Improving Reliability of PV-Powered Highway With Electric Vehicle Charging Services

Due to growing concerns related to greenhouse gas emissions, the growing utilization of sustainable energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the highway transportation sector can be considered as one of the climate change adaptation measures. Reliability and economic considerations are two critical factors that need to be considered in design and operation of PV-powered EV charging stations. This paper develops an approach for the evaluation of reliability for PV-powered charging services. The costs associated with providing reliable services are also assessed. The developed methodology is applied to PV-powered charging stations operating with or without battery energy storage systems (BESS) along a highway to showcase the effect of varying PV system capacity and different inter-station distances on charging service reliability and associated costs. The results demonstrate that the cost-effectiveness of charging stations equipped with BESS becomes increasingly evident as the reliability level improves.