Grid Interactive Charging of EVs in PV-Powered Parking Lots Considering Uncertainties

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy play a crucial role in addressing the pressing challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, and energy security. However, the increasing adoption of EVs brings with it several challenges related to the charging load. This paper proposes a new stochastic approach for coordinated charging/discharging of EVs in a parking lot powered with photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. The main aim of the strategy is to schedule the charging/discharging of EVs to satisfy their energy needs while minimizing the operating cost of the parking lot. In this study, the coordinated grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operating modes are compared against the first-come/first-serve (FCFS) charging mode. To obtain practical results, different uncertainties associated with EVs and PV generation are considered using stochastic optimization. The uncertainties are considered using the sample average approximation method by applying the Monte Carlo Simulation. Hence, a mixed integer linear programming problem is formulated and is solved using CPLEX to minimize the expected day-ahead operating cost of the parking lot. Several Scenario studies are simulated to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, which achieved up to 24% reduction in operating costs on weekdays.