PV Charging and Storage for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles are only ‘green’ as long as the source of electricity is ‘green’ as well. At the same time, renewable power production suffers from diurnal and seasonal variations, creating the need for energy storage technology. Moreover, overloading and voltage problems are expected in the distributed network due to the high penetration of distributed generation and increased power demand from the charging of electric vehicles. The energy and mobility transition hence calls for novel technological innovations in the field of sustainable electric mobility powered from renewable energy. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in technology for PV charging and storage for electric vehicles

Robust 24 Hours ahead Forecast in a Microgrid: A Real Case Study

Forecasting the power production from renewable energy sources (RESs) has become fundamental in microgrid applications to optimize scheduling and dispatching of the available assets. In this article, a methodology to provide the 24 h ahead Photovoltaic (PV) power forecast based on a Physical Hybrid Artificial Neural Network (PHANN) for microgrids is presented. The goal of this paper is to provide a robust methodology to forecast 24 h in advance the PV power production in a microgrid, addressing the specific criticalities of this environment. The proposed approach has to validate measured data properly, through an effective algorithm and further refine the power forecast when newer data are available. The procedure is fully implemented in a facility of the Multi-Good Microgrid Laboratory (MG(Lab)(2)) of the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, where new Energy Management Systems (EMSs) are studied. Reported results validate the proposed approach as a robust and accurate procedure for microgrid applications

Design and Analysis of Solar-powered E-bike Charging Stations to Support the Development of Green Campus

Currently, conventional motorcycles that utilize hazardous fossil fuels are expanding rapidly in Indonesia's major cities. Especially in campus environments, the increase in motorcycle usage has the potential to raise emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic microparticles. The green campus concept entails that campus living must implement low-emission energy efficiency, conserve resources, and enhance environmental quality by teaching its residents how to live a healthy lifestyle. However, limiting the number of motorcycles on campus is the main challenge, especially in Indonesia. To overcome this challenge, this study provides a design for the e-bike system that will be implemented at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). In addition, a solar power plant is integrated into the design to support the adoption of the zero-emission green energy concept on the campus. The design accommodates specifications for a 6 km radius surrounding the school, a two-day lifespan, and 100 electric bicycles. The experiment's findings indicate that the solar-powered e-bike design requires 99 solar panels with a capacity of 150 Wp, 9 SSCs with a capacity of 100 A, and three inverters with a capacity of 2,500 W. It is projected that this device will reduce exhaust emissions by 7.62 tons of CO2 per year once it is entirely operated

Electric Vehicle Charging Load Allocation at Residential Locations Utilizing the Energy Savings Gained by Optimal Network Reconductoring

In this study, a two-stage methodology based on the energy savings gained by optimal network reconductoring was developed for the sizing and allocation of electric vehicle (EV) charging load at the residential locations in urban distribution systems. During the first stage, the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) was applied to minimize the annual energy losses of the radial distribution system through optimum network reconductoring. A multi-objective function was formulated to minimize investment, peak loss, and annual energy loss costs at different load factors. The results obtained with the flower pollination algorithm were compared with the particle swarm optimization algorithm. In the second stage, a simple heuristic procedure was developed for the sizing and allocation of EV charging load at every node of the distribution system utilizing part of the annual energy savings obtained by optimal network reconductoring. The number of electric cars, electric bikes, and electric scooters that can be charged at every node was computed while maintaining the voltage and branch current constraints. The simulation results were demonstrated on 123 bus and 51 bus radial distribution networks to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Designing Innovative PV-powered applications for the urban environment:A design-driven multidisciplinary approach

The transport and residential sectors are two of the key areas where the transition to a fully renewable energy supply needs to take place in order to limit the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. This thesis therefore explores how a multidisciplinary design-driven research approach can be used to develop technically functional, financially feasible and low-emissions PV-powered applications for these two sectors which are more likely to be adopted by end users. A feasibility model was first developed to simulate the operation of a grid-connected solar EV charging station with energy storage, showing that the longer an EV is driven the more affordable solar-powered charging becomes and a higher environmental dividend is achieved. A subsequent study for eight locations around the world indicates that with the right combination of battery and PV system sizes this charging system can be a feasible solution from a technical, financial and environmental perspective in comparison with both a gasoline-fuelled vehicle and a grid-charged EV. A conceptual design study resulted in the development of eleven innovative solar mobility applications, ranging from mobile EV charging stations to solar-powered bicycles and public transportation. Energy balance calculations for two sample locations show that the extent to which the PV electricity produced by these systems will meet vehicle demand will vary significantly depending on the type of application. Results from a user study aimed at evaluating the potential adoption of four existing solar-powered mobility applications found that despite having a mostly positive impression, respondents’ likelihood to adopt these applications in the near future was relatively low. However, a vast majority of respondents willing to pay more for an EV with integrated solar cells indicates that these applications are perceived as having an added value. Finally, the performance of home energy management system (HEMS) prototypes was evaluated using both simulation and user tests. This dual approach proved useful for quickly and accurately validating the operation of these products, but conflicting results during user tests highlight the complexity of user behaviour around household energy consumption and the importance of carefully designing HEMS to ensure they achieve their intended purpose

A Widespread Review of Smart Grids Towards Smart Cities

© 2019 by the authorsNowadays, the importance of energy management and optimization by means of smart devices has arisen as an important issue. On the other hand, the intelligent application of smart devices stands as a key element in establishing smart cities, which have been suggested as the solution to complicated future urbanization difficulties in coming years. Considering the scarcity of traditional fossil fuels in the near future, besides their ecological problems the new smart grids have demonstrated the potential to merge the non-renewable and renewable energy resources into each other leading to the reduction of environmental problems and optimizing operating costs. The current paper clarifies the importance of smart grids in launching smart cities by reviewing the advancement of micro/nano grids, applications of renewable energies, energy-storage technologies, smart water grids in smart cities. Additionally a review of the major European smart city projects has been carried out. These will offer a wider vision for researchers in the operation, monitoring, control and audit of smart-grid systems.publishedVersio

CITIES: Energetic Efficiency, Sustainability; Infrastructures, Energy and the Environment; Mobility and IoT; Governance and Citizenship

This book collects important contributions on smart cities. This book was created in collaboration with the ICSC-CITIES2020, held in San José (Costa Rica) in 2020. This book collects articles on: energetic efficiency and sustainability; infrastructures, energy and the environment; mobility and IoT; governance and citizenship