Energy and economic evaluation of PHEVs and their interaction with renewable energy sources and the power grid

Strong dependency on crude oil in most areas of modern transportation coupled with increased demand for electric power generation lead to a significant consumption of fossil fuel resources over many decades. Homes and cars represent the biggest personal impact on the increasing energy demand, global warming and air quality; furthermore, electric power utilities spend a tremendous amount of capacity to continuously balance supply and demand across the grid or provide backup electricity during outages and peak demand periods. As a consequence, research is quickly moving towards interconnected renewable energy based systems for transportation and residential/commercial buildings. Thus, this paper deals with an energy and economic evaluation of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and their interaction with the power grid and the energy market. A multi-configurable personal eco-system with a plug-in hybrid vehicle is modeled. The model uses a set of data for the State of Ohio, including cost of energy, potential photovoltaic capacity, wind patterns and government regulations and incentives. The PHEV can draw electricity either from the power grid or from a personal eco-system consisting of a hybrid wind/photovoltaic generating system. Simulations are carried out starting from hourly local load demand, wind speed data, approximate solar radiation, energy market and state regulations. Various configurations and various available contracts for buying/selling energy from/to the grid are analyzed and compared. Results show the potential for reduction of energy cost, pollutant and dependency on the grid, along with substantial economic benefits.