Novel Soft-Constrained Distributed Strategy to meet high penetration trend of PEVs at homes

Abstract This paper shows that the Demand Response Program is not sufficient to solve the problem of high penetration level of Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs), even when energy management systems are used in homes. In the presence of Time-varying electricity price, PEVs tend to charge during low price periods. The problem starts when the number of PEVs exceeds a certain threshold. A total load of all homes on a transformer may exceed its capacity and create high peak-demand during low-electricity price. To overcome this situation, we propose a novel Soft-Constrained Distributed Strategy. The novelty consists of defining a new distributed information exchange between Power Utility and end-users, new constraints are developed at home level taking into account the transformer and Distribution Network's technical limits, and a new optimization model is proposed to implement the strategy. A case study is conducted using data provided by Hydro-Quebec. Simulations and comparative results show the validity of our approach. The proposed strategy reduces the peak–demand, energy loss, depreciation cost, transformer's Loss Of Life, and voltage deviations. Lastly, our study shows that it is not necessary for the power utility (e.g. Hydro-Quebec) to upgrade all Distribution Transformers on the network and the infrastructure during the increasing penetration of PEVs.