EV-Based Virtual Power Plants Shift Peak Load and Save Money
This article was originally published by Power Magazine on 17th October 2019.A recent study found that electric vehicle (EV) batteries used as a utility virtual power plant (VPP) could shift the entire residential peak load to nighttime hours with only 10% EV market saturation.
The research was conducted by Jackson Associates, an Orlando, Florida-based firm that does energy forecasting, data development, and energy-related analysis. The study analyzed data on 5,000 individual Southern California Edison (SCE) utility customers including each customer’s hourly loads, commuting data, and battery reserves after afternoon commuting to simulate the ability of a VPP to clip the residential sector peak while constraining EV overnight recharging to avoid an overnight peak.
For the analysis, random weeks in January and August were reviewed to generate representative daily load shapes. The SCE EV time-of-use rate period differentials are applied to estimate cost savings.
Utility cost savings for each kWh shifted from on-peak to off-peak was approximated as the differential in those two rates. Shifting one kWh from the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on-peak time period to off-peak hours saved $0.25 in the summer and $0.23 in the winter. The report says weekend savings were not considered because weekday commuting savings are significantly greater than potential weekend savings, and because the data included actual commuting data for weekdays but not for weekends.
