Techno-economic feasibility study on electric vehicle and renewable energy integration: A case study

This work simulated the economic viability of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy charging integration at a university campus. Homer energy simulation software was used to determine the optimal solution for the power loading, energy dispatch, and economic feasibility of each electricity source. Three scenarios were considered: case 1 (C1) is the baseline that provided the electric parameters considering a grid without renewable energy integration; case 2 (C2) is the addition of solar and wind systems supplying power to the grid and EVs; case 3 (C3) is the same conditions as C2, but EVs operate on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) scheme supplying energy to grid. Economic output solutions were classified according to the lowest net present value (NPV). The V2G mechanism considered on the C3 offered conditions that decreased the costs of operation of the system, estimating the lowest NPV among the options analyzed. In C2, the simulations recorded higher costs due to the system operation associated with extra local load to power the EVs. In both C2 and C3 scenarios, EVs aided the renewable energy sources' penetration on the system; however, the operation of EVs on a V2G mechanism contributed to the highest rate of renewable energy penetration.