DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN SOURCE OPENADR-BASED DEMAND RESPONSE SYSTEM FOR THE CHARGING CONTROL OF PLUG-IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES

The concept of zero emission vehicles in terms of plug-in electric vehicles have raised questions about existing electrical distribution grid stability. Smart grid is an evolving branch of engineering with various methodologies which are considered to be a suitable solution to attain stable and sustainable electrical grid. This research studies the development and implementation of one such smart grid methodology named ‘Automated Demand Response’ to control load congestion on electrical grid. An open source and easy to implement Demand Response (DR) system based on OpenADR communication specification is developed. Node-Red is used as a development platform because of its open source nature as well as its ease of use for customized internet-based embedded system development. The developed system is used for electric vehicle charging rate control by using real-time pricing data from ComEd’s electrical utility web server in Chicago. The system is validated for functioning of electric vehicle charging control as well as the implemented services of OpenADR specification. The validation result shows that the implemented services are working as per specification and vehicle charging rate is in co-ordination with real-time electricity prices to reach desired battery state of charge (SOC)