Plug-In Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energy Integration

Scott Petersonhttp://www.autobloggreen.com/photos/chevy-volt-concept-1/121574/

Suggested for

• Regulation• Spinning Reserves• Non-spinning reserves• Storage

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Interesting because

• Potentially huge amounts of storage available for the first time

• No ramp rate (effectively instantaneous)• Could lower emissions• Could allow greater percentage of non-

dispatchable renewables to be integrated

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Potential Problems

• Have to convince owners• Battery degradation • Loss of warranty coverage• Infrastructure

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Storage Capacity

• How many vehicles are parked?

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Storage Capacity

• Lower bound– 4kWh and 60% available– >0.5 kWh per PHEV available (125 GWh for fleet)

• Higher bound (24 kWh 90% available)– 4.3kWh per PHEV available (>1TWh for fleet)

• Neither includes cars being driven

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Storage Capacity (weekday)

• Cars that are driven can contribute• Possible amount depends on charging strategy• Probable amount depends on user behavior

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New load compared to capacity stored (weekday)

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Potential Problems: Cost

• Battery degradation

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Peterson, S.B., Whitacre, J.F., and Apt, J., 2010, "Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Degradation Resulting from Realistic Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Grid Utilization," Journal of Power Sources, 195(8), pp. 2385–2392.

Potential Problems: Cost

• Battery degradation cost

• Dependent on replacement cost

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Energy Arbitrage

• Possible, but unlikely

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PJM Profitable days in year

Peterson, S.B., Whitacre, J.F., and Apt, J., 2010, "The economics of using plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery packs for grid storage," Journal of Power Sources, 195(8), pp. 2377–2384

Potential Problems: Loss of Warranty

• Why would auto manufacturers risk V2G?• If they act as arbitrage agent and skim profits

then it is possible, but is that what we want?• An analogue to a mileage warranty for a

battery should be based on Wh processed or a similar metric (magnuson-moss warranty act)

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Low hanging fruit

• If excess wind is being spilt it is possible that PHEVs could help avoid this (as long as congestion is not cause)

• Charging intelligently, if the battery is charged only then there is not a degradation cost being borne, nor warranty implications. V2G may not work now, but G2V will.

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What needs to happen

• Communication– possibility is built into J1772– Future standards will expand on this

• Consumer acceptance– start with smarter charging– expand to other areas (backup power)

• Warranty issues most likely need policy changes

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