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Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A1: Smart Grids and Microgrids".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2020) | Viewed by 22197

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Prof. Dr. Roberto Villafafila-Robles

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Guest Editor

CITCEA-UPC, Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: integration of renewable energy - storage - electric vehicles into power systems; electricity markets; energy and territory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Andreas Sumper

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Guest Editor

CITCEA-UPC, Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: electrical engineering; energy efficiency; power grid; renewable energy; smart grid; digital energy; artificial intelligence; electric cars charging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Distribution systems have been typically designed and managed just for delivering energy, because balancing generation and demand was typically provided at the transmission level by centralized and dispatchable power plants. However, both the increasing connection of distributed generation-based renewable sources at the distribution level and the empowerment of consumers are transforming how power systems should be designed and managed, because these large numbers of generators are variable and intermittent, and the demand is becoming more active and engaged. Moreover, consumers are including new loads such as electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary batteries, and their control opens an opportunity for flexibility of generation and demand at the distribution level because they can be used to enhance energy and power-related operations for the benefit of grid owners, system operators, buildings and households, and market agents as retailers/aggregators/balance responsible parties. The effective deployment of this flexibility in distribution systems depends on optimization schemes, as each case will have its own requirements and characteristics; specific markets and business models, as different markets can be considered for flexibility usage in order to bring value to the whole set of participants; and proper regulation framework, as there is a lack of standardization on codes and laws that limits the deployment of flexible management. This Special Issue on “Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries” is intended to bring together key and inspiring research on the flexibility concept, the services and the sources it can include, the market mechanism, and their results in different scenarios. Energy management optimization strategies for different beneficiaries considering use cases with electric vehicles (including V2G/V2H options) and/or batteries are welcome. The business models, their cost–benefit feasibility and sustainability analysis (at economic, environmental, and social dimensions), and current developments of flexibility sources (EVs, batteries, flexibility platform, etc.) will also be of interest.

Dr. Roberto Villafafila-Robles
Prof. Dr. Andreas Sumper
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

flexibility
energy management
electric vehicle
vehicle-to-grid (V2G)
vehicle-to-home (V2H)
batteries
storage system
prosumer
aggregator
distributed generation
electricity markets
smart grid

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1241 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Control of Plug-in Electric Vehicles for Congestion Management of Radial LV Networks: A Comparison of Implementations

by César García Veloso, Kalle Rauma, Julián Fernández and Christian Rehtanz

Energies 2020, 13(16), 4227; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13164227 - 15 Aug 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1927

Abstract

The global proliferation of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) poses a major challenge for current and future distribution systems. If uncoordinated, their charging process may cause congestion on both network transformers and feeders, resulting in overheating, deterioration, protection triggering and eventual risk of failure, seriously compromising the stability and reliability of the grid. To mitigate such impacts and increase their hosting capacity in radial distribution systems, the present study compares the levels of effectiveness and performances of three alternative centralized thermal management formulations for a real-time agent-based charge control algorithm that aims to minimize the total impact upon car owners. A linear formulation and a convex formulation of the optimization problem are presented and solved respectively by means of integer linear programming and a genetic algorithm. The obtained results are then compared, in terms of their total impact on the end-users and overall performance, with those of the current heuristic implementation of the algorithm. All implementations were tested using a simulation environment considering multiple vehicle penetration and base load levels, and equipment modeled after commercially available charging stations and vehicles. Results show how faster resolution times are achieved by the heuristic implementation, but no significant differences between formulations exist in terms of network management and end-user impact. Every vehicle reached its maximum charge level while all thermal impacts were mitigated for all considered scenarios. The most demanding scenario showcased over a 30% reduction in the peak load for all thermal variants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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17 pages, 2669 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Framework for Offering Short-Term Demand-Side Flexibility to a Flexibility Marketplace

by Stig Ødegaard Ottesen, Martin Haug and Heidi S. Nygård

Energies 2020, 13(14), 3612; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13143612 - 14 Jul 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2293

Abstract

The decarbonization of the power sector involves electrification and a massive deployment of variable renewable energy sources, leading to an increase of local transmission congestion and ramping challenges. A possible solution to secure grid stability is local flexibility markets, in which prosumers can offer demand-side flexibility to the distribution system operator or other flexibility buyers through an aggregator. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for estimating and offering short-term demand-side flexibility to a flexibility marketplace, with the main focus being baseline estimation and bid generation. The baseline is estimated based on forecasts that have been corrected for effects from earlier flexibility activations and potential planned use of internal flexibility. Available flexibility volumes are then estimated based on the baseline, physical properties of the flexibility asset and agreed constraints for baseline deviation. The estimated available flexibility is further formatted into a bid that may be offered to a flexibility marketplace, where buyers can buy and activate the offered flexibility, in whole or by parts. To illustrate and verify the proposed methodology, it was applied to a grocery warehouse. Based on real flexibility constraints, historic meter values, and forecasts for this use-case, we simulated a process where the flexibility is offered to a hypothetic flexibility marketplace through an aggregator. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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21 pages, 3503 KiB

Open AccessArticle

EV Smart Charging with Advance Reservation Extension to the OCPP Standard

by Simone Orcioni and Massimo Conti

Energies 2020, 13(12), 3263; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13123263 - 24 Jun 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4025

Abstract

An accurate management of the interactions among end user, electric vehicle, and charging station during recharge is fundamental for the diffusion of electric mobility. The paper proposes an extension of the Open Charge Point Protocol standard with the aim of including the user in the charging optimization process. The user negotiates with the central station a recharge reservation giving his/her preference and flexibility. The charging station management system provides different solutions based on user’s flexibility. This negotiation allows the optimization of the power grid management considering the user requests and constraints. The complete architecture has been designed, implemented on a web server and on a smartphone app, and tested. Results are reported in this work. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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31 pages, 8411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Effects of Smart Charging Strategies and Frequency Restoration Reserves Market Participation of an Electric Vehicle

by Fabian Rücker, Michael Merten, Jingyu Gong, Roberto Villafáfila-Robles, Ilka Schoeneberger and Dirk Uwe Sauer

Energies 2020, 13(12), 3112; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13123112 - 16 Jun 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3074

Abstract

The emergence of electric vehicles offers the opportunity to decarbonize the transportation and mobility sector. With smart charging strategies and the use of electricity generated from renewable sources, electric vehicle owners can reduce their electricity bill as well as reduce their carbon footprint. We investigated smart charging strategies for electric vehicle charging at household and workplace sites with photovoltaic systems. Furthermore, we investigated the participation of an electric vehicle in the provision of positive automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR) in Germany from 30 October 2018 to 31 July 2019. We find that the provision of positive aFRR in Germany returns a positive net return. The positive net return is, however, not sufficient to cover the current investment cost for a necessary control unit. For home charging, we find that self-sufficiency rates of up to 48.1% and an electricity cost reduction of 17.6% for one year can be reached with unidirectional smart charging strategies. With bidirectional strategies, self-sufficiency rates of up to 56.7% for home charging and electricity cost reductions of up to 26.1% are reached. We also find that electric vehicle (EV) owners who can charge at their workplace can reduce their electricity cost further. The impact of smart charging strategies on battery aging is also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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24 pages, 2029 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Coordination Mechanism For Reducing Price Spikes in Distribution Grids

by Shantanu Chakraborty, Remco Verzijlbergh, Kyri Baker, Milos Cvetkovic, Laurens De Vries and Zofia Lukszo

Energies 2020, 13(10), 2500; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13102500 - 15 May 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2536

Abstract

Recently, given the increased integration of renewables and growing uncertainty in demand, the wholesale market price has become highly volatile. Energy communities connected to the main electricity grid may be exposed to this increasing price volatility. Additionally, they may also be exposed to local network congestions, resulting in price spikes. Motivated by this problem, in this paper, we present a coordination mechanism between entities at the distribution grid to reduce price volatility. The mechanism relies on the concept of duality theory in mathematical programming through which explicit constraints can be imposed on the local electricity price. Constraining the dual variable related to price enables the quantification of the demand-side flexibility required to guarantee a certain price limit. We illustrate our approach with a case study of a congested distribution grid and an energy storage system as the source of the required demand-side flexibility. Through detailed simulations, we determine the optimal size and operation of the storage system required to constrain prices. An economic evaluation of the case study shows that the business case for providing the contracted flexibility with the storage system depends strongly on the chosen price limit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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13 pages, 4358 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large Scale Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles in Practice

by Marisca Zweistra, Stan Janssen and Frank Geerts

Energies 2020, 13(2), 298; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13020298 - 07 Jan 2020

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4169

Abstract

The energy system is changing due to a steady increase in electric vehicles on the demand side and local production (mostly through solar panels) on the production side. Both developments can put the energy grid under stress during certain timeframes, while there might be enough capacity on the grid most of the day. Smart charging of electric vehicles might be a solution to time dependent congestion. In this study, a smart charging strategy was developed and tested in large scale with 1000 public chargers, operated in the real word. We developed and tested protocols to temporarily limit the charger capacity based on the transformer data and the number of running sessions. Over 150,000 sessions were handled, of which almost half were influenced by the smart charging strategy applied. We found that we were able to keep within the grid limits by using these controls, without hindering the driver experience. Further improvements to the smart charging strategy can be made as soon as car manufacturers share information about the car battery such as the state of charge. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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22 pages, 8851 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Potential Role of Flexibility During Peak Hours on Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Life Cycle Assessment of Five Targeted National Electricity Grid Mixes

by Ingrid Munné-Collado, Fabio Maria Aprà, Pol Olivella-Rosell and Roberto Villafáfila-Robles

Energies 2019, 12(23), 4443; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12234443 - 22 Nov 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3116

Abstract

On the path towards the decarbonization of the electricity supply, flexibility and demand response have become key factors to enhance the integration of distributed energy resources, shifting the consumption from peak hours to off-peak hours, optimizing the grid usage and maximizing the share of renewables. Despite the technical viability of flexible services, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has not been proven. Traditionally, emissions are calculated on a yearly average timescale, not providing any information about peak hours’ environmental impact. Furthermore, peak-hours’ environmental impacts are not always greater than on the base load, depending on the resources used for those time periods. This paper formulates a general methodology to assess the potential environmental impact of peak-hourly generation profiles, through attributional life cycle assessment. This methodology was applied to five different countries under the INVADE H2020 Project. Evaluation results demonstrate that countries like Spain and Bulgaria could benefit from implementing demand response activities considering environmental aspects, enhancing potential greenhouse gas reductions by up to 21% in peak hours. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexibility in Distribution Systems from EVs and Batteries)

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