ELECTRIC VEHICLE IMPACT ON DISTRIBUTION GRID: REACTIVE POWER COMPENSATION AND VOLTAGE SUPPORT
Open Access
Author:
Russell, Thomas Carlyon
Area of Honors:
Electrical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Dr. Jeffery Mayer, Thesis Supervisor Jeffrey Scott Mayer, Thesis Supervisor John Douglas Mitchell, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Electric Vehicles Impact Power Grid Voltage Support Reactive Power VAR Support Newton-Raphson Power Flow Bi-directional Chargers
Abstract:
The electric vehicle era is about to begin, and many people are welcoming it willingly. However, some electric utilities are worried about the impact they will have on the power grid. Even though the use of every additional electric vehicle means less carbon pollution it also means more power running through the aging electric infrastructure. This paper examines the impact of electric vehicles as a reactive power compensator. The conclusion shows some improvement in power quality, but electric vehicles are not exclusively beneficial for present day voltage regulation devices at charging levels of 1.45 kW and 5.8 kW. The voltage improvements from the chargers are minimal at projected electric vehicle levels over the next few decades. Modeling of electric vehicles is done on a standard residential distribution circuit as well as power flow simulation using the Newton-Raphson method of solving systems in MATLAB.
