Achieving controllability of plug-in electric vehicles

The paper presents a conceptual framework for actively involving highly distributed loads in system control actions. The context for load control is established by first reviewing system control objectives, including economic dispatch, automatic generation control and spinning reserve. Also, prior work on load control is reviewed. The load control strategy discussed in the paper builds on the concept of a load aggregator. The aggregator acquires data from plug-in electric vehicle loads in its area, and builds a consolidated model that describes overall load availability. When control actions are required, the aggregator broadcasts a common message to all loads, with the response of individual loads dependent upon their interpretation of that message. The interface between the aggregator and the system controller should have a form that allows load control to be integrated seamlessly into the legacy system. The paper discusses the communications infrastructure required to support such a load control scheme.