Demand side management of electric vehicle car parks to increase integrated solar power capacity within an existing radial distribution network

The amount of integrated solar power generation capacity within the UK distribution networks is expected to continue to increase within the next few years. However, the grid has a fixed power transfer capacity, and to avoid the extra cost of power system upgrade or curtailment of renewable power, it would be necessary to store the surplus power from such non-dispatchable renewable resources using appropriate energy storage technologies. In this work, a novel control strategy based on extended optimal power flow is introduced to control the charging of electric vehicles located at car parks to increase the solar power generation capacity within a radial distribution network while satisfying the power system constraints and electric vehicle user requirements