Optimal coordination of vehicle-to-grid batteries and renewable generators in a distribution system

Abstract

The increasing penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable generators (RGs) in the power grid is an inevitable trend to combat air pollution and reduce the usage of fossil fuels. This will challenge distribution networks, which have constrained capacity. However, appropriate dispatch of electric vehicles via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation in coordination with the distributed renewable generators can provide support for the grid, reduce the reliance on traditional fossil-fuel generators and benefit EV users. This paper develops a novel agent-based coordinated dispatch strategy for EVs and distributed renewable generators, taking into account both grid's and EV users' concerns and priorities. This optimal dispatch problem is formulated as a distributed multi-objective constraint optimisation problem utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process and is solved using a dynamic-programming-based algorithm. The proposed strategy is tested on a modified UK Generic Distribution System (UKGDS). The electricity network model is simplified using a virtual sub-node concept to alleviate the computation burden of a node's agent. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and stability of this dispatch strategy.

The neglected social dimensions to a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition: a critical and systematic review

“…Another study using empirical electricity market data from Germany warned that, 'simply selling energy to [P]EV owners results in substantially higher revenues than ancillary services such as frequency regulation… The times at which vehicles enter and leave garages follow stochastic processes and even if the chance is slim, the number of vehicles may be insufficient to supply the required amount of power at the time of a regulation incident [76].' Another simulation looking at the United Kingdom's Generic Distribution System concluded that V2G did not offer an opportunity for major financial savings, calculating daily savings of about £1 and concluding that 'it may be argued that this is not a sufficient incentive for drivers to participate in such a scheme given the impact it may have on their vehicles battery life and availability [77].' Despite this uncertainty, it remains likely that different market segments for V2G will exist.…”

Vehicle-to-grid feasibility: A techno-economic analysis of EV-based energy storage

“…It should be noted that the calculations described in this paper, based on degradation rates obtained from previous studies represent a worst-case scenario [37,[39][40][41]55]. Figure 12 shows the impact of battery degradation cost variations on the 10-year NPV.…”

City-Wide Modeling of Vehicle-to-Grid Economics to Understand Effects of Battery Performance

“…The results of this paper were compared with similar studies, and conclusions were found to be similar in some cases. In the strategies proposed by Ma et al, 32 Wang et al, 33 and Colmenar-Santos et al, 35 they observe that V2G effectively reduces mobility fuel cost if EV charging and discharging are done smartly. Colmenar-Santos et al 35 use "dumb-charging" versus "smartcharging" scenarios to calculate benefits from vehicle-to-home in Canary islands and find that the annual savings of users compared to just commute are £84 (∼$103) in the dumbcharging case and £135 (∼$165) in the smart-charging case.…”