Regional Transmission Organization Demonstrates Vehicle-to-Grid Operation
19 November 2007
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| The V2G system consists of AC Propulsion’s bi-directional on-board charger and an Automatic Generation Control element developed by MAGIC. A later stage in the project will integrate aggregators into the control path. Click to enlarge. |
PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, last week hosted a presentation and demonstration of an electric vehicle adapted to plug into and receive power dispatch commands from the power grid (Vehicle-to-Grid, V2G).
The vehicle, a modified AC Propulsion eBox EV (earlier post), was developed by the Mid-Atlantic Grid-Interactive Car (MAGIC) Consortium that includes the University of Delaware, Pepco Holdings Inc. (PHI), PJM and AC Propulsion. The partners had earlier demonstrated V2G operation in a demonstration sponsored by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
During the demonstration, the electric vehicle was plugged in and received power dispatch commands from PJM. In response to the signals, the vehicle charged or discharged its battery to help balance supply and demand on the PJM grid.
The demonstration is a lead-in to Phase I of a MAGIC project that will connect 5-6 vehicles to PJM’s Automatic Generation Control (AGC) signal as a means to develop, test and demonstrate the basic V2G technology. Phase II of the project will expand to a 300-car V2G fleet which will be aggregated as part of an ancillary services contract with PJM. This phase is designed to demonstrate V2G business models, further develop the technology, and drive down component costs.
PHI is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving about 1.9 million customers in four states and the District of Columbia.
PJM has been providing technological support to the consortium to enable the technological advancement of the vehicle and to demonstrate how the grid can facilitate plug-and-play technology.
Dr. Willett Kempton, the lead researcher of the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) initiative and associate professor of the University of Delaware, gave the presentation before the demonstration.
As an RTO, PJM keeps the electricity supply and demand in balance by telling power producers how much energy should be generated and by adjusting import and export transactions.
Resources
Vehicle to Grid Power (Kempton briefing for FERC)
V2G Program at University of Delaware
I'm much more interested in using the car batteries that are no longer good for transportation (have lost 1/5th their battery life) as immobile grid storage batteries, and using demand-response charging to manage peak grid loads.
That would give the car driver the longest battery life, as well as the more straightforward grid storage.
Posted by: GreyFlcn | 19 November 2007 at 09:21 AM
That is your choice GreyFlcn but the bottom line is $$. If you can come out on top using your battery for two purposes why not? Battery life costs are fully incorporated into the economic calculations for this scheme.
Posted by: marcus | 19 November 2007 at 11:11 AM
My casual observation of batteries on charge suggest that the charger keeps trying to reach a state just slightly higher than full . This overcharge level is called surface charge and is the the first and fastest part of the storage to self discharge.
As all batteries are somewhat "defective or less than ideal owing to a combination of factors,and this factor is in fact (the a?) major sorce of losses.
This would appear to indicate that the electrical conversion efficiency falls vey rapidly as the capacity viz battery condition falls.
How do you suggest thes losses be contained?
Posted by: Arnold | 19 November 2007 at 11:46 AM
I recall a discussion, or was this a short film, regardless (believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see) My breif experience in electronics does not enable me to reverse engineeer this one . But the B-S meter actually runs backward on this so I think it correct.
A simple three legged device (can be placed on the appliance) that monitors the local demand on the AC grid via phase change analysis. The way voltage drops cause brown out so we can measure voltage.
The power companies resonse is as I understand it to try to increase the C.P.S. cycles per second slightly.
So here we have a reflection of the generators status. ie Are we under limit or over limit ?
Cruising or bogged down.
Or looking at it a different way.
If the load increases, the drag on the generator should slow the generator so C.P.S. decreases. Exactly how this can be related to phase angle change I'll leave to those more qualified.
This technology could enable instant point monitoring and silicon decisions in real time.
Maybe: This could be the reason we dont see this equipment developed. It is not so easily price differentiated in this simple version so not of any economic interest.
This is the only reason I can think of.As to why after all these years no mention or inclination.
Much easier to have persons in backrooms contrlling the grid via uplink.
So with a limited knowledge of the science a better understanding of the economics$$$$$?
reverse engineering of Both could be an extemely productive area of research.
Posted by: Arnold | 19 November 2007 at 12:25 PM
Arnold if I understand you right you're referring to dynamic demand control:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_demand_(electric_power)
http://www.dynamicdemand.co.uk/
This is a very cheap and easy win and it's astonishing it hasn't been incorporated into appliances yet given that all you need is another chip that monitors grid frequency. It would probably not save a massive amount but it should smooth demand out quite nicely. It's mostly suited to appliances that operate on a cycle (such as cold appliances).
My guess is that until it's legislated, the manufacturers won't incorporate it because the concept of doing something for the public good appears to be anathema to most corporations.
Posted by: Scatter | 19 November 2007 at 12:45 PM
Very nice post to read. Thank you.
Posted by: chirec | 13 October 2008 at 08:53 PM