Harmonic-aware hosting capacity assessment for ultrafast EV charging stations: a Dutch MV grid case study

Ultrafast electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are essential for mitigating range anxiety and facilitating smooth mobility transition. To obey rigorous grid power quality standards, the harmonic emissions of ultrafast charging stations should be included when the distribution system operators (DSOs) determine their hosting capacity, particularly considering their cumulative grid impacts as power levels increase. For computation burden reduction, a voltage-dependent harmonic current estimator will replace the complicated power electronics model. This estimator is integrated into the load flow model to assess the grid harmonic impacts from respective charging stations. By iterative calculations until convergence, those harmonic impacts can be answered in a numerical manner, thus enabling harmonic-aware hosting capacity assessment. An examination of a real-world 298-bus 10.5 kV grid in the Netherlands highlighted the necessity of harmonic awareness during hosting capacity assessment, especially in the scenario of high network background harmonics. The results above provide valuable insights into harmonic emission management for hosting capacity enhancement in the context of ultrafast charging stations.