Attributes of Big Data Analytics for Data-Driven Decision Making in Cyber-Physical Power Systems

Big data analytics is a virtually new term in power system terminology. This concept delves into the way a massive volume of data is acquired, processed, analyzed to extract insight from available data. In particular, big data analytics alludes to applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning techniques, data mining techniques, time-series forecasting methods. Decision-makers in power systems have been long plagued by incapability and weakness of classical methods in dealing with large-scale real practical cases due to the existence of thousands or millions of variables, being time-consuming, the requirement of a high computation burden, divergence of results, unjustifiable errors, and poor accuracy of the model. Big data analytics is an ongoing topic, which pinpoints how to extract insights from these large data sets. The extant article has enumerated the applications of big data analytics in future power systems through several layers from grid-scale to local-scale. Big data analytics has many applications in the areas of smart grid implementation, electricity markets, execution of collaborative operation schemes, enhancement of microgrid operation autonomy, management of electric vehicle operations in smart grids, active distribution network control, district hub system management, multi-agent energy systems, electricity theft detection, stability and security assessment by PMUs, and better exploitation of renewable energy sources. The employment of big data analytics entails some prerequisites, such as the proliferation of IoT-enabled devices, easily-accessible cloud space, blockchain, etc. This paper has comprehensively conducted an extensive review of the applications of big data analytics along with the prevailing challenges and solutions

Assessing drivers' preferences for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) in Spain

With the aim of analyzing preferences for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), two stated preference methods (a contingent valuation exercise and a discrete choice experiment (DCE)) were used in a survey conducted in a representative sample of Spanish drivers. Overall, our findings show robustness between the willingness to pay (WTP) estimates elicited via a latent class model (LCM) and those from a payment card questionPostprint (published version

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

Quantitive analysis of electric vehicle flexibility : a data-driven approach

The electric vehicle (EV) flexibility, indicates to what extent the charging load can be coordinated (i.e., to flatten the load curve or to utilize renewable energy resources). However, such flexibility is neither well analyzed nor effectively quantified in literature. In this paper we fill this gap and offer an extensive analysis of the flexibility characteristics of 390k EV charging sessions and propose measures to quantize their flexibility exploitation. Our contributions include: (1) characterization of the EV charging behavior by clustering the arrival and departure time combinations that leads to the identification of type of EV charging behavior, (2) in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the charging sessions in each behavioral cluster and investigation of the influence of weekdays and seasonal changes on those characteristics including arrival, sojourn and idle times, and (3) proposing measures and an algorithm to quantitatively analyze how much flexibility (in terms of duration and amount) is used at various times of a day, for two representative scenarios. Understanding the characteristics of that flexibility (e.g., amount, time and duration of availability) and when it is used (in terms of both duration and amount) helps to develop more realistic price and incentive schemes in DR algorithms to efficiently exploit the offered flexibility or to estimate when to stimulate additional flexibility. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Energy Efficiency and Emission Testing for Connected and Automated Vehicles Using Real-World Driving Data

By using the onboard sensing and external connectivity technology, connected and automated vehicles (CAV) could lead to improved energy efficiency, better routing, and lower traffic congestion. With the rapid development of the technology and adaptation of CAV, it is more critical to develop the universal evaluation method and the testing standard which could evaluate the impacts on energy consumption and environmental pollution of CAV fairly, especially under the various traffic conditions. In this paper, we proposed a new method and framework to evaluate the energy efficiency and emission of the vehicle based on the unsupervised learning methods. Both the real-world driving data of the evaluated vehicle and the large naturalistic driving dataset are used to perform the driving primitive analysis and coupling. Then the linear weighted estimation method could be used to calculate the testing result of the evaluated vehicle. The results show that this method can successfully identify the typical driving primitives. The couples of the driving primitives from the evaluated vehicle and the typical driving primitives from the large real-world driving dataset coincide with each other very well. This new method could enhance the standard development of the energy efficiency and emission testing of CAV and other off-cycle credits

Open-Source, Open-Architecture SoftwarePlatform for Plug-InElectric Vehicle SmartCharging in California

This interdisciplinary eXtensible Building Operating System–Vehicles project focuses on controlling plug-in electric vehicle charging at residential and small commercial settings using a novel and flexible open-source, open-architecture charge communication and control platform. The platform provides smart charging functionalities and benefits to the utility, homes, and businesses.This project investigates four important areas of vehicle-grid integration research, integrating technical as well as social and behavioral dimensions: smart charging user needs assessment, advanced load control platform development and testing, smart charging impacts, benefits to the power grid, and smart charging ratepayer benefits