IN Brief:
- Acciona Energía has commissioned 42 public charging bays at El Faro shopping centre in Badajoz.
- The installation has 2MW of contracted power and uses Circutor charging equipment.
- Charger ratings range from 22kW AC to 240kW ultra rapid DC.
Acciona Energía has opened a 42 bay public electric vehicle charging hub at the El Faro shopping centre in Badajoz, Spain, supported by 2MW of contracted electrical capacity.
The installation combines four 240kW ultra rapid chargers serving eight bays, ten 80kW rapid chargers serving 20 bays, and seven 22kW units serving the remaining 14 spaces. Circutor supplied the charging equipment.
Several charging tiers allow the site to accommodate different vehicles and dwell periods. The 240kW equipment supports shorter sessions where vehicle capability permits, the 80kW chargers provide an intermediate option, and the 22kW units serve vehicles remaining at the site for longer periods.
Users can start and pay for charging through Acciona Energía’s application, while ad hoc payment is available through a mobile device or bank card. The arrangement supports registered customers and occasional users without requiring a preexisting account.
The Badajoz opening expands Acciona Energía’s charging activities in Spain and Portugal, where the company reports access to more than 5,000 public and private charging points. El Faro is among Spain’s larger public charging installations by bay count and contracted power.
A commercial centre generates a mixture of trip types and dwell periods, from short visits requiring a rapid top up to longer stays suited to lower power charging. Matching equipment rating to likely dwell time can improve utilisation and reduce the need to provide maximum power at every bay.
High power charging becomes an infrastructure project
A 2MW connection is comparable with a substantial commercial or light industrial load, so the upstream electrical system must accommodate coincident demand, transformer capacity, switchgear ratings, protection, metering, harmonic performance, earthing, communications, and high current cable routes.
The combined charger ratings exceed the contracted connection capacity if every connector is considered at full output simultaneously. Diversity, vehicle demand, and charger control will therefore determine how power is allocated across the site.
Dynamic load management can distribute available capacity according to charger rating, battery condition, session priority, occupancy, and the total site limit. More vehicles can charge behind a finite connection, although individual drivers may receive lower power when demand across the installation rises.
Vehicle capability also limits each session. A 240kW charger does not guarantee that a vehicle will accept 240kW, because battery temperature, state of charge, system voltage, the charging curve, and onboard controls all influence the instantaneous rate.
Energy delivered, session duration, and bay turnover therefore provide a fuller picture of performance than charger rating alone. A lower power unit used consistently can contribute more annual energy than a faster charger with limited occupancy.
Payment and communications form part of the operational specification rather than a separate customer interface. Chargers must maintain dependable links with payment services, monitoring platforms, back office systems, maintenance teams, and roaming providers.
A communications or authorisation failure can leave electrically functional equipment unavailable to users. Software must therefore manage tariffs, receipts, fault reporting, session records, security, and remote diagnostics alongside the power conversion hardware.
Expanded ISO 15118 support for charging equipment is also extending the exchange of data between vehicles and infrastructure. The protocol supports functions including automated authentication, managed charging, and more closely coordinated energy services.
Maintenance planning becomes more demanding at a multi bay hub. Power modules, cooling systems, contactors, cables, connectors, payment terminals, displays, communications equipment, and protective devices operate in an exposed public environment and may fail independently.
Remote diagnostics can reduce investigation time, although field access, suitable spare parts, and trained service technicians remain necessary. Availability targets need to distinguish between an individual connector fault and the complete loss of a charger or site.
Large charging hubs also affect the local network. Connection studies must consider maximum import, voltage change, transformer loading, fault level, and the cumulative effect of nearby developments.
Where reinforcement is required, delivery may depend on network work outside the operator’s direct control. Programme schedules therefore need to allow for substation modifications, new cables, protection changes, and distribution network approvals.
Battery storage and local generation can reduce peaks or improve use of an available connection at some sites, although neither has been announced for El Faro. Their value would depend on tariffs, utilisation, export arrangements, available space, and the additional capital and maintenance obligations.
The Badajoz hub reflects the move from isolated chargers towards coordinated electrical infrastructure with megawatt scale demand. Its long term performance will depend on grid capacity, charger availability, software, payment systems, vehicle behaviour, and maintenance across all 42 bays.
