The proliferation of plug-in electric vehicles has led to increased public charging infrastructure in cities worldwide. Grid-connected parking lot spaces are the most common charging option due to their technological readiness and convenience of adoption. Since the batteries aggregated by parking lots can be regarded as virtual energy storage, grid-connected parking lots are expected to provide many benefits to the urban distribution grid. This paper proposes a comprehensive methodological framework to evaluate the potential benefits and costs of utilizing grid-connected parking lot infrastructures to promote energy supply sustainability in future power distribution grids. Capacity-value-based and cost-effectiveness indexes are developed, which quantify the potential contribution of parking lots to power supply reliability and the associated economic implications. To realistically describe the available generation capacity of parking lot resources, a comprehensive model is presented, which explicitly considers the impact of external stimuli (incentive rates) on the behavioral patterns of lot users. Vehicle user responsiveness to incentive grades is derived from social field surveys. To conduct the evaluation, a hybrid algorithm based on Monte Carlo simulations is employed. The proposed methodology is illustrated on a real distribution grid in Beijing. The results confirm the effectiveness of our proposed approach and support practical policy suggestions.

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With the explosive growth of online services, the Internet Data Center (IDC) has been constantly growing, and becoming an emerging load demand in modern power systems. The power consumption of IDCs is believed suitable for demand response (DR) purposes. However, to what extent IDCs could be used as candidate DR resources to provide capacity support are not only dependent on the technical property of IDC equipment but also affected by the willingness of data end-users to participate in the DR program. To address the above issue, this paper presents a methodological framework for quantifying the potential value of IDC-based DR in smart distribution grids. To achieve this, through comprehensive consideration of operational constraints for both data center and power systems, the concept of capacity credit (CC) is introduced and extended into the IDC scenario. The proposed framework explicitly considered the impacts of both uncertainty of user participation intention and the reliability of basic information in the DR process. A novel Z-number based price elasticity uncertainty model is introduced, and then a more realistic evaluation of IDC capacity credit is obtained. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model and method is illustrated on a modified IEEE-33 node network, and the obtained results verify the significance of IDC-based DR in enhancing the adequacy of supply in distribution grids.

No abstract

With the explosive growth of online services, the Internet Data Center (IDC) has been constantly growing, and becoming an emerging load demand in modern power systems. The power consumption of IDCs is believed suitable for demand response (DR) purposes. However, to what extent IDCs could be used as candidate DR resources to provide capacity support are not only dependent on the technical property of IDC equipment but also affected by the willingness of data end-users to participate in the DR program. To address the above issue, this paper presents a methodological framework for quantifying the potential value of IDC-based DR in smart distribution grids. To achieve this, through comprehensive consideration of operational constraints for both data center and power systems, the concept of capacity credit (CC) is introduced and extended into the IDC scenario. The proposed framework explicitly considered the impacts of both uncertainty of user participation intention and the reliability of basic information in the DR process. A novel Znumber based price elasticity uncertainty model is introduced, and then a more realistic evaluation of IDC capacity credit is obtained. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model and method is illustrated on a modified IEEE-33 node network, and the obtained results verify the significance of IDC-based DR in enhancing the adequacy of supply in distribution grids.