As electric vehicle adoption grows alongside a boom in energy-intensive artificial intelligence, navigating how and when to charge electric cars isn’t just a routine task. With US electricity demand projected to grow 9% through 2028, charging could overload our power grid or transform it with increased capacity and reliability. When coupled with utility net zero targets, this increase in demand also means that it is essential to consider the availability of clean energy sources to enable EV charging. If short-term supply shortages increase continued reliance on fossils, societies may choose reliability over achieving decarbonization goals, which could undermine the environmental benefits of EVs.
An EV charging near buildings equipped with solar panels
Over the past year, I’ve seen how managed charging can help utilities effectively navigate increased EV loads in a way that helps the grid and increases capacity to integrate renewables, rather than stressing the grid. . We’ve seen initiatives like Baltimore Gas & Electric’s Smart Charge Management program graduate from a pilot to an expanded offering that will soon be available to more customers.
Grid reliability and performance are at the forefront of utility companies and their regulatory bodies, in addition to electric vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure providers. EVs can play a critical role in managing and orchestrating grid loads, acting as a “device” that can be strategically managed and controlled to increase power grid reliability. In BGE’s case, the Smart Charge Management program prioritizes the driver’s needs (eg, ensuring a full charge by the desired departure time) as well as protecting the utility’s distribution assets through charging load balancing. of EV.
Load management and the role of network orchestration
For the grid to sustainably and reliably store energy, a balance between supply and demand for electricity must be maintained. Load management—a strategy that controls the amount of electricity used at any given time—can help with this balance by reducing or shifting demand during peak usage times, reducing the utility’s bulk procurement costs and offsetting distribution investment costs – all of which can help minimize bill impacts for customers. Load management uses various techniques and technologies to identify how and when electricity is used by consumers and aligns usage with grid needs and avoided costs/benefits. When planned well, these avoided costs/benefits can encourage customer participation in managed billing programs.
All of these efforts must be somehow coordinated—that’s where orchestration comes in. Led by utilities and grid operators, orchestration coordinates the management and control of energy resources and loads to improve grid performance and increase its capacity to integrate renewable resources. This includes dynamic shifting of energy consumption during the middle of the day when solar output is highest, and from peak load periods to off-peak times, real-time power flow adjustments as conditions change, and integration of energy sources distributed or DERs. EVs, with their ability to consume, store and discharge energy, offer a unique opportunity for both load management and grid support.
EV: Navigating Network Requirements MVP
When you think of a DER, most will picture solar panels or wind turbines, which are installed and generally stay put. EVs are portable energy storage units with the ability to help balance outages of various energy sources and in some cases, reduce the need to curtail excess solar production.
When EVs are plugged in and charged, they can store about 40 to over 100 kilowatt-hours of energy, depending on the size of the vehicle and battery capacity. This electricity stored in their batteries can be discharged back into the grid through vehicle-to-grid or V2G technology. Unlike traditional charging where power only flows from the grid to the EV battery, V2G technology enables EVs to interact with the grid in a two-way manner, allowing EVs to not only draw power from the grid, but also return the energy stored in it.
It may seem futuristic, but it’s happening now. BGE teamed up with Ford and home solar panel and battery storage company Sunrun to launch a small-scale vehicle-to-home (V2H) pilot in Maryland, showing how two-way EV charging can relieve stress on the network and add value to customers using Ford F-150 lightning trucks. The pilot encourages customers to offload power from F-150 Lightnings to their homes during peak summer demand to support Maryland’s power grid.
Kristy Fleischmann Groncki, senior manager of smart grid and innovation, leads this effort for BGE. She said, “If V2H — or V2G when energy flows beyond the household — grows from its current footprint in Baltimore, it could potentially turn EVs into a valuable resource that helps not only support energy reliability, but lower the overall cost of EV ownership for consumers.”
The Future of Vehicle-to-Grid Technology
Growth in energy demand shows no signs of slowing down, but fortunately, neither does innovation in the load management space. With an increasing charging load that can be flexible and intelligent, EVs are a key part of the energy evolution.
According to ICF’s senior vice president, focused on distributed flexibility solutions, Patty Cook, enterprises have an opportunity to partner with technology providers and vehicle manufacturers to integrate managed charging capabilities and pave the way for V2G.
“Companies must implement effective load management strategies while also redefining demand management programs as a whole,” she said. “Dynamic energy management – such as that provided by managed charging for EVs – allows utilities to optimize their existing infrastructure and match demand, reducing the need for costly upgrades or investments.”
It may not seem like it at first glance, but when you look closer, EVs can play an important role in navigating the growing demand on the grid. Especially as we continue to navigate the frontier of AI, managed EV charging can be a powerful tool to connect and balance an electricity supply that is increasingly diverse, decentralized and intermittent with flexible demand.