Electric vehicle hosting capacity analysis: Challenges and solutions

Abstract

The significant rise of electric vehicles (EVs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) poses critical challenges to the distribution systems for maintaining statutory limits of technical and operating constraints. This review investigates the challenges and explores innovative solutions for EV hosting capacity analysis in the distribution network based on existing literature and industry reports published in recent years (2014–2023). The study emphasizes the significance of multiple performance constraints, scenarios, availability of data, and methods in hosting capacity analysis. In addition, it provides insights into the technical aspects, performance, and practicability issues of open-source and commercial tools for assessing hosting capacity. The study also highlights industrial hosting capacity projects in international and Australian contexts, showcasing the importance of region-specific integration capacity analysis due to diverse EV profiles, charging facilities, and network topologies. Based on the existing research and industry reports, active network management, flexible operating limits, demand response, optimal placement methods, and network reconfiguration are identified as promising solutions for hosting capacity enhancement. The review concludes by discussing future research scopes, considering accuracy, computational time, and data requirements for EV hosting capacity analysis to guide the researchers and the distribution grid planners.