EV chargers, particularly ‘super-fast’ ones, can pose challenges for congestion management, as well as provide solutions to grid operators. Aggregated demand response from electrical vehicle charging can be used to provide frequency balancing such as FFR. Vehicle-to-home(V2H) / vehicle-to-grid(V2G) technology and the control of EVs can help solve congestions in the grid and may, in the future, provide reactive power for voltage control.
Components & enablers
- Removal of regulatory barriers
- Aggregator, TSO and DSO access to metering data
- Aggregation
- Availability of good forecasts and consumption data
- Controllability and observability
State of the art in application and research
Currently, Cecovel has only developed tools and a platform for monitoring and forecasting the demand from 1,500 EV chargers. The platform is prepared to send set points (i. e. give orders from TSO to charger to charge or discharge), but regulations prevent this. Therefore, the main contribution at the moment is to aggregate information and improve demand forecasts.
Through Statnett’s project, a FFR pilot with aggregated residential EV chargers through the aggregator Tibber was conducted. Access to the reserve was best at night, and Tibber provided a guaranteed reserve of 0.25 MW (from an 80 – 90 EV portfolio). The response time was within 2 seconds, but when disconnection was done through the EVs’ own interface (API), only a third of the cars responded as planned . This shows that EVs are capable of delivering fast frequency control (FFR) but that there is still some need for improvement. The aggregator, Tibber, is therefore planning to develop a solution which does not depend on the response time of the car interface. This suggests that offering frequency balancing services from a fleet of EVs is technically viable but still requires some improvements to the interface.
In Smart Net pilot, EVs serve as local storage and active demand to provide local services for the distribution grid (voltage regulation, congestion management) as well as services for the entire system through the connection point to the transmission grids.
In the SMILE projects, there are three demo sites, where the existing EV network will, moreover, be expanded and integrated with the control system via smart charging software.
Technology Readiness Level
TRL 6 - Demonstration
Statnett pilot validated the ability of a fleet of EVs to provide FFR within 2 seconds. However, there are still certain challenges to resolve regarding the interface.
TRL 5 – Development
INVADE preliminarily tests DC V2G technology to provide congestion management and voltage control services to the DSO. The technology is available for very few EVs and has significant deficiencies, such as communications protocols. AC V2G technology is not yet sufficiently developed. Few results are available.
Current focus of R&D and research gaps
REE is investigating how Cecovel can be used to provide frequency balancing and congestion management from EVs. Cecovel is planning on testing the application of EV charging control through its platform to provide frequency balancing as a market product. The pilots also test the V2G response.
A significant number of pilots in EU projects provides exploitable results on advanced demand-response EV management regarding the V2G and V2H techniques.
References
[1] Inertia 2020: FFR pilot
- Pilot results (in Norwegian) [Link]
- Contact info for further questions: Kari Dalen, Statnett, kari.dalen@statnett.no
[2] Conversations with Cecovel/RES Electrica representatives:
- Victor Bermudez Llamusi, vbermudez@ree.es
- Joan Josep Manresa Ballester, jmanresa@ree.es
[4] ELSA [Link]
[6] Leafs
[7] InteGRIDy [Link]
[8] MERLON [Link]
[9] MUSE GRIDS [Link]
[10] Smart Net [Link]
[11] SMILE [Link]
[12] UPGRID [Link]
[13] STORY [Link]
[14] WiseGRID [Link]
[15] WindNODE [Link]