International Conference on Condition Monitoring, Diagnosis and Maintenance –

th
CMDM 2017 (4 edition)
September 25th - 27th 2017 , Radisson Blu Hotel Bucharest, Romania

134

Optimal charging of electrical vehicles in the Smart City for improvement the state
of the distribution electrical grid

A.T. RADU, M. EREMIA, L. TOMA

University “Politehnica” Bucharest
Romania

SUMMARY
In order to meet the increasingly complex needs of expanding cities and to improve the quality of
life, it is considered time to review the service management system and its quality through refurbishment.
Thus, with the development of the smart grid(s) concept, the concept of smart city also emerged.
The Smart City concept provides the foundation for all the key elements of a smart (intelligent) city,
including smart people, smart mobility, smart economy, smart life, smart governance and smart environment.
Compared with classical / passive consumers, the consumption of electricity with EV charging has a
very unpredictable character with a high nonlinearity and dispersion. The random and uncontrollable nature
of a large number of EV charging stations can generate complex effects on the stable operation of power
grids.
In this paper we proposed an energy management strategy and optimized charge of electric vehicles
(EV) to improve the operation of the electrical network in view of the impact of the major integration of EVs
and renewable energy sources (RES) on the electrical networks.
The simulation results show that to meet the challenges generated by a large number of EV,
coordination of the EV charging not only reduces the difference between the peak and valley of demand, but
also generate a number of favorable factors, like reducing power losses and improving the quality of
electricity. It also provides for a reduction in the operating costs of the networks and the costs of the EV
charging by encouraging the provision of ancillary system services through vehicle-to-grid (V2G)
technology and the storage capacities represented by EV batteries, which facilitate integrating of distributed
energy sources and further promoting the use of renewable energy sources and improving reliability in power
supply.

KEYWORDS
Smart City; Smart Grid; Electric vehicle (EV); energy management; Vehicle to Grid (V2G);
renewable energy sources (RES).

1. RELATED WORK
Smart grid is an evolution of power grids, which is expected to lead to more efficient use of network
resources, faster repairs, self-healing and self-optimization as well as full integration of renewable energy
sources [1]. In this context, EV involves new challenges due to additional energy consumption but also
advantageous opportunities, because this additional electricity consumption is relatively flexible and
controllable, which makes EV batteries able to be used as dispersed energy-storage units to "support" grid
during periods of peak demand: EV can be active participants in the intelligent electrical network compared
to passive consumers.
In literature are presented strategies and models which support the development of transportation
electrification and the expansion of renewable generation through: understanding vehicle use profiles,

toni.radu18@gmail.com
integrating renewable resources with vehicle charging, developing and evaluating grid interoperability
standards, exploring grid services technology opportunities.
There are two main types of charging and discharging control that have been proposed in the
literature. The first type includes the centralized methods where there exists a control center that collects
information and schedules EVs for charging and discharging operations [2]–[4]. The second type includes
the decentralized approaches that allow users to decide the charging schedules by themselves [5]–[7].
However, these methods cannot guarantee the grid related constraints and possibly lead to some critical
problems, such as power outage.
To optimize generation and storage, one difficulty lies in providing incentives to attract enough EVs
to donate their batteries, and in designing schedules to make the best of them. In [8] is modeled a Virtual
Power Plant (VPP) with EVs providing storage services, where the reward to individual EVs is not
monetary, but consists in free electricity, proportional to the storage it provides to the VPP. In [9] is
presented a similar model to minimize the impact of wind farm production variations, where EVs cooperate
with the wind farm by allowing it to use their batteries as a buffer. In terms of expenses, [10] estimate that
the electricity system can be powered 90% to 99.9% of the time entirely on renewable electricity, at costs
comparable to today’s, if we optimize the mix of generation and storage technologies including EV fleets.
Voltage profile control and loss minimization algorithms are proposed in [11-13]. The economic
approach is not excluded because some algorithms integrate charging cost minimization and optimal
operation of a future smart grid with booming of EVs [14-18].

