A coordinated electric vehicle management system for grid-support services in residential networks

The increased integration of light-duty electric vehicles (EVs) into low-voltage (LV) residential networks imposes capacity issues for the grid operators. For example, the uncoordinated and clustered charging of residential EVs can often overload grid assets, jeopardize network reliability, and violate local voltage constraints. This article proposes a coordinated management system for EVs in LV residential networks with power grid support functionalities to address grid overloading and local voltage constraints violation. The charging and discharging of EV batteries in the network are coordinated via a local EV aggregator. The coordination is realized using multiagent system architecture that provides the EV owners with full decision-making authority and preserves their privacy. The EV coordination and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) resource optimization of the EV aggregator is formulated as a mixed-integer programming-based optimization model to minimize the electricity cost for the EV owners based on a real-time tariff while complying with local grid constraints. The proposed methodology is evaluated via simulation of an LV residential network in Sydney, Australia with actual load demand data. The simulation results indicate the efficacy of the proposed strategy for the electricity cost reduction of the EV owners while mitigating grid overloading and maintaining desired bus voltages.