Investigating the Role of Electric Vehicles in Providing Frequency Response in Low-inertia Islanded Power Grids

The widespread integration of renewable energy resources (RERs) has brought significant changes to how future energy systems could be operated and planned. A key concern in these transformations is maintaining system frequency stability, particularly as the traditional inertia support from synchronous generation units becomes limited in future energy systems with converter connected RERs. This work explores the impact of flexible resources like electric vehicles (EVs) to offer flexibility for utilities during frequency disturbances in energy grids. One effective strategy involves simulating virtual inertia through controlling EV charging based on frequency derivatives. This study aims to explore how EVs can be leveraged as flexible resources to enhance the frequency response of energy systems. Therefore, it focuses on using the charging status of EVs as a control mechanism to provide flexibility, while employing a heuristic model to optimize virtual damping and inertia parameters of the control unit. Finally, this approach optimizes the response of EVs and investigates its impact on the energy system's frequency response.