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CEIC-13-01

Estimating the Potential of Controlled Electric Vehicle Charging to Reduce Operational and Capacity Expansion Costs for Electric Power Systems with a Renewable Portfolio Standard
Allison Weis, Paulina Jaramillo, Jeremy Michalek

Abstract:
Electric power systems with substantial wind capacity require additional flexibility to react to rapid changes in wind farm output and mismatches in the timing of increased generation and increased demand. Controlled variable-rate charging of plug-in electric vehicles allows demand to be rapidly modulated, providing an alternative to using fast-responding natural gas plants for balancing supply with demand and potentially reducing costs of operation and new plant construction. We investigate the cost savings from controlled charging of electric vehicles, the extent to which these benefits increase in high wind penetration scenarios, and the trade-off between establishing a controlled charging program vs. increasing the capacity of generators in the power system. We construct a mixed integer linear programming model for capacity expansion, plant dispatch, and electric vehicle charging based on the NYISO system. We find that controlled charging can offer significant cost reductions in a system with 10% penetration of electric vehicles; however, the magnitude of these benefits is only slightly higher in a system a 20% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) compared to a system no RPS policy. In the systems examined, controlled vehicle charging reduces the costs of integrating electric vehicles but provides little additional cost benefits for integrating wind.

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