Load management demonstration

EVs appear to be on the threshold of mass market adoption, and the electrical utility industry is facing new challenges and opportunities as EVs and PHEVs begin to be recharged through the local electricity grid. These companies will play a critical role in shaping the technology curve of EV adoption. The utilities perspective is of key importance for identifying critical factors that could jeopardize the mass rollout of EVs and for defining new business models. These models will include value-added services that could represent an incentive to the customer and contribute to accelerating the adoption of electromobility technologies.

Controlling the EV charging process and making the most of their flexibility to integrate them into the energy system both have clear benefits – including the full exploitation of grid capacity and renewable energy sources, cost savings, and innovative mobility services for EV customers. However, these measures cannot be pursued without the implementation of the appropriate regulatory framework, market design, and technical infrastructure.

In a wider sense, the smart charging processes may be critical to enabling specific value-added services for the end customer, such as a “charge scheduling” functionality that depends on energy prices, distribution operator needs, and other stakeholders’ specific offers in the electromobility market. As a special smart charging functionality, load management offers the option of distributing the maximum power available at the grid connection point to a set of charging systems. If the charging current requested exceeds the maximum available current, the charging session can be suspended or the charging power limited at each individual charging pole. This avoids not only overloads but also frequency and voltage stability problems in the network. The consumption at the charging poles is dynamically adjusted to the available power.

As part of the Green eMotion Project, Endesa has put 10 charging poles (CP) into operation that enable true EV load management: In other words, the power for each EV being charged can be controlled. The new feature of the system is that the CPs directed by central software drive the power usage of the charging process. The CPs – Siemens CP500A with dual Type 2 connectors – permit 20 vehicles to be charged at the same time. The entire installation was manufactured by Málaga City Council operators. The complete system was successfully tested and demonstrated in the first half of 2014. Please see the short video for more information:

Impressions

 

 

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