Electricity authority for battery standardization to boost EV-to-grid charging

The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) is a concept under which EVs return electricity to the public power grid to meet energy demand.

In its report on V2G reverse charging, the CEA has called for the inclusion of provisions for reactive power compensation in the CEA (Technical Standards for Connectivity to the Grid) Regulations.

The ministry of power had in March this year asked CEA to frame guidelines for reverse charging of grid from batteries of EVs, following which a committee was constituted under the authority’s chairman on 11 April. The report looks at the services that EVs can provide to the power system through smart charging, challenges, implementation requirements and way forward for the smooth integration of EVs in the grid.

The call for standardization comes when the industry has raised concerns over battery standards as it may hurt the growth of battery adoption. Centre has been working on the standards for the EV batteries and swapping, but they have not been finalized amid resistance from the industry.

The report said that a significant scaling up in electric vehicle (EV) deployment represents an opportunity for the power sector. “Since, cars including EVs, typically spend about 80-90% of their lifetime parked. These idle periods, combined with battery storage capacity, could make EVs an attractive flexibility solution for the power system. Therefore, EV fleets can create vast electricity storage capacity,” it said.

These vehicles act as flexible loads and as decentralized storage resources, capable of providing additional flexibility to support power system operations, according to the CEA report.

It noted that the continued development of EV charging infrastructure and its integration will depend on the policy and regulatory framework, which must also consider the repercussions of the added EV load in the network, such as increased peak demand and congestion in the distribution grid. Network congestion, over voltage and under voltage issues, requirement of reactive power compensation, increase in peak load, phase imbalance issues are just a few of the many different challenges that may be witnessed by distribution utilities with high EV loads, it said, adding that installation of the high-power chargers may warrant upgrading the distribution infrastructure.

Standardization, interoperability, bidirectional charging system, synergies between mobility and the grid, robust bidirectional communication system, customer incentives, tariff design, optimizing of grid infrastructure requirements, integrated planning of power and transport sector, enable revenue stacking for EVs in different markets, EV load management, are expected to play a major role in the utilization of EVs for V2G services.

CEA has also suggested that an aggregators must allowed to participate in the electricity market through different ancillary services for the grid by organizing and optimizing the EVs charging and managing the load profile.

“In the first step of the process, the aggregator will establish a connection to each vehicle in the EV fleet, which has a service contract with the aggregator to utilize its battery, based on its current SoC (state of charge) to participate in ancillary services to the grid. The data from the EV will pass on the parameters required by the aggregator, with the condition for participation in the V2G system considering that the EV is sufficiently charged before the plug-out time,” said the report.

CEA has said that distribution companies (discom) are responsible for providing electricity connections for the EV charging infrastructure, implementing the EV tariff structure and ensuring that EV charging infrastructure is connected and operated and maintained properly, and they should develop EV readiness plans based on charging load impacts on the grid infrastructure.

EV readiness plans would help discoms devise their load management strategies, develop grid upgrade plans, and plan for additional procurement of additional power, if needed.

“The DISCOMs should conduct assessments of EV charging requirements at the grid and feeder levels for different scenarios of EV penetration, with other factors of interest such as spatial concentration of EVs, differential EV charging patterns, and the model impacts of Time-of-Use/ Time-of-Day (ToD) measures.”

The emphasis on V2G comes at a time when EV adoption in the country is gaining momentum and several policy measures have also been taken to boost demand for EVs, including Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Storage and PM-eBus Sewa.

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Updated: 08 Nov 2023, 06:13 PM IST