Optimal Scheduling of Virtual Power Plants Utilizing Wind Power and Electric Vehicles

Increasing share of wind power in exponential rise of distributed energy resources utilization for cleaner energy is hindered by it's intrinsic haphazardness and lack of precise forecast. Virtual power plants (VPP) are often touted as the key part of future power system as it helps in mitigating the sporadic nature of distributed energy resources. This research study proposes the combination of wind farms and electric vehicles (EVs) as a VPP. EVs are proposed to act as the storage system of this VPP which can mitigate the intermittency of wind power. The utilization of EVs as storage system saves the initial investment cost of the VPP for establishing a specified storage system. The mobility and frequent connectivity of EVs to the grid are also the added advantages. A linear programming optimized model is proposed for optimal scheduling of VPP for participating in the day-ahead market. An innovative payment strategy for participating EVs is also proposed in this study. The whole proposed strategy is tested with a case study in the end.