Methods for Optimal Charging of Large Fleets of Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Today’s electric grid must be transformed to meet modern consumption behaviors and safely integrate renewable energy sources. This has led to major efforts to develop grid-scale energy management solutions and ensure safety and reliability of our modern power network. In particular, large penetrations of Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) are expected increase energy needs and peak consumption, which would bring new challenges for utilities and grid operators.In this work, we develop optimization methods to coordinate the charging of large fleets of PEVs in distribution grids. We show that different methods should be applied, based on the infrastructure requirements and the objective of the controller.The first Chapter Optimal Charging of Fleets of Electric Vehicles with Discrete Charging rates: PDE Modeling and Control Techniques presents a continuum modeling framework to coordinate PEV charging with discrete charging rates. We consider PEVs as loads, which diffuse along the State Of Energy (SOE) axis, and can be in three different categories: charging, discharging or idle. We use a discretized form of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) to model the dynamics of the system and control the transitions between each category. The second Chapter Dual Splitting Framework for Optimal Charging of Fleets of Electric Vehicles with Continuous Charging rates proposes a tailored distributed optimization method to coordinate PEV charging for load shaping. Three iteration methods are presented and their convergence characteristics are detailed. The third Chapter Electric Vehicle Charging in the Smart Grid: Plug-and-Play Model Predictive Control techniques studies a voltage-regulation scenario for PEV charging. Power flow and distribution grid constraints are modeled, and PEV charging is controlled with Plug-and-Play Model Predictive Control. Finally, the final chapter Behavioral study of Demand Response programs studies the impact of non rational choices on energy consumption and on the success of Demand Response programs.

Original document

The different versions of the original document can be found in:

• http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/6tr6678v