Distribution System Flexibility Enhancement for Electric Vehicles and Photovoltaic Generation

The soaring popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and rooftop photovoltaic (PV) generation around the world is driven by the awareness of a sustainable future with minimal emissions. However, increasing penetration of EVs and PVs in the distribution grid can have adverse effects due to feeder overloading and poor voltage regulation. Different control strategies can be utilized to extract the flexibility offered by smart charging of EVs, which implies reduction or curtailment of charging power based upon the local grid conditions. However, generation curtailment is the only option when there is excess generation from the rooftop PVs in comparison to the feeder hosting capacity. This paper analyzes the challenges posed by the high share of EVs and PV generation in the distribution system and proposes a battery energy storage system as a promising solution to mitigate them.