An Overview of Opportunities and Challenges to Vehicle-to-Grid Integration and Bahrain Perspective

Abstract

Transportation sector is among the largest consumers of fossil fuels, which also makes it a significant contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions. A great deal of effort has been made to reduce this reliance of transportation on fossil fuel for its operation. These efforts have resulted in innovations in vehicle technology which include vehicles operating on electric and hybrid energy. The advent of these technologies has showed the way towards new possibilities to further increase the efficiency of energy systems and their utilization. One such system utilizes the integration of electric vehicles with the national grid system, it is referred to as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. This technology provides a cost-effective and efficient solution to address the problems associated with the high demand and variable supply of renewable energy systems. This study provides a brief overview of the research conducted in this area, consequently identifying the opportunities and challenges related to this technology. Research shows that V2G integration has environmental benefits in the form of reducing CO2 emissions and reducing reliance on traditional energy sources. In spite of this, the economic feasibility of this technology requires efforts for standardization, infrastructure expansion and smart charging strategies. This paper is expected to provide future direction of work for all stakeholders, including academia, industry, and governmental bodies. There are collaborative efforts required to standardize the vehicle and grid technology and infrastructure expansion, while the research needs to focus on optimization strategies. In the end, discussion on the implementation of this technology in Bahrain is also presented. In this context, it was found that the major challenges are due to the current reliance on fossil fuel and the trend of increase in car ownership which must be addressed before taking steps towards V2G systems.