Network coordinated distributed demand management for optimal large-scale charging of PHEVs/PEVs

Designing efficient demand management policies for charging Plug-in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (PHEVs) and Plug-in Electrical Vehicles (PEVs) is becoming a vital issue as increasing numbers of these vehicles are being introduced to the power grid. In order to avoid overloads and satisfy customer preferences in terms of the time and cost of charging, a distribution-level charging algorithm can be formulated to solve a constrained optimization problem. In this paper, we have developed a novel network distributed algorithm for optimal charging of PHEVs/PEVs within a consensus algorithm framework. In our design, the global optimal power allocation under all local and global constraints is reached by peer-to-peer coordination of charging stations. Therefore, the need for a central control unit is eliminated. In this way, the single node congestion is avoided when the size of the problem is increased, and the system gains robustness against single link/node failures.