ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND THE SMART GRID

16th October 2014 Solar Energy UK (SEUK), NEC, Birmingham, UK Dr Rupert Gammon Senior Research Fellow

Overview ● Why? Power, heat and transport

sectors all need to be weaned off fossil fuels

● What? This presentation focuses on

the power and transport sectors

● How? The answer to the problems

of both sectors lies in an emerging symbiotic relationship

intelligence is key to enabling electricity networks to cope with renewable energy

generators (and other emerging challenges...)

‘Smart Grids’

● The ‘smart grid’ is still a rather loosely defined concept Broad agreement that

● One major aspect of ‘smartness’ is Demand-Side Participation (DSP) A.k.a.: Demand Response / Active Demand / Demand-Side

Management / Responsive Demand/ ...

Demand-Side Participation (DSP)

● Few low-carbon generators can follow demand variations ‘Clean fossil’ (i.e. with Carbon Capture and Storage) and

nuclear power are both relatively inflexible Most renewables are stochastic (highly variable)

● Therefore, demand will must become better at following supply variations, through: Curtailment of demand Time-shifting of demand

Time-Shifting Demand ● Which loads can be

moved from peak to off-peak periods? Intrinsic storage No loss of service

quality

Medium: ♦ Dishwasher ♦ Washing Machine ♦ Tumble dryer

Large: ♦ Space heating (with

storage heaters) ♦ Water heating ♦ EV charging

Small: ♦ Laptop/phone charging

Average UK household’s daily electricity demand profile (DECC, 2013)

● Imagine a car used for commuting 20 mile commute (40 miles daily return journey) Plugged in from 6pm to 8am 3½ hours recharge needed every night (or 7 hours every 2 nights) Recharge could be scheduled for any time during the night (as long as it is finished by

8am) ♦ Preferably between midnight and 6:30am (according to graph on previous slide)

EVs Allow Responsive Demand ● Cars spend most of the time parked

(typically <90%) This is time that an EV could spend plugged-in During that time, it is possible to choose when

to actually recharge it ♦ At 3kW, a full recharge takes 8 hours ♦ At 7kW, a full recharge takes 4 hours

7kW gives twice the load size and twice the scheduling flexibility

EVs vs. Houses for DSP ● Normal UK household demand is:

250W at night 500W in the daytime 700W during the evening peak

● EV charging adds 3,300 – 6,600W That’s up to 10 times the peak!!

● Today’s EVs typically store about 20kWh of energy in their batteries Nearly twice the amount of electricity used per day in

a typical household (without an EV) ● Time-shifting 1 EV recharge session is equivalent to

rescheduling the demand of about 10 households ● Do EVs add stress to electricity networks?

No – if used to reshape demand, they actually help to relieve stress on the grid

Symbiosis More renewables

means lower CO2 /km

for electric vehicles

Growth of EV market provides

more responsive demand (DSP)

Smart grid needs Demand-Side Participation

(to allow more renewables, etc)

● Analyses of CO2/km rarely recognise that ‘smart’

recharging lowers the carbon intensity of EV journeys ● Strategic plans rarely recognise the long-term

symbiosis that decarbonises both sectors

Batteries and Fuel Cells ● Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)

Short range Light payloads Slow recharging

● Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) Long range Heavy payloads Quick refuelling Fuelled by hydrogen

● Smart grids depend on both these EV technologies

– BEVs enable time-shifting of electrical demand by hours and days – FCEVs allow time-shifting of days and longer, if hydrogen is produced by electrolysis

My Electric Avenue Project ● Field trials of Esprit charge

management system Prevents overload of

network with high numbers of EVs charging simultaneously

Technical trials ♦ 10 clusters across UK

◘ Domestic and commercial

◘ Each cluster on one substation feeder

◘ 10 participants (on average) per cluster

Funded by Ofgem, Low Carbon Networks Fund

Social trials ♦ 100+ individual BEV owners across UK

De Montfort University is studying: ♦ Impact on users ♦ Attitude of users

Agent Based Modelling of Smart Grids

● Individual, decision-making entities ● Patterns (self organisation) emerge from collective behaviour of

many individuals

CASCADE was a collaboration between DMU and Cranfield University , funded by EPSRC

