Bi-level charging station planning for integrated power distribution and transportation system

This paper proposes a novel bi-level charging station planning approach in an integrated power distribution and transportation system. The proposed charging station planning framework considers the impact of the operation strategies of the electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) on both the power distribution system and transportation system. In the proposed framework, the pricing strategies of the EVCSs can affect the traffic flow by attracting electric vehicles (EVs) to charge and consequently change the load demand pattern in the power distribution network. On the contrary, the electricity market can affect the traffic flow though affecting the pricing strategies of the EVCSs. Thus, the two systems are able to be connected through the optimal placement of EVCSs. The lower operational level of the proposed approach considers the competitions among the EVCSs in a competitive charging market environment through a non-cooperative game. The upper planning level optimize the placement of EVCSs based the operation results in the lower level with cross-entropy optimization. According to the simulation results, the proposed bi-level planning approach benefits the two systems by reducing the peak load and improving the traffic conditions effectively.