Integration of smart charging of large-scale electric vehicles into generation and storage expansion planning: a case study in south china

Abstract

This paper studies how to integrate the smart charging of large-scale electric vehicles (EVs) into the generation and storage expansion planning (GSEP), while analyzing the impact of smart charging on the GSEP of a real power system in south China. For this purpose, a random simulation-based method is first developed to provide the tractable formulations of the adjustable charging load and reserve provision from EVs. This method avoids the unrealistic assumption that EVs drive and charge every day, which often exists in prior relevant approaches. Based on the random simulation, this paper proposes a novel GSEP optimization model which incorporates the weekly adjustable charging load of EVs. In the proposed model, the total charging load of EVs can be co-optimized with the investment and operational decisions of various generation and storage units. This GSEP model is applied to a provincial power system in south China. The numerical results show that the implementation of smart charging can significantly alter the decisions of GSEP. As the participation rate of smart charging improves from 0% to 90%, there is an additional 1,800 MW installation in wind and solar power, while the need to build new batteries is noticeably reduced; also, depending on the level of EV uptake, the annualized total system cost decreases by 5.11%–7.57%, and the curtailment of wind and solar power is reduced by 10.34%–19.64%. Besides, numerical tests reveal that the traditional assumption that EVs drive and charge every day can mislead the evaluation of adjustable charging load and overestimate the daily charging power peak by averagely 24.72%.