A Smart Grid Approach to Simultaneous Management of Renewable Resources and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Demand response has been proposed as a method to increase competition in electricity markets while simultaneously improving the reliability and robustness of the bulk electric system. The bulk of existing demand response resources are commercial and industrial energy customers; however, residential energy customers have the potential to ultimately provide more aggregate demand response than any other sector. Driven by recent initiatives to put 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) on the road by 2015, the anticipated market penetration of these vehicles threatens to necessitate extensive upgrades to electric infrastructure unless demand response resources are employed to optimize use of existing infrastructure. Fortunately, typical travel behavior uniquely presents PHEV owners with the opportunity to participate in a variety of demand response programs including direct load control programs and time-of-use pricing programs. Advancements in vehicle-to-grid technology will provide an additional opportunity for PHEV owners to make use of their vehicles? inherent energy storage capabilities. Using a case study geographically centered in Dane County, this project attempts to quantify distribution and transmission infrastructure impacts of initial PHEV penetration, present mitigation strategies that take advantage of existing demand response programs, determine the financial incentives necessary to promote demand response participation, and ascertain any long-term benefits that may accrue from utilizing the storage capacity of PHEVs.