Coordinated Participation of Electric Vehicles and Generating Units in Primary Frequency Control in the Presence of Renewables

Abstract

With the integration of renewables into the grid, the ability to perform primary frequency control (PFC) by the conventional generating units decreases in terms of frequency quality and stability. Also, the wear and tear of the generating units responsible for the PFC increases. In this article, a hierarchical PFC scheme is proposed that combines the coordinated actions of hydro-generation units and electric vehicles (EVs) such that the stability is maintained for large and small disturbances, while at the same time, frequency quality is improved and wear and tear of the generating units is reduced. The control parameters of the proposed scheme are tuned by solving the proposed optimization problem with proper objective functions and constraints that are representative of frequency stability and quality, wear and tear of the generating units, and comfort of EVs owners. The scheme is complemented by a new combination of frequency filters for EVs and generating units to more effectively reduce the effect of small frequency fluctuations on the wear and tear of generating units. Comparative simulation studies show the effectiveness of the proposed method in ameliorating the problems raised by the integration of renewables.