Distributed nested bi-layer pricing for wireless charging service operators in power-transportation coupled networks

The development of electric vehicles (EVs) and wireless charging technology promotes the interconnections among transportation networks (TN), power distribution network (PDN) and wireless charging station (WCS). However, the coordinated operation of these systems is challenged by information barriers among independently operated entities and the complex coupling among charging prices, EV routing decisions, WCS loads, and PDN operating conditions. Considering the information barrier between different entities, a distributed nested bi-layer pricing strategy for charging service operator (CSO) is developed in this paper where the distribution network operator only interacts with CSO for information exchange, while CSO interacts with EV drivers. In the outer layer, a second-order cone alternating current optimal power flow model in PDN is established to determine the distribution locational marginal price. A bi-layer pricing model of CSO is established to maximize profits by adjusting the charging price in the inner layer. And in the inner lower layer, EV driver optimizes their charging and routing decisions to minimize travel cost according to charging price, thereby affecting the WCS’s load profile. Furthermore, the existence of CSO’s optimal pricing strategy is analyzed according to the fixed-point theory, and an alternating direction method of multipliers nested with genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed. The numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed improved ADMM algorithm, and analyze the effect of the pricing strategy for CSO on the CSO, PDN and TN.