Recovery Act - Developing an Agent-Based Distributed Smart Controller for Plug-in Electric Vehicles and Distributed Energy Resources

Current approaches to management of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) on the electric grid involve limited or any ability to control when charging occurs or when PEV based storage can be used to support the grid as an addition generation source. Large-scale PEV penetration on the SmartGrid will present significant benefits and challenges to operation of the SmartGrid, especially if required to integrate with large-scale Photovoltaic (PV) systems. In order for SmartGrid operators to accommodate and integrate emerging PEV systems, smart control modules (software and hardware) that control the interface between PEVs, Distributed Energy Resources (DER) systems, facility energy management systems, and SmartGrid distribution automation and operations (SmartGrid), will be required. The proposed work will assess the merit and feasibility of next-generation software based PEV Smart Controller Module (PSCM) for distributed microprocessor based PEV. The design will include tools and control methods to support the optimized operation of individual and clusters of PEVs at the utility network feeder level, using distributed localized agent-based software solutions. It will address smart charging strategies, based on peak load conditions, pricing, incentives, as well as load shifting and shaping based on PEV availability at any given time and location. The PSCM software will provide localized agent based controls necessary to manage the electric grid at the feeder or micro-grid level, along with automated and optimized control strategies ranked based on pricing and grid conditions. For Phase I, several key design issues will be investigated to ensure that an appropriate software solution is developed which takes into account pricing signals, local DER, and grid services while managing available PEVs on the grid. The work will include the specific requirements of the PEV ecosystem stakeholders who will use these software components. These key issues will include assessment of software user needs, automatic and manual control strategies, optimization based on pricing and loads, software system architecture, data models and communications requirements, and decision logic, analytics, and business rules development. The results of the Phase I research will be a detailed Software Development Plan which would be used in Phase II to create a commercialized version of the software which will be tested in a real environment with actual PEV charging stations and DER devices connected to a major U.S. electrical system. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: This feasibility assessment provides the basis for software applications that support next generation smart grid PEV operations, decision support and control, which will be of interest to a large number of energy industry stakeholders. It improves on current approaches to PEV charging and renewable management on the grid, which are currently based on manual charging decisions, with no ability to discharge back to the grid. It provides a mechanism to increase grid reliability and grid stability. It benefits national security by developing methods to increase grid reliability and its ability to respond to emergencies and contingencies. Finally, it unifies requirements of system operators, PEV owners, and DER owners, as well as regional and utility level ISOs.