Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience
The increasing integration of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles is reshaping distribution networks, calling for advanced control strategies to maintain power system quality, stability and resilience, intended to capacity to maintain stability after severe perturbations. This paper inves...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048586/ |
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| author | Stefano Barsali Radu Bojoi Massimo Ceraolo Vincenzo Mallemaci Fabio Mandrile Susanna Mocci Gianluca Pasini |
| author_facet | Stefano Barsali Radu Bojoi Massimo Ceraolo Vincenzo Mallemaci Fabio Mandrile Susanna Mocci Gianluca Pasini |
| author_sort | Stefano Barsali |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The increasing integration of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles is reshaping distribution networks, calling for advanced control strategies to maintain power system quality, stability and resilience, intended to capacity to maintain stability after severe perturbations. This paper investigates the application of grid-forming (GFM) controls, of two types: droop and virtual synchronous machine, within high-power EV charging stations (HPCS) connected to medium voltage distribution grids. Through detailed simulation of five representative case studies, our results show that GFM converters can sustain isolated grids, support black-start procedures, and provide voltage/frequency regulation. Notably, compared to traditional grid-following inverters, GFM strategies enable HPCS to enhance grid resilience to faults (short circuits considered) and also recovery after blackouts. All models are released as open-source Modelica code, enabling reproducibility and further research. These findings highlight the potential of leveraging charging infrastructure as a flexible, grid-supportive resource in future energy systems. The considered control actions may require bi-directional exchange of power between vehicles and the grid, usually called V2G (vehicle-to-grid) control. However, interesting opportunities also exist in the context of V1G (Smart Charging), where power flow is unidirectional but still controllable. They can in principle used also to interface grid-connected independent battery energy storage systems, but using charging battery-electric vehicles for this purpose has the advantage of exploiting infrastructure already in place (the charging station), adding grid services to it, to enhance its economic competitiveness. The importance of using future charging battery electric vehicles to support grid services is confirmed by the fact that this study has been funded by a research project devoted to this. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ee5d350076a0469cba275f64e8ed1684 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj-art-ee5d350076a0469cba275f64e8ed16842025-08-20T03:14:50ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011310968710970010.1109/ACCESS.2025.358207011048586Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid ResilienceStefano Barsali0Radu Bojoi1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7480-5862Massimo Ceraolo2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8379-1789Vincenzo Mallemaci3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1920-7872Fabio Mandrile4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7769-8078Susanna Mocci5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7739-0527Gianluca Pasini6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9847-2713DESTEC Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, ItalyDESTEC Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, ItalyDipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, ItalyDESTEC Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyThe increasing integration of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles is reshaping distribution networks, calling for advanced control strategies to maintain power system quality, stability and resilience, intended to capacity to maintain stability after severe perturbations. This paper investigates the application of grid-forming (GFM) controls, of two types: droop and virtual synchronous machine, within high-power EV charging stations (HPCS) connected to medium voltage distribution grids. Through detailed simulation of five representative case studies, our results show that GFM converters can sustain isolated grids, support black-start procedures, and provide voltage/frequency regulation. Notably, compared to traditional grid-following inverters, GFM strategies enable HPCS to enhance grid resilience to faults (short circuits considered) and also recovery after blackouts. All models are released as open-source Modelica code, enabling reproducibility and further research. These findings highlight the potential of leveraging charging infrastructure as a flexible, grid-supportive resource in future energy systems. The considered control actions may require bi-directional exchange of power between vehicles and the grid, usually called V2G (vehicle-to-grid) control. However, interesting opportunities also exist in the context of V1G (Smart Charging), where power flow is unidirectional but still controllable. They can in principle used also to interface grid-connected independent battery energy storage systems, but using charging battery-electric vehicles for this purpose has the advantage of exploiting infrastructure already in place (the charging station), adding grid services to it, to enhance its economic competitiveness. The importance of using future charging battery electric vehicles to support grid services is confirmed by the fact that this study has been funded by a research project devoted to this.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048586/Battery electric vehicle chargeblack-startdroop controlgrid followinggrid formingpower conversion |
| spellingShingle | Stefano Barsali Radu Bojoi Massimo Ceraolo Vincenzo Mallemaci Fabio Mandrile Susanna Mocci Gianluca Pasini Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience IEEE Access Battery electric vehicle charge black-start droop control grid following grid forming power conversion |
| title | Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience |
| title_full | Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience |
| title_fullStr | Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience |
| title_short | Grid Forming Inverters for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to Enhance Distribution Grid Resilience |
| title_sort | grid forming inverters for electric vehicle charging stations to enhance distribution grid resilience |
| topic | Battery electric vehicle charge black-start droop control grid following grid forming power conversion |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11048586/ |
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