Enhanced electric vehicle integration in the UK low-voltage networks with distributed phase shifting control

Vega-Fuentes, E. and Denai, M. (2019) Enhanced electric vehicle integration in the UK low-voltage networks with distributed phase shifting control. IEEE Access, 7, pp. 46796-46807. (doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2909990)

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EV) have gained global attention due to increasing oil prices and rising concerns about transportation-related urban air pollution and climate change. While mass adoption of EVs has several economic and environmental benefits, large-scale deployment of EVs on the low-voltage (LV) urban distribution networks will also result in technical challenges. This paper proposes a simple and easy to implement single-phase EV charging coordination strategy with three-phase network supply, in which chargers connect EVs to the less loaded phase of their feeder at the beginning of the charging process. Hence, network unbalance is mitigated and, as a result, EV hosting capacity is increased. A new concept, called Maximum EV Hosting Capacity (HCmax ) of low voltage distribution networks, is introduced to objectively assess and quantify the enhancement that the proposed phase-shifting strategy could bring to distribution networks. The resulting performance improvement has been demonstrated over three real UK residential networks through a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation study using Matlab and OpenDSS tools. With the same EV penetration level, the under-voltage probability was reduced in the first network from 100% to 54% and in the second network from 100% to 48%. Furthermore, percentage voltage unbalance factors in the networks were successfully restored to their original values before any EV connection.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by Cátedra Endesa Red from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Vega, Mr Eduardo
• Authors: Vega-Fuentes, E., and Denai, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: IEEE Access
• Publisher: IEEE
• ISSN: 2169-3536
• ISSN (Online): 2169-3536
• Published Online: 09 April 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 IEEE
• First Published: First published in IEEE Access 7: 46796-46807
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy