Electric vehicles local flexibility strategies for congestion relief on distribution networks

Due to the rising concern for the environment and sustainability issues, the transportation system is experiencing important changes to its paradigm, with the increasing replacement of internal combustion vehicles by electric ones. Consequently, the electric systems need to adapt to the ever-increasing load demand from the grid and the challenge to identify driving patterns in electric vehicle users’ behavior. To prepare the grid for these changes, it is necessary to study the behavior of EV users and develop strategies to cope with the growing demand for electric vehicles. Knowing that electric vehicles experience long-parked periods at the charging stations (more than necessary to fully recharge the battery), this research paper proposes an EV charging strategy that intelligently explores these long-parked times. It interrupts charging of EVs that have enough charge to start their trip from certain charging stations to alleviate problems in the network in exchange for a certain incentive. This methodology is then applied in a realistic smart city to investigate its application. The results show that the proposed methodology brings benefits to the distribution network to relieve line congestion and improve the voltage magnitude at the network buses.This research has received funding from FEDER funds through the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020), under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028983; by National Funds through the FCT Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under PTDC/EEI-EEE/28983/2017 (CENERGETIC), UIDB/00760/2020; João Soares is also supported by CEECIND/02814/2017 FCT grant.