IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i16p4812-d610087.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Potential of Vehicle-to-Grid to Support the Energy Transition: A Case Study on Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Loris Di Natale

    (Urban Energy Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
    Laboratoire d’Automatique, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Luca Funk

    (Urban Energy Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland)

  • Martin Rüdisüli

    (Urban Energy Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland)

  • Bratislav Svetozarevic

    (Urban Energy Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland)

  • Giacomo Pareschi

    (Aerothermochemistry and Combustion Systems Laboratory, Institute of Energy and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Philipp Heer

    (Urban Energy Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland)

  • Giovanni Sansavini

    (Reliability and Risk Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Institute of Energy Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Energy systems are undergoing a profound transition worldwide, substituting nuclear and thermal power with intermittent renewable energy sources (RES), creating discrepancies between the production and consumption of electricity and increasing their dependence on greenhouse gas (GHG) intensive imports from neighboring energy systems. In this study, we analyze the concurrent electrification of the mobility sector and investigate the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) on energy systems with a large share of renewable energy sources. In particular, we build an optimization framework to assess how Evs could compete and interplay with other energy storage technologies to minimize GHG-intensive electricity imports, leveraging the installed Swiss reservoir and pumped hydropower plants (PHS) as examples. Controlling bidirectional EVs or reservoirs shows potential to decrease imported emissions by 33–40%, and 60 % can be reached if they are controlled simultaneously and with the support of PHS facilities when solar PV panels produce a large share of electricity. However, even if vehicle-to-grid (V2G) can support the energy transition, we find that its benefits will reach their full potential well before EVs penetrate the mobility sector to a large extent and that EVs only contribute marginally to long-term energy storage. Hence, even with a widespread adoption of EVs, we cannot expect V2G to single-handedly solve the growing mismatch problem between the production and consumption of electricity.

Suggested Citation

  • Loris Di Natale & Luca Funk & Martin Rüdisüli & Bratislav Svetozarevic & Giacomo Pareschi & Philipp Heer & Giovanni Sansavini, 2021. "The Potential of Vehicle-to-Grid to Support the Energy Transition: A Case Study on Switzerland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-24, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:16:p:4812-:d:610087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/16/4812/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/16/4812/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernandes, Camila & Frías, Pablo & Latorre, Jesús M., 2012. "Impact of vehicle-to-grid on power system operation costs: The Spanish case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 194-202.
    2. Bartlett, Stuart & Dujardin, Jérôme & Kahl, Annelen & Kruyt, Bert & Manso, Pedro & Lehning, Michael, 2018. "Charting the course: A possible route to a fully renewable Swiss power system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 942-955.
    3. Matteo Muratori, 2018. "Impact of uncoordinated plug-in electric vehicle charging on residential power demand," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(3), pages 193-201, March.
    4. Bhandari, Vivek & Sun, Kaiyang & Homans, Frances, 2018. "The profitability of vehicle to grid for system participants - A case study from the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 278-286.
    5. Martin Rüdisüli & Sinan L. Teske & Urs Elber, 2019. "Impacts of an Increased Substitution of Fossil Energy Carriers with Electricity-Based Technologies on the Swiss Electricity System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-38, June.
    6. Zhang, Cong & Greenblatt, Jeffery B. & MacDougall, Pamela & Saxena, Samveg & Jayam Prabhakar, Aditya, 2020. "Quantifying the benefits of electric vehicles on the future electricity grid in the midwestern United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    7. Uddin, Kotub & Dubarry, Matthieu & Glick, Mark B., 2018. "The viability of vehicle-to-grid operations from a battery technology and policy perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 342-347.
    8. Kobashi, Takuro & Yoshida, Takahiro & Yamagata, Yoshiki & Naito, Katsuhiko & Pfenninger, Stefan & Say, Kelvin & Takeda, Yasuhiro & Ahl, Amanda & Yarime, Masaru & Hara, Keishiro, 2020. "On the potential of “Photovoltaics + Electric vehicles” for deep decarbonization of Kyoto’s power systems: Techno-economic-social considerations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    9. Pareschi, Giacomo & Küng, Lukas & Georges, Gil & Boulouchos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Are travel surveys a good basis for EV models? Validation of simulated charging profiles against empirical data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    10. Ding, Ning & Duan, Jinhui & Xue, Song & Zeng, Ming & Shen, Jianfei, 2015. "Overall review of peaking power in China: Status quo, barriers and solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 503-516.
    11. Brinkel, N.B.G. & Schram, W.L. & AlSkaif, T.A. & Lampropoulos, I. & van Sark, W.G.J.H.M., 2020. "Should we reinforce the grid? Cost and emission optimization of electric vehicle charging under different transformer limits," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    12. Staffell, Iain & Pfenninger, Stefan, 2016. "Using bias-corrected reanalysis to simulate current and future wind power output," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1224-1239.
    13. Mehrdad Ehsani & Milad Falahi & Saeed Lotfifard, 2012. "Vehicle to Grid Services: Potential and Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(10), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Dujardin, Jérôme & Kahl, Annelen & Kruyt, Bert & Bartlett, Stuart & Lehning, Michael, 2017. "Interplay between photovoltaic, wind energy and storage hydropower in a fully renewable Switzerland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 513-525.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Keiner, Dominik & Thoma, Christian & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "Seasonal hydrogen storage for residential on- and off-grid solar photovoltaics prosumer applications: Revolutionary solution or niche market for the energy transition until 2050?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    2. ElSayed, Mai & Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "High cost of slow energy transitions for emerging countries: On the case of Egypt's pathway options," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 107-126.
    3. Rüdisüli, Martin & Bach, Christian & Bauer, Christian & Beloin-Saint-Pierre, Didier & Elber, Urs & Georges, Gil & Limpach, Robert & Pareschi, Giacomo & Kannan, Ramachandran & Teske, Sinan L., 2022. "Prospective life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of electricity-based mobility options," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    4. Walch, Alina & Rüdisüli, Martin, 2023. "Strategic PV expansion and its impact on regional electricity self-sufficiency: Case study of Switzerland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walch, Alina & Rüdisüli, Martin, 2023. "Strategic PV expansion and its impact on regional electricity self-sufficiency: Case study of Switzerland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    2. Siobhan Powell & Gustavo Vianna Cezar & Liang Min & Inês M. L. Azevedo & Ram Rajagopal, 2022. "Charging infrastructure access and operation to reduce the grid impacts of deep electric vehicle adoption," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 932-945, October.
    3. Lizana, Jesus & Friedrich, Daniel & Renaldi, Renaldi & Chacartegui, Ricardo, 2018. "Energy flexible building through smart demand-side management and latent heat storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 471-485.
    4. Ahmadian, Amirhossein & Ghodrati, Vahid & Gadh, Rajit, 2023. "Artificial deep neural network enables one-size-fits-all electric vehicle user behavior prediction framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    5. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Kester, Johannes & Noel, Lance & Zarazua de Rubens, Gerardo, 2020. "Actors, business models, and innovation activity systems for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Dujardin, Jérôme & Schillinger, Moritz & Kahl, Annelen & Savelsberg, Jonas & Schlecht, Ingmar & Lordan-Perret, Rebecca, 2022. "Optimized market value of alpine solar photovoltaic installations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 878-888.
    7. Zou, Wenke & Sun, Yongjun & Gao, Dian-ce & Zhang, Xu & Liu, Junyao, 2023. "A review on integration of surging plug-in electric vehicles charging in energy-flexible buildings: Impacts analysis, collaborative management technologies, and future perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    8. Gyanwali, Khem & Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2020. "Representing hydropower in the dynamic power sector model and assessing clean energy deployment in the power generation mix of Nepal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    9. Wang, An & Xu, Junshi & Zhang, Mingqian & Zhai, Zhiqiang & Song, Guohua & Hatzopoulou, Marianne, 2022. "Emissions and fuel consumption of a hybrid electric vehicle in real-world metropolitan traffic conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    10. Powell, Siobhan & Cezar, Gustavo Vianna & Rajagopal, Ram, 2022. "Scalable probabilistic estimates of electric vehicle charging given observed driver behavior," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    11. Li, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhenpo & Zhang, Lei & Sun, Fengchun & Cui, Dingsong & Hecht, Christopher & Figgener, Jan & Sauer, Dirk Uwe, 2023. "Electric vehicle behavior modeling and applications in vehicle-grid integration: An overview," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    12. Jenn, Alan, 2023. "Emissions of electric vehicles in California’s transition to carbon neutrality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    13. Rüdisüli, Martin & Bach, Christian & Bauer, Christian & Beloin-Saint-Pierre, Didier & Elber, Urs & Georges, Gil & Limpach, Robert & Pareschi, Giacomo & Kannan, Ramachandran & Teske, Sinan L., 2022. "Prospective life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of electricity-based mobility options," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    14. Blumberg, Gerald & Broll, Roland & Weber, Christoph, 2022. "The impact of electric vehicles on the future European electricity system – A scenario analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Lin, Haiyang & Fu, Kun & Wang, Yu & Sun, Qie & Li, Hailong & Hu, Yukun & Sun, Bo & Wennersten, Ronald, 2019. "Characteristics of electric vehicle charging demand at multiple types of location - Application of an agent-based trip chain model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    16. Zhang, Haifeng & Tian, Ming & Zhang, Cong & Wang, Bin & Wang, Dai, 2021. "A systematic solution to quantify economic values of vehicle grid integration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    17. Manríquez, Francisco & Sauma, Enzo & Aguado, José & de la Torre, Sebastián & Contreras, Javier, 2020. "The impact of electric vehicle charging schemes in power system expansion planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    18. Edmunds, Calum & Galloway, Stuart & Dixon, James & Bukhsh, Waqquas & Elders, Ian, 2021. "Hosting capacity assessment of heat pumps and optimised electric vehicle charging on low voltage networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    19. Monica Alonso & Hortensia Amaris & Jean Gardy Germain & Juan Manuel Galan, 2014. "Optimal Charging Scheduling of Electric Vehicles in Smart Grids by Heuristic Algorithms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-27, April.
    20. Mangipinto, Andrea & Lombardi, Francesco & Sanvito, Francesco Davide & Pavičević, Matija & Quoilin, Sylvain & Colombo, Emanuela, 2022. "Impact of mass-scale deployment of electric vehicles and benefits of smart charging across all European countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:16:p:4812-:d:610087. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.