Demand Response Approach for Coordinated Scheduling of EV Charging in a Micro-Grid

Abstract

Compared to traditional fuel vehicles, electric vehicles (EVs) can use energy efficiently without polluting the environment, which is why environmental experts are pushing the switch to EVs. When a large number of EVs are connected to the present power grid, negative impacts to the power system dynamics may happen. Implantation of demand response (DR) programming may avoid unplanned demand peaks, and support grid voltage. The objective of this article is to minimize the cost of charging the EVs while also utilizing their battery storage capacities to support grid voltage. Price-based DR programming is used to control the EVs’ charging. A study of an 8-bus distribution system with three EVs connected during charging/discharging periods, and different scenarios are simulated and compared with the grid response without any EV. New distribution tariffs have been developed to encourage small electricity users toward peak load restriction. The proposed scheduling method is valuable for the utility to estimate the capability of different control strategies for EV charging. It can also be extended to more complicated systems with large number of EVs and hence applied to a real network. MATLAB environment is used to test the suggested control scheme’s robustness and efficacy.