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Things to ponder: Vehicle to anything...

Doug Houseman's picture
Visionary and innovator in the utility industry and grid modernization, Burns & McDonnell

I have a broad background in utilities and energy. I worked for Capgemini in the Energy Practice for more than 15 years. During that time I rose to the position of CTO of the 12,000 person...

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  • Mar 7, 2023
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Vehicle to premise (home) [V2H] is reasonably easy, island the premise and the inverter connected to the vehicle is completely in control. Put in a transfer trip switch and the control software is basically the same as an inverter.

Vehicle to grid [V2G] is also pretty straight forward. If and only if it from a charger that runs trough the wiring in a premise.

Mix the two and things get harder. [V2HG]The premise wiring has a higher impedance, then the grid, so heating can be an issue in the premise. Suddenly the grid is in charge, but through the premise wiring, voltage levels can rise as you get into the secondary and then into the primary.

The software gets to be harder, because the vehicle (or EVSE) has to deal with the fact that it is now actually dealing with 3 power systems (vehicle, premise, and the grid [and that could be 2 or 3 more -secondary, -primary, -sub-transmission]).

I wonder how much more complex it will be to make this close to perfect:

1) How do you minimize harmonics, or even cancel existing harmonics
2) How do you minimize flicker
3) How to detect heating and minimize it
4) How to use minimal voltage increase to export power
5) How to maximize the value to the owner
6) How to interface to the premise energy management system (HEMS/BEMS)
7) How to know when to island the premise and stop exporting to the world
8) How to know when to stop exporting power and retain enough power to get to work

Fun control and economic algorithm to think about.

Discussions
Charles Botsford, PE's picture
Charles Botsford, PE on Mar 8, 2023

Hi Doug,

All your questions are relatively easy to answer. Join the SAE committees (J2847, J3072, etal) and the fog disperses. The work has been ongoing for a decade, standards have been issued (and revised a few times), and vehicle OEMs, equipment suppliers, and utilities are working to make things happen.

Doug Houseman's picture
Thank Doug for the Post!
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