The use of photovoltaics and electric vehicles for electricity peak shaving in office buildings

Abstract

Abstract. The use of electric vehicles and photovoltaics is perceived as a viable option to reduce the human impact on the natural environment. This paper investigates the opportunity of managing a fleet of EVs along with PV installation in such a manner that shaves the peak load in an office building. The simulation used hourly load data representative for a small office building located in Cracow (Poland). For the same location hourly irradiation data was obtained. A deterministic model was created and implemented in MS Excel software. The study showed that 30 kW installed capacity in photovoltaics can reduce the observed peak load by 36% (from 19.8 kW to 14.52 kW) in a building consuming on an annual basis 54.7 MWh of electricity. Additionally, an appropriate management of the charging process of electric vehicles can increase the energy from photovoltaics self-consumption and level the observed energy demand in normal office building operating hours.