Mutual interaction (co-evolution)

Feedback and other dynamics

Changes of behaviour (learning)

Different scales

Conclusion ● EVs and renewables form a symbiosis that is essential

to the creation of a low carbon economy EVs are a smart grid technology

♦ They help the grid to decarbonise Renewables are a low-carbon transport technology

♦ They help the transport sector to decarbonise ● Strategy (commercial and political) needs to recognise

this crucial, long-term relationship ● Analysis needs to recognise the true carbon intensity of

EVs with smart scheduled charging i.e.: it is lower than average ‘grid mix’ and falls over time

due to the EV-RE virtuous circle

THANKS FOR LISTENING, ANY QUESTIONS?

rgammon@dmu.ac.uk

Time-Shifting Demand

● No loss of service quality Storage is intrinsic to appliance function

♦ Usually energy storage ♦ Sometimes material storage (embedded energy)

Unobtrusive, background ‘smart’ operation

● Potentially large aggregated demand From numerous small devices From a few industrial-scale systems

● Those able to shift demand by several minutes can provide ancillary services Frequency response Power quality

● Those able to shift demand by several hours can provide Peak lopping Arbitrage

● Those able to shift demand by several days can provide Renewable energy output matching

♦ Some may even have seasonal correlations with supply

Hydrogen

● Hydrogen and Renewables Integration (HARI) project UK’s 1st RE-H2 system,

Loughborough 2004

• Low-carbon fuel from the grid

– Better for transport fuel than electricity storage

HARI was a PhD project, funded by Beacon Energy

Integrated Energy Flows

Storage

Future Energy Infrastructures

* Mix methane and hydrogen (Hythane), or re-purpose for hydrogen?

** Re-purpose oil and gas pipelines?

Projects include: 2050 Energy Infrastructure Outlook for Energy Technologies Institute, 2012

EVs Are Not Extra Load

● Electric transport (and heating) does not create extra overall energy demand– it just shifts more of it onto the grid Removing it from reliance upon oil (and natural gas) Allowing it to become renewable powered (or

nuclear powered) ♦ Thus, ‘greener’

● Electricity networks must become ‘smart grids’ EVs enable much of that ‘smartness’

● Green Segment proposal for Leicester

● City centre Low Carbon Zone (LCZ) incorporates: Strict building/refurb. Codes

♦ Connect to CHP or renewable generation

LED street lighting Integrated train and bus services

♦ Location ♦ Smart card

Pedestrian + ZEV streets ♦ FREE Park & Charge points ♦ Like ‘Boris Bikes’

1-way, per mile BEV hire (‘Boris BEVs’)

Hydrogen Car Club ♦ Discounts for BEV owners ♦ Overcomes range anxiety ♦ Smart Grid enabling

Low Carbon Zone

CHP from waste

BEV (LCC fleet) charging from CHP

Satellite logistics hub

Square Mile project

Low-C manufacturing hub

Many workers from Beaumont Leys live here

Low carbon residential buildings

BEV (domestic) charging from smart grid

Wind Turbine + PV farm

Smart grid trials (Wattbox)

Hythane (grid to gas) for homes

Railway Station

Smart Cities

New ‘Ownership’ Models ● Integrated Mobility Services ● Combine BEV and FCEV as part of an IMS package

Like “BMWi Access” model – Normally use BEV, but FCEV available for long

journeys or large payloads – Instead of car ownership (purchase)

• Like mobile phone contracts: less about phone ownership than multi-media services

• Total Mobility card – Access to BEV, FCEV, bus, train, cycle, etc

• 1-way / per-mile vehicle hire – Bike, BEV, FCEV – Integrated with buses, trains, tube, etc – Single card scheme (like Oyster)

Public/Private Transport