EV Parking Lots for Flexible Energy Sourcing

Energy storage is inherently a flexible asset that can be used to reduce renewable energy curtailment and the congestion at its host network, enhance system resilience, and provide ancillary services at peak times. But the cost of technology still hampers the large-scale adoption of storage in power distribution networks. With EV parking lots included in its asset portfolio, a city can take advantage of the power stored in the parked EVs without major capital investments. In this article, we formulate the operation of an EV parking lot from the viewpoint of its owner (i.e., a city or a private entity). The lot works as a market aggregator with operational uncertainties stemming from: (i) random arrival and departure of vehicles, (ii) the SoC of EV batteries at the times of arrival and departure, and (iii) willingness of EV owners to participate. The risks from these uncertainties and market prices of ancillary services impact the bottom line of the lot owner’s revenue. For EV owners the excessive up and down cycles of battery is offset by discount offered by the lot owner. We provide an illustrative example and a roadmap to extend this model to take the holistic view of a power distribution network.