Households’ potential to contribute to frequency regulation via V2G

Summary

Electric cars are already being used to stabilise the electricity grid, primarily by varying the charging power. Enabling the return of electricity to the grid, known as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), creates further opportunities to balance the grid. However, the potential for frequency regulation from the electric cars of single-family households depends on the owners' acceptance of using the batteries for frequency regulation and their willingness to plug in the chargers. Furthermore, a significant part of the cars and the charging infrastructure need to support V2G application.

To integrate users' willingness and ability to contribute to V2G in the evaluation of the potential for frequency regulation, an interdisciplinary approach is required that considers technical and economic aspects as well as users' conditions, behaviours, and motivations. Therefore, the project will conduct user studies to investigate the motivations and perceived conditions for single-family households to contribute to frequency regulation through V2G. Based on the user studies, we will quantify the potential for electric cars to support the grid with frequency regulation and quantify the economic value for households depending on plug-in behaviour and charging strategies. The potential and value of frequency regulation will then be placed in a broader context to see how households' electric cars can contribute to the grid in the long term.

Project goals

• Increased knowledge of the motivations and perceived conditions of single-family households to contribute to frequency regulation through V2G technology at home, in relation to other services where the battery creates benefits for the household, the local grid, or the energy system at large.
• Recommendations for the development of frequency regulation services and incentives aimed at single-family households with electric car charging, so that the services can be designed considering households' conditions, expectations, and motivations.
• Quantification of how individual households' practical ability to contribute power and energy to frequency regulation through V2G depends on their plug-in behavior and charging strategy.
• Recommendations for the development of technical standards for V2G to improve the ability of electric cars to deliver frequency regulation.
• Increased knowledge of how the economic value from frequency regulation through V2G for individual households varies depending on connection behavior and charging strategy.
• Increased knowledge of how the aggregate potential and economic value for a fleet of electric cars to contribute to frequency regulation through V2G depends on plug-in behaviour, charging strategy, and response time outside the charging session.
• Increased knowledge of system effects and potential conflicts and synergies between frequency regulation and other services where V2G can create benefits for households, the local grid, and the energy system at large.