Volume 36: Intelligent Energy Solutions for Resilient Urban Systems

Volt/var regulation exploited from EV charging facilities in urban power distribution systems considering dynamic traffic flow Haiyue Yu, Lei Wang, Chengjin Ye

Abstract

The booming electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities play a vital role in connecting road transport networks to the urban power grid, as they have internal smart converters with four-quadrant power regulation capability. These converters can provide reactive power to regulate the voltages of urban distribution power grids. Considering the high scarcity of urban spatial resources, there are many restrictions on configuring additional capacitors or other voltage regulating devices. It is of significance to accurately assess the volt/var support capability from the charging facilities on urban grid voltage regulation. This paper constructs a road traffic network model and EV behavior characteristic models for private cars, cabs, and urban service vehicles, respectively. Then, a method for spatial and temporal charging load prediction as well as reactive power flexibility assessment is proposed considering dynamic traffic flow. The assessment results are adopted as boundaries for chargers participating the volt/var regulation of urban power distribution system. The voltage qualification rate indicators are investigated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed regulation method. The results of this paper are helpful for understanding the coupled urban electrified road transportation and power system facilities from a new perspective of volt/var regulation.

Keywords Electric vehicle, Dynamic traffic flow, Charging facility, Volt/var regulation