is facing, from the climate crisis to quickly reducing the continent’s reliance on imported oil, transport needs to be decarbonized and electrified. A successful transition to e-mobility requires a large amount of charging infrastructure for EVs deployed across Europe. Crucially, it also needs to be deployed fast. For charge point operators (CPOs), this means a laser-sharp focus on tackling every obstacle and bottleneck standing in the way of the fast rollout of charging infrastructure.
Why an open letter?
The largest bottleneck CPOs face across Europe today is the amount of time it takes to establish a grid connection point, the complexity of the process to get one, and access to sufficient grid capacity.
More than 20 CPOs across Europe, consisting of ChargeUp Members and more, have signed an open letter to propose five criteria benchmarking state-of-the-art permitting processes that would harmonise and standardise the process of getting a grid connection in Europe.
Are you a CPO that is equally affected? Join the cause & sign the letter!
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What would a state of the art grid connection permitting process looks like? Watch our conversation with Peter Badik From Greenway and Roger Hunter from Shell, moderated by our Secretary General, Lucie Mattera!
They will practically illustrate our five key points:
Standardisation - An efficient process would see a standardization of steps and procedures which would be based on digital tools and a digitalized approach.
Transparency - An efficient process would deliver transparency at all stages.
Predictability - An efficient process would provide predictability for outcomes, as well as costs. It would ensure that outcomes do not vary from one DSO to another depending on the account manager in charge, leading to waste of scarce manpower within CPOs.
Harmonisation - An efficient process would take into account that CPOs operate across borders, and encourage DSOs across Europe to converge toward one standardized process acting de facto as the “industry standard” for multiple jurisdictions, supporting the scale-up of charging networks.
Speed - An efficient process would guarantee that the time between a request for a permit and realisation of the connection to the grid is specific as well as accurate.