Plug-in electric vehicles as demand response to absorb local wind generation in power distribution network

It has been forecast that by 2020, the penetration of renewable generation in the UK energy mix will reach approximately 15%, predominantly from wind generation, and that the number of electric vehicles (EVs) deployed is also expected to exceed 1 million. Over the same period it is also forecast that the security of supply of the UK power system will be affected due to the increasing imbalance due to increased demand (from EVs) and uncontrolled supply (i.e. from wind). This paper studies the use of applying smart EV charging strategies to help the power system cope with high penetrations of local renewable generation. Key to this work is the recognition that domestic vehicles are parked for typically 95% of the time, hence these EVs can be utilised as a ready form of responsive demand.