2. PROBLEM FORMULATION
This study aims at identifying the effects of EV charging on the distribution grid, with regard to
voltage profile, power losses and integration of renewable electricity. So even with moderate penetration,
EVs have the potential to participate in the power market and it is also attractive for the grid operators to let
them do so.
In this paper is examine the possibility and profitability of selling EV energy to the grid. According
to this, is assuming EVs work as peak power plants. This provides the grid operator with an economical way
to balance demand and supply, relying on EV batteries as storage facilities or energy buffers thanks to the
V2G technology.
Electric Vehicles can both participate in demand response (DR) and serve as energy storage
facilities. They can respond to DR signals, such as price variations or direct control messages by modulating
their power consumption, thus providing necessary flexibility to the grid operator. Energy Storage is a key
technology for the integration of renewable energy sources to the grid.
Demand Response is the possibility for the power grid to alter the consumption patterns of end users;
it can be implemented through various mechanisms. DR was initially used primarily toward large electricity
consumers, but the transition to the Smart Grid provides a paradigm shift, where every load, no matter how
small, can participate in a DR program.
In this scope the mathematical problem is formulated to find the best strategy for EV charging
stations in a distribution network by considering both charging – grid to vehicle – (G2V) and discharging
(V2G) the electrical vehicles, in terms of grid status. The optimized strategy will result in shifting the load
mainly because of the electricity price and the load degree of network.
When real-time electricity prices can reflect the congestion status, an EV would be contributing to
valley-filling by simply following a cost-minimizing charging program.
Real-time pricing is designed to provide consumers with hourly price signals throughout and given
day. This model allows a utility company to earn a profit but also sends the proper price signals to the
customer. The interest of the utility company align with the consumer – a critical step in fair pricing as more
and more electric vehicles are introduced into the power grid.
The algorithm performs the management of the electric charging stations, considering that the
connection between vehicles and grid is bidirectional.
EVs parked in the charging station can be fed by chargers that collect information on the battery,
such as state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), and other specifications from the battery-management
system equipped in EVs based on the impulse response concept before charging.
The objective function is:
Pch / dsch, j (t )
 MIN Cost     t  cel (t ) (1)
iA jB 
where Pch/dsch,j is the control variable of the objective function and represents the charge/discharge power at
the time instant t for the jth EV; We consider efficiency of charge and discharge process
of battery is η=96%.
t - the time interval index; we consider a time interval of t  0,5hours , thus resulting T=48 time
intervals within one day.
cel (t) - the price of electricity at time t, in €/kWh;
A - set of time intervals, A = [Tarriv; Tdep];
Tarriv - arrival time on an EV;
Tdep - departure time of an EV;
B - number of vehicles in the parking lot, with B  1 n ;
j - EV index.
subject to:
a) Power constraints
This category of restrictions is divided into three subcategories:
– Station power, which refers to the maximum power absorbed/injected by the charging station from
the electrical grid at a specific instant of time:
Pchk / dsch, j (t ) t
 Pmax
k
  
k
 Pmax ,
j  B
(2)
jB
k
where Pmax is the maximum absorbed/ injected power by the charging station; this limit can be imposed
within the specific agreements between the consumer and the energy supplier in terms of the network
loading, voltage levels, protection settings, etc.
k - the charging station index.
– Individual power, which refers to the maximum power absorbed/injected by an EV at a specific
instant of time:

j
Pchj / dsch (t ) j t  A;
 Pmax   Pmax , (3)
 j  B
j
where Pmax is the maximum absorbed/ injected power by the EVj .
– Grid power, which refers to the maximum power of the power grid. This restriction is the limitation
of the power absorbed by the charging stations so that the sum of the power consumed by the power grid in
the absence of EV, the power injected by the renewable energy sources (photovoltaic power plants (PV) in
this case) and the energy absorbed by the EV does not exceed the maximum peak value recorded in the
reference case (in the absence of EV) during the 24h:
Pload (t )  PPV (t )   Pch / dsch, j (t )  Pmax
net
 0,9 , t  A (4)
jB

where Pload (t) represent the base load of the whole grid at the time instant t , excluding the demand from EVs
and injected power from PV power plants;
PPV (t) - the power generated from PV power plants at the time instant t ;
net
Pmax - grid capacity, representing the rating of the first feeder, in kW; it is related to the maximum
power that can be delivered from the source.
b) State of charge (SOC) constraints
The SOC constraints are also divided into two subcategories:
– Evolution and limits of state of charge; this constraint refers to the variation in time of SOC and its
technical limits:
P (t )  t t
SOC (t )  SOC (t  1)  ch / dsch , (5)
Emax, j j  B
t
SOCmin  SOC j (t )  SOCmax , (6)
j  B
where SOCj(t) represents the state of charge at the time instant t for the jth EV;
 Emax, j - maximum energy of battery for EVj.
Whereas SOCmin and SOCmax are the lower and upper limits of SOC, respectively.
– State of charge for departure time (final SOC) – this constraint expresses the state of charge of
battery at the time of departure (SOCfinal): at the instant t = Tdep, the state of charge of battery must coincide
with SOCfinal, which is set by the owner of EV when it arrives at the charging station:
SOC j (t )  SOC final , j , t  Tdep , j  B (7)
where SOCfinal,j represents state of charge at the time of departure for the jth EV.

3. CASE STUDY
The simulations are performed on a test electrical distribution network consisting of one radial
branch, supplying five MV/LV secondary transformers (ST) (20/0.4 kV) from one source/substation (Fig. 1).
We assume that two photovoltaic power plants, PV1 and PV2, are connected to ST3 and ST5 nodes,
and in order to facilitate their integration into the power grid and minimize power fluctuations, we consider
installed three charging stations (CS1, CS2, CS3), the charging is done via a physical connection with an on-
board plug.

Fig. 1: The test distribution network.

