Electric vehicles (EVs) could play a central role in decarbonising road transport. But this new type of electricity load will need careful management. Although electricity needs for EVs are likely to remain small relative to overall load in most regions for many years to come, they could have a much bigger impact on peak load as motorists seek to recharge their batteries during the evening. Electricity suppliers will need to anticipate the long-term investments that will be needed to respond to this emerging trend. Recent technological advances in electricity distribution and load management that make use of information and communications technologies, referred to as “smart grids”, promise to facilitate the integration of EVs into electricity load and to lower costs. Smartgrid technology can enable EV-charging (grid-to-vehicle, or G2V) load to be shifted to off-peak periods, thereby flattening the daily load curve and significantly reducing both generation and network investment needs. Advanced metering equipment is an essential component, enabling a two-way flow of information and providing customers and utilities with real-time data and enabling customers to schedule charging intelligently. In the longer term, there may be potential for smart-grid technology to enable EVs to be used as distributed storage devices, feeding electricity stored in their batteries back into the system when needed (vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, supply). This can help to reduce electricity system costs by providing a cost-effective means of providing regulation services, spinning reserves and peak-shaving capacity. In this way, EVs could both benefit from and drive forward investment in smart grids. However, there are a number of technical, practical and economic barriers to such a development, including low battery discharge rates and storage capacity. Developments in battery technology will be critical to the future of V2G supply. Electricity market structures and regulatory frameworks will need to adapt to facilitate the demonstration and commercial deployment of smart grids, including the specific technologies needed to make G2V and V2G technically and commercially viable. It is vital that regulatory frameworks be adapted to allow tariffs to be set to provide incentives for electricity transmission and distribution companies to invest in appropriate smart-grid technologies, for system operators to take decisions that ensure economically efficient operation of the entire system and for EV owners to optimise G2V and V2G load. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting