Grid Communication Interface for Smart Electric Vehicle Services Research and Development
Advancing current and future grid services for PEV through V2G communications and OpenADR 2.0
Andromeda Power, LLC
Recipient
Long Beach, CA
Recipient Location
33rd
Senate District
69th
Assembly District
$681,683
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
This project was completed in 2019. The project team designed and prototyped two models of Level 2 chargers capable of demand response according to the V1G (managed charging) use cases defined by SCE and PG&E. The project team conducted fast charge and discharge simulation of the PEVs using OpenADR signals and collected performance data. The EVSEs (Level 2 and Level 3) were integrated in a microgrid with 110 kW solar panels to demonstrate the feasibility of the InCISIVE system in mitigating renewable energy overgeneration. Using low-priced renewable energy stored in PEVs instead of energy from natural gas peakers results in energy savings of 21.9 MWh and about a $3,700 savings per PEV per year for California ratepayers.
View Final ReportThe Issue
The increase of distributed energy resources, including intermittent renewables and storage in plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), makes the coordination of supply and demand to maintain the reliability of the distribution network challenging. PEVs are rapidly expanding in [!--t1:place w:st="o--][st1:State w:st="on"]California[/st1:State] and this will proportionally increase the installation of bidirectional charging stations, creating additional demand and potential stress on the grid. In order to effectively implement vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services, the grid has to be capable of effective machine-to-machine and user-to-machine communication.
Project Innovation
Andromeda Power developed an advanced smart grid communication interface that allows utilities to send dispatch signals to PEVs in real-time to optimize the bidirectional power flow of PEV battery packs depending on local power conditions such as congestion, power quality, voltage and frequency, while maintaining the driver's mobility needs. The grid communication interface operates with a virtual machine that is able to interface with PEVs of any standard. The real-time monitoring and control of the stations provided the California electric investor-owned utilities with a means of quick, automated demand response.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project enables the harmonization of V2G services, removing the communication barrier between PEVs of different standards and the grid. The communication interface enables Smart Demand Side Management benefits to the ratepayer with the possibility of using PEVs as distributed energy storage and controllable load. Local PEVs can mitigate the renewable over-generation and intermittency by storing renewable energy and delivering it to the grid on demand, potentially saving $1,861 per year for each PEV. The additional smart charging incentive can accelerate PEV adoption to achieve the targeted 1.5 million ZEVs on the road by 2025 and 5 million by 2030. Using PEVs as an energy storage resource can reduce energy demand and stress of the grid, making the load predictable and more manageable. [br /]
Affordability
The annual energy shift capacity introduced by InCISIVE is about 11 MWh/year (= 30 kWh x 365) toward the end of On-Peak period and in the following Mid-Peak period when marginal electricity is produced by natural gas peaker plant
Environmental Sustainability
Each PEV (30 kWh storage) optimally used for energy storage that charges and discharges once per day is estimated to result in approximately 7 metric tons per year of GHG reductions through the offsetting of natural gas peaker pl
Key Project Members
Luigi Giubbolini
Guy Mannino
Match Partners
Suncharge
Verdek
