Power interchange analysis for reliable vehicle-to-grid connectivity

Due to the progressively growing energy demand, electricl vehicles (EVs) are increasingly replacing unfashionable vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines. The new era of modern grid is aiming to unlock the possibility of resource coordination between EVs and power grid. The goal of including vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology is to enable shared access to power resources. To define the initiative, this article investigates the bidirectional power flow between EVs and the main grid. The article provides a new algorithm framework for energy optimization that enables real-time decision making to facilitate charge/discharge processes in grid connected mode. Accordingly, the energy flow optimization, communications for data exchange, and local controller are joined to support system reliability for both power grid and EV owners at parking lot sites. The local controller is the key component that collects the EV data for decision making through real-time communications with EV platforms. The main responsibility of this controller is managing the energy flow during the process of real-time charging without impacting the basic functionalities of both grid and EV systems. Finally, a case study of a modified IEEE 13-node test feeder is proposed to validate the impact of energy flow optimization using V2G technology. This visionary concept provides improvement in grid scalability and reliability to grid operations through accessing EV power storage as a complementary resource of future energy systems

Middleware architectures for the smart grid: A survey on the state-of-the-art, taxonomy and main open issues

The integration of small-scale renewable energy sources in the smart grid depends on several challenges that must be overcome. One of them is the presence of devices with very different characteristics present in the grid or how they can interact among them in terms of interoperability and data sharing. While this issue is usually solved by implementing a middleware layer among the available pieces of equipment in order to hide any hardware heterogeneity and offer the application layer a collection of homogenous resources to access lower levels, the variety and differences among them make the definition of what is needed in each particular case challenging. This paper offers a description of the most prominent middleware architectures for the smart grid and assesses the functionalities they have, considering the performance and features expected from them in the context of this application domain

The principles of public transport network planning: a review of the emerging literature with select examples

This paper highlights for urban planners the key strategies and tactics that can be deployed to improve suburban public transport networks. Introduction The governance and management of public transport systems is an essential component of metropolitan planning and urban management. Most metropolitan strategies in Australia and in other jurisdictions presuppose the provision of public transport. Yet there is often a disconnection between transport plans and land-use schemes. Similarly, metropolitan land-use plans that do integrate with transport plans tend to focus on infrastructure rather than service quality and connectivity. A failure to adequately consider the quality of public transport networks in land-use planning analysis has the potential to produce poor planning outcomes in two key ways. First new land-uses may be inadequately served with public transport services, leading to dependence on alternative travel modes, such as cars. Second, the failure to recognise the significance of well-planned local public transport networks may result in the preclusion of some land-use options. This preclusion may relate to the location of land-uses or their design, such as over-provision of carparking. The continuing debate over whether to address suburban cardependence via land-use change or via transport planning is a case in point. And while the arguments in favour of and against land-use change as a means to overcome car dependence are well known in the planning literature. There is a growing if not yet widely appreciated literature that advocates improvements to public transport network planning and coordination as a means of reducing car dependence. The recognition of improved public transport network planning as a means of reducing car dependence is immensely significant because it offers planners an additional or alternative tool for managing urban transport patterns beyond land-use variation or investment in heavy infrastructure. Urban planning practitioners are not yet well served and informed by the broader public transport planning literature on the advantages of public transport network planning. While there is an extensive literature focusing on the economics and engineering of urban public transport systems the planning literature on the practices that contribute to success in public transport network design and operations is relatively poorly documented. There is also very little literature dedicated to public transport network design within Australian cities which are distinguished by highly centralised radial heavy rail networks with bus or tram networks that are well developed in inner urban zones but less so in the outer suburbs. The remainder of this paper has four objectives for transport planning theory and practice. First the paper reviews the literature on public transport network planning principles; next the paper attempts to formulate these principles in practical terms such that they can be applied to line and network design; third the paper considers further dimensions of network planning, including institutional arrangements and transition points in network design. The paper is intended for three audiences. The first is planning scholars who are involved in debates about public transport. The second is strategic policy officials in planning agencies who are involved in the planning and design of public transport networks. The third audience comprises those involved in development processes and who seek insights into the technical components of public transport network planning. Some caveats are appropriate however. The paper is not seeking to justify public transport network planning. The authors consider that the case for dedicated planning is implicit in the assumption that cities should provide good quality public transport to their residents. The wider case in favour of network planning has been successfully advanced elsewhere. Conversely, the paper is not intended as a directly applicable manual of detailed transport planning practice. While it does offer some insights into the practical public transport network planning task such guidance is better provided by Nielsen et al and Vuchic. Instead the paper highlights for urban planners the key strategies and tactics for that can be deployed to improve suburban public transport networks. Understanding these principles should thus assist urban planners – and urban scholars – to better shape and evaluate urban development processes and patterns

