Vehicle-to-grid enabled charging infrastructure planning and operations considering demand uncertainties

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology can alleviate the grid load pressure by delayed charging of electric vehicles (EVs) and discharging back to the grid in peak hours. This study aims to optimize V2G-enabled charger deployment and its operations considering two charging modes, public and private chargers. Two bi-objective models are formulated respectively to determine the optimal size of the V2G-enabaled chargers and the charging-discharging strategies considering uncertainties in photovoltaic (PV) energy output, EV charging demand, and household base load. The optimization problems are tested on a residential neighborhood in Shanghai, China. The results show that compared to unmanaged charging, the V2G modes could reduce peak-valley differences and load variation substantially, while increasing PV consumption slightly. The current financial feasibility of V2G system relies on additional subsidies. A fair market mechanism should be established to promote the healthy development of V2G applications.