IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2021 - 27

receive data from a driver's energy supplier and optimize
the charging based on variable costs. This has been partnered
with the Octopus Agile tariff, which offers variable
pricing, including " plunge " pricing. During plunge pricing
events, customers are effectively paid to use electricity. This
occurs when there is excess energy available, that is, when
demand is low and generation is high (typically overnight).
As EV adoption grows alongside the roll out of smart meters
to facilitate ToU tariffs, the size of the potential flexibility
resource from EV charging will also increase. The following
factors could contribute to greater use of EV flexibility
in the future:
✔ The completion of the roll out of smart meters to all
domestic customers: This allows for the ToU metering
required for more complex ToU tariffs.
✔ The increasing use by distribution companies and energy
suppliers of flexibility services: If the response
of EVs can be aggregated, this could offer a suitable
flexibility resource.
✔ Standardization: This allows EV chargers to provide
smart charging through measures such as PAS 1878
(Energy Smart Appliances-Classification) and PAS
1879 (Energy Smart Appliances-Demand Side Response
Operation).
✔ Consumer education encourages drivers to explore
options for off-peak EV charging or involvement in
demand-side response: This could highlight both the
available cost savings and the environmental benefits.
What About Vehicle to Grid?
Electric Nation used smart charging to exploit flexibility in
home EV charging. Vehicle to grid offers a greater degree
of flexibility because power can be exported from vehicle
batteries to the grid when necessary. For example, if large
numbers of vehicle-to-grid chargers were aggregated, power
could be exported during periods of peak demand, reducing
demands on the distribution/transmission system. The vehicles
could charge overnight to recoup the exported energy
and ensure that the battery is fully charged by the morning.
National Grid estimates an uptake of vehicle to grid of up to
45% by 2050.
CrowdCharge is leading a follow on to the Electric
Nation project for Western Power Distribution. This project
aims to examine how sophisticated dynamic bidirectional
energy services based on vehicle battery storage-from
a variety of energy suppliers-may impact
low-voltage networks.
Final Remarks
Without incentives or management to reduce charging
during the period of existing peak demand, the additional
demand created by EV charging could result in network
capacity issues on some distribution networks. Electric
Nation demonstrated the inherent flexibility of domestic
EV charging, particularly when vehicles are plugged in during
the evening peak time. Throughout the trial, demand
management via smart charging was shown to be technically
feasible and could be used while maintaining high levels
of customer satisfaction. This is particularly true in the
case of using smart charging alongside an app and a reward
system for drivers.
Smart charging offers a method to manage the additional
network demand created by the electrification of
transportation, thereby reducing the need for conventional
network reinforcement. More widespread use of
ToU tariffs, standardization that makes it easy for EV
owners to provide flexibility services, and consumer
education will support the development of this technology
in the future.
For Further Reading
27%
38%
54%
40%
40%
36%
33%
10%
17%
CrowdCharge
22%
27%
41%
7% 7%
17%
Trial 1Trial 2Trial 3Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
GreenFlux
1-4
5-7
8-10
figure 11. The likelihood of the users recommending each
trial solution (10 = " Highly Likely " ).
july/august 2021
56%
52%
76%
" Summary report, " EA Technology (for Western Power
Distribution), Chester, U.K, Oct. 2019. Accessed: May
2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.eatechnology.com/
wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Electric-Nation-Report.pdf
" Full technical report, " EA Technology (for Western
Power Distribution), Chester, U.K, Oct. 2019. Accessed: May
2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.eatechnology.com/
wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Electric-Nation-Customer
-Trial-Report.pdf
" All project reports. " Western Power Distribution. https://
www.westernpower.co.uk/projects/electric-nation (accessed
May 2021).
Biography
Esther Dudek is with EA Technology, Chester, CH1 6ES,
U.K.
p&e
ieee power & energy magazine
27

https://www.eatechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Electric-Nation-Report.pdf https://www.eatechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Electric-Nation-Report.pdf https://www.eatechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Electric-Nation-Customer-Trial-Report.pdf https://www.eatechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Electric-Nation-Customer-Trial-Report.pdf https://www.eatechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Electric-Nation-Customer-Trial-Report.pdf https://www.westernpower.co.uk/projects/electric-nation https://www.westernpower.co.uk/projects/electric-nation

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2021

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