INTEGRATING ELECTRIC VEHICLES INTO SMART GRID USING IEC 61850 AND ISO/IEC 15118 STANDARDS

The development of Electric Vehicle (EV) technology is evolving quickly due to the worlds growing concerns in environmental protection and energy conservation. The world is struggling to minimize CO2 emissions and fossil fuel dependency in transportation sector. Standardized communication interface is a key factor for the successful integration of electric vehicle into smart grid, interoperability of charging infrastructure and mass-market acceptance of E-Mobility. The deployment of the electric vehicle in large scale would be one of the feasible solutions because of its economical and environmentally friendly features. However, large deployment of the electric vehicle arises challenges at the grid level such as peak load impacts and charging control. Therefore, it is very crucial to investigate how to integrate electric vehicle into smart grid so that to avoid these effects. This thesis describes how the vehicle-to-grid communication interface (V2G CI) currently being developed in ISO/IEC 15118 can be connect to IEC 61850-7-420 standard for Distributed Energy Resources (DER). The client-server application is implemented to simulate EV charging process according to the ISO/IEC 15118 standard. Also the new logical nodes for monitoring and controlling EV and Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) are implemented for the simulation of the concept.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

MORE THAN SMART: A Framework to Make the Distribution Grid More Open, Efficient and Resilient

This paper is the result of a series of workshops with industry, government and nonprofit leaders focused on helping guide future utility investments and planning for a new distributed generation system. The distributed grid is the final stage in the delivery of electric power linking electricity sub-stations to customers. To date, no state has initiated a comprehensive effort that includes the planning, design-build and operational requirements for large scale integration of DER into state-wide distributed generation systems. This paper provides a framework and guiding principles for how to initiate such a system and can be used to implement California law AB 327 passed in 2013 requiring investor owned utilities to submit a DER plan to the CPUC by July 2015 that identifies their optimal deployment locations

Cloud Computing Strategies for Enhancing Smart Grid Performance in Developing Countries

In developing countries, the awareness and development of Smart Grids are in the introductory stage and the full realisation needs more time and effort. Besides, the partially introduced Smart Grids are inefficient, unreliable, and environmentally unfriendly. As the global economy crucially depends on energy sustainability, there is a requirement to revamp the existing energy systems. Hence, this research work aims at cost-effective optimisation and communication strategies for enhancing Smart Grid performance on Cloud platforms

Meeting the information challenge: exploring partnerships with Africa

Africa suffers from the disadvantages of marginality within the global technical system and a legacy of externally driven infrastructure. Developments in information and communication technologies now offer the chance to redress these but the technologies require skills and capacities which are scarce. The technologies themselves can be used to leverage existing resources so that the necessary skills can be developed. However this process needs to take account of African priorities and requirements if the current inequitable situation is not to be reproduced in a new global infrastructure. The key to this is a balance between external partnership and internal collaboration. The African diaspora offers a means of moderating such relationships

An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

The design of a passenger transport interchange terminal in East London, South Africa

The purpose of this document is to look into the concept of Transport Orientated Development through the design of a Passenger Transit Intermodal in East London in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This concept of urban design and development is one which the focus of mixed use development is centered on maximizing access to public transportation. This paper also looks into the discourse around public transportation as an important tool in the integration of cities in post-apartheid South Africa. The aim of this paper is to engage with the architectural challenges of designing an intermodal transportation hub. This paper also aims and engaging the issue of public transportation in a democratic South Africa and its integration in all its forms, which previously may have served only particular demographics of the country i.e. the mini-bus taxi as a solution to the problem of transportation in the townships and its infiltration into the city environment. Through literature, scientific and peer reviewed journals, desktop research, photographs, informal interviews such as analysis, precedence and other qualitative studies, it will be demonstrated, through interpretation of the that there is a need for the integration of public transportation and this can be best achieved through the design of an intermodal passenger transport facility. The finding of this paper is that there is a need to integrate the public transportation sectors in South Africa. The taxi industry, for example, has developed independently of the other means of public transportation i.e. the train and bus systems; and has led to a public transport system that often duplicates or triplicates its functions. In conclusion, public transportation, i.e. trains, buses and minibus axis provide an essential service to the public, especially low income groups as they service a greater portion of this population, offering several benefits such as accessibility ,cost, reduced travel time, etc. Through the design of a transit intermodal, the integration of all forms of public transportation will be shown as being an essential cornerstone to the development of more integrated South African cities in a democratic dispensation