We assume that the studied network supplies 960 subscribers (consumers), including multi-family
houses, single family houses, schools, kindergartens, a medical clinic, office buildings, supermarkets, public
lighting which are located in the same area. Figure 2 shows the aggregated load curve.
The base load is the load of the whole network excluding injected power by distributed electric
resources, in this case photovoltaic power plants PV1 and PV2.

Fig. 2: Load curve of distribution network.

 Solar generation are varying (see figure 3), this plays as a barrier for renewable energy to be widely
and efficiently used. Indeed, the day-ahead market requires reliable production, and mismatches between
submitted bid and real-time injection are sanctioned. EVs, with their on-board batteries, can provide storage
services through V2G technology, i.e., absorb the surplus and release it when necessary, to maintain a stable
output level.

Fig. 3: Power generated from photovoltaic power plants PV1+PV2

The coordinated charging control of the charging station, and the optimization is based on electricity
price variation. The electricity price profile is taken from the OPCOM platform (romanian electricity market
operator) for 26/05/2017 (fig. 4). It is easy to see that the electricity price profile is similar to the load curve,
which means that during peak load hours the electricity price is high, while during load valley the electricity
price is lower.

Fig. 4: Electricity price profile.

The following general assumptions are considered:
 each charging station accommodates 10 vehicles;
 constraints:
 Pmax
j
 22 kW ;
 k
 Pmax  150 kW;

 SOCmin  20 % ;
 SOC
 max  100 % .

Additionally, the input data for the 10 EVs at the charging stations CS1 are given in Table 1. The
characteristics of the other charging stations are slightly different by the CS1.
 Table I: Input Data – Charging station CS1
Vehicle
Input Data
EV 1 EV2 EV3 EV4 EV5 EV6 EV7 EV8 EV9 EV10
SOC init [%] 70 30 50 35 20 35 20 35 2 50
SOC final [%] 100 80 90 100 90 85 90 80 90 90
Battery
capacity 40 30 40 45 27 60 55 22 35 80
[kWh]
Arrival Time
17:30 19:00 12:00 20:30 20:00 21:00 12:00 18:00 18:50 16:00
[hour]
Departure
09:00 08:00 19:00 01:30 09:00 08:50 23:00 07:30 09:30 10:50
Time [hour]

Using the price profile shown in Figure 4, the behavior of all EVs during the 24 hours interval is
achieved. As shown in Figure 5, the EVs are mostly charged during periods of lower price and while during
high price periods and peak loads the EVs are injecting power back to the grid.

Fig. 5: Load curve at the charging stations (CS1+CS+CS3).

Figure 5 shows an increase in the electricity consumption during the night hours is observed and in
period when PV power plants injected power in electrical grid, which corresponds to low electricity price.
This means that a more optimal use of the energy sources and support integration of RES is achieved,
leading to reduced investments in the distribution network.

Fig. 6: Load curve for three scenarios.

Figure 6 illustrates the total load in the grid for three scenarios: (i) reference / base case load;
(ii) base load with PV power plants; (iii) base load with PV power plants and optimize charging of EV.
 By inserting charging stations with optimize charging, the maximum peak load achieved initially at
10 p.m. (2262 kW) was minimize with 6% (2131 kW) and moves at 8 p.m., this is a reaction in accordance
with the price profile which is similar to the load profile.
Analyzing the voltage level, the lower level of voltage are recorded in node ST5, where in period of
peak load the voltage are 19,30 kV. In case with integration of EV smart charging allows a increase the
voltage level and achieving a smoothed voltage profile for the 24-hour horizon, eventually with small
variations around certain values. This is a result of the load shift from midday to night hours and introduction
of EVs like a storage capacity for PV power plants.
The change of the EVs from charging mode (power absorbed from the grid) to discharging mode
(power injected into the grid) will result in sudden voltage variations, as observed for the time interval from
08:00 to 10:00 and 20:00 to 22:00. This problems may not necessary appear when considering a larger
number of vehicles with greater diversity in the state of charge.

Fig. 7: Voltage variation at bus ST5.

4. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a linear programming based mathematical problem employed for
optimizing the EV charging, while considering mainly the electricity price and the technical and
operations characteristics of vehicles.
As the electricity price is highly dependent on the load profile at the national level, the
proposed optimization strategy for the total load (reference load, PV power plants and EVs load)
results in better exploitation of the power grid - reducing peak load value with 6%, leading to
minimized the operational cost of electrical grid, maximize utilization of solar power from PV
power plants, improvement voltage level and minimize power losses.
Coordinating charging/ discharging in keeping with vehicle-to-grid V2G and vehicle-to-
home (V2H) capabilities can also help improve the grid by participating to services such as energy
storage for the intermittent character of renewable energy generation without needing expensive
grid reinforcements. These opportunities can be realized in the Smart Grid context, so EVs and
Smart Grid are mutually reinforcing. From the EV owner’s point of view, organized recharging and
discharging offer the possibility to reduce energy costs or even generate profits.

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