Driving Energy System Transformation with "Vehicle-to-Grid" Power

Moura, F. (2006). Driving Energy System Transformation with "Vehicle-to-Grid" Power. IIASA Interim Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: IR-06-025

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Abstract

Today's electricity and transport systems face a number of challenges related to reliability, security and environmental sustainability. New technologies may provide a means by which to overcome some of these challenges, yet many such technologies are confronted with substantial technical or commercial hurdles. This report explores one promising technology, "Vehicle-to-Grid" (V2G) power generation, whereby parked Electric-Drive Vehicles (EDVs) are used to provide electricity to the grid. EDVs comprise battery-electric (BEV), hybrid-electric (HEV) and fuel cell-electric (FCEV) vehicles. V2G power generation may be attractive because, on one hand, vehicles are parked on average 96% of their lifetime (and thus available for other uses) and, on the other, the power capacity of the global automobile fleet greatly exceeds installed conventional electricity generation capