Optimal Sizing of Renewable Energy-Based Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles

The availability of electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities is crucial to the EV application, which is a promising solution to minimize fossil oil consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nevertheless, satisfying EV charging requests through the electric grid might result in grid destabilization owing to a rapid spike in load profile. The effective implementation of an optimized renewable energy (RE)-based hybrid energy storage system (HESS) can reduce the sudden impact of EV charging on the grid, can diminish the increased power demand from the utility grid, and reduce the GHG emission. This article has proposed an optimal solution for HESS-integrated EV charging stations (CSs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three different HESS configurations such as; grid-dependent system, off-grid PV-wind-battery energy storage system (BESS)-based system, and grid-connected PV-wind-BESS-based system for EV charging stations are designed and investigated. The simulation results are analyzed considering three different factors such as electrical, environmental, and economic factors. The optimal configuration includes a grid-connected single wind turbine (WT), 11 batteries, and a 413kW converter. Moreover, the net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) are $1.63M and 0.0407$/kWh respectively with a CO
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emission of 190,541 kg/year which is 81.02% less than the grid-only configuration.