Coordinating Electric Vehicles and Distributed Energy Sources Constrained by User’s Travel Commitment

Abstract

Distributed energy sources including renewable energy (RE) sources and electric vehicle (EV) discharging offer opportunities to improve grid performance. Although uncoordinated EV charging can perfectly meet users’ driving needs, it brings great challenges in maintaining the quality of low voltage (LV) distribution grids. Most existing EV control strategies do not take into account the heterogeneous nature of EV charging, including the various users’ travel needs and the intermittent nature of RE sources. This article proposes a hierarchical control method that simultaneously coordinates EV charging by considering a dynamic energy tariff, RE sources, EV hardware characteristics, and particularly the EV’s driving needs. The proposed local controller sends the EV’s charging priority and required energy to the central controller based on the EV’s hardware characteristics and users’ driving needs. The central controller then uses this information along with the energy tariff from the retailer and the present grid performance to control EV’s charging or discharging power. The efficacy of this hierarchical control method is evaluated using an Australian LV grid. The obtained results show that this method can reduce the neutral current and voltage imbalance with the maximized usage of renewable energy resources while the EV users’ driving needs are met.