Parkergies announced winning solution of Open Innovation Call
On Friday 12 April an Open Innovation Day following the Open Innovation Call: Parking for Power was held in Malmö, Sweden. The top three solutions had a chance to pitch their idea in front of a jury, and the Swedish company Tyréns emerged as the winner with their solution “Parkergies”.
The Open Innovation Call targeted cities and how they can introduce a drastically larger number of charging stations for electric cars in new parking garages without causing power shortage in the distribution grid. The solution was called to allow for as many charging stations as possible, with as low power outtake from the grid as possible.
The winning solution
Tyréns works with urban development and infrastructure with a focus on creating sustainable solutions for the cities of today and tomorrow. Project Manager Robert Bolton together with four colleagues had developed the idea of module-based charging functions for nearly a year at the R&D department of Tyréns before intensifying the work to reach the Open Innovation Call. Their winning entry, Parkergies, is based on the process of making hydrogen from water through electrolysis, efficiently combining solar power, hydrogen and fuel cells in their solution to produce electricity. As hydrogen can be stored, the innate energy can be used at a later stage to produce electricity to be used when there is an increased demand for it.
We want to take our role and push for sustainability solutions and affect the market in the right direction
Robert Bolton, Project Manager for Parkergies.
Rather than the process itself, it’s the way Parkergies has chosen to design the technology around the use of modules that makes the solution a winning concept. Each module in the parking garage is approximately 30 square meters with the estimated readiness to charge 60 electric vehicles at once. As a result of the use of these modules, the garage’s charging capacity can be increased as more people start to drive electric vehicles. According to the estimations, 9 modules can fit on the ground floor of the Sege Park parking house, with the subsequent capacity to charge 540 vehicles at any one time.
We focused more on the value of the whole rather than the technology. I think that was what made our solution win
Robert Bolton continues, while praising the other two finalists’ contributions.
The way forward
The Open Innovation Call was made within the framework of the EU Interreg-project Smart Cities Accelerator and organized by EIT Climate-KIC together with the City of Malmö, E.ON.and Parkering Malmö. The call was part of an open innovation process, where everyone with a solution to the challenge could participate. Both people and organisations were encouraged to participate in the Open Innovation Day itself in Malmö, as the event offered opportunities to foster a stronger dialogue and enhanced cooperation by engaging and gathering relevant stakeholders.
The winning solution receives the opportunity to negotiate a paid contract with Parkering Malmö. The aim is to implement the winning solution in the new parking garage in the Sege Park area, one of Malmö’s prioritized development areas until the year 2025. The Sege Park is a pilot project for the next-generation of parking garages, which combines sustainable forms of construction to create climate-smart buildings.
For further information on the call Parking for Power, please contact Jakob Stolt, Senior Project Manager, EIT Climate-KIC, jakob.stolt@climate-kic.org.
