Mitigating impacts associated with a high-penetration of plug-in electric vehicles on local residential smart grid infrastructure

Abstract

The transition to plug-in battery and fuel cell electric vehicles (PEVs) is emerging as a principal strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria pollutant emissions. For PEVs, this paradigm shift requires attention to the impact of home charging on the grid in an era where distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar panels and batteries, are being commercially deployed. To understand the integration of light-duty PEVs with residential DERs, a model is developed to simulate PEV charging demand profiles in combination with field data from three different home groups of varying DER configurations. A valley-filling smart charging algorithm is explored to optimize vehicle charging, more effectively utilize solar PV, reduce emissions, and reduce peak demand. The results show that (1) the impact on transformer hot spot temperature and loss of life is acceptable for all cases, (2) smart charging can increase transformer life, (3) while PEV deployment reduces GHG emissions, additional reduction can be achieved through the integration of DERs and smart charging, and (4) the addition of DERs and implementation of smart charging virtually eliminate the negative impacts of PEVs on distribution grid infrastructure, increases PV penetration, and reduces emissions and peak demand.