Simulation of demand management and grid balancing with electric vehicles

This study investigates the potential role of electric vehicles in an electricity network with a high contribution from variable generation such as of wind. Electric vehicles are modelled to provide both demand management through flexible charging requirements and energy balancing within the Balancing Mechanism. Balancing applications include both demand balancing and vehicle-to-grid discharging.
The main simulation in this study is configured to represent the UK grid, where the balancing requirements are governed by weather stations on the supply side and National Grid data from on the demand side. The simulation models 1000 individual vehicle entities to represent the behaviour of larger numbers of vehicles. A stochastic trip generation profile is used to generate realistic journey characteristics derived from UK national statistics, whilst a market pricing model allows charging and balancing decisions to be based on realistic market price conditions.