Sixteen electric vehicles (EVs) fed power back into Australia’s electricity grid during a major grid emergency in February. The experiment formed part of a research project led by The Australian National University (ANU), and was the first-ever test in Australia that proves a vehicle-to-grid system can support the national grid.
JET Charge, Australia’s largest EV infrastructure company and leaders in V2G technology, partnered with ANU and Realising Electric Vehicle-to-grid Services (REVS), to establish the technology to discharge power from EVs into Australia’s national power grid. The study monitored a fleet of 51 Nissan LEAF EVs installed across Canberra with V2G chargers that had been specified, procured and delivered with JET Charge’s exclusive technology.
The blackout on February 13 was caused by major storms in Melbourne and blew over high-voltage transmission towers, triggering the disconnection of Loy Yang coal power station and two wind farms.
JET Charge’s control system technology allowed the vehicles to monitor the grid when plugged in, detect when it was out of balance and respond by sending signals to all connected charging stations that instructs the vehicles to discharge.
Whilst 90,000 homes had their power cut, in Canberra 16 of the REVS electric vehicles were plugged in at properties – four were charging, while 12 were idle – and responded within seconds by rapidly discharging short bursts of electricity into the grid
Dr Bjorn Sturmberg, ANU’s lead researcher says this is the first time in the world this type of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) response to an emergency has been demonstrated.
“In total, the vehicles provided 107 kilowatts of support to the national grid. To put that in perspective, 105,000 vehicles responding in this way would fully cover the backup required for the whole of ACT and NSW,” he says.
Tim Washington adds, “with almost 100,000 EVs sold in Australia last year, and that number rapidly rising, we aren’t far off being able to prevent national grid emergencies and major blackouts through V2G charging.”
Whilst this is promising, the study also identified that an increase in vehicle charging during the same period can reduce the effects of V2G charging. Once the REVS vehicles had provided power for ten minutes, some resumed charging by default. Dr Stumberg says that “by stopping just 60,000 vehicles from charging, the power would have remained on for those 90,000 customers.”
The report suggests this issue can be solved by an industry adjustment e.g. requiring EV manufacturers to program their vehicles to stop charging during a grid emergency, with an option for drivers to override for urgent charging.
“There is always work to be done as the demand for vehicle charging grows,” says JET Charge’s Tim Washington. “We are constantly tweaking and improving our technology to ensure shared value for both vehicle owners and the energy system.”
“I’ve watched EV technology develop rapidly over the last 10 years,” adds Washington. “Helping demonstrate the power of EVs to potentially support our grid during national emergencies – that has to be up there with our big milestones.”
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