It was a pleasure to interview Shamala Gadgill, Senior Programme Manager at Coventry City Council, ahead of their participation at Solar&Storage Live London, at the ExCel (April 29-30)!
Solar&StorageXtra is the new publishing part of the Solar and Storage Live event series where we will be interviewing our esteemed speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and attendees to get their live reactions to the event and the important discussions within the industry.
Shamala joined Solar&StorageXtra to discuss the deployment of charging infrastructure, the support that is given to local authorities to deploy this technology and the affect a skills shortage has on an industry.
Shamala explained that a mass deployment of charging infrastructure is needed to support the electrification of public transport. Lots of projects are happening in Coventry, including the integration of solar and battery storage. In collaboration with National Express, Coventry City Council have began to install solar pv on the rooftop of their bus depot alongside a battery storage system. In theory, the solar and storage system could provide enough electricity to power the 10 strong electric bus fleet.
Shamala highlighted that a lot of work is being done by the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) to support local authorities with their electric vehicle strategy but more needs to be done. Shamala explained to tackle these challenges to EV infrastructure deployment, like the skills shortage for example, significant collaboration is needed. Measures must be put into place to tackle these issues but attending events, like Solar&StorageLive, help provide a platform for these discussions and assist local authorities to understand what technology suits their town/city best.
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To enquire about interviews, submit news and press releases please contact our Editor, Regan Slaymaker, regan.slaymaker@terrapinn.com. For sponsorship and exhibition enquires please contact Tom Moon, tom.moon@terrapinn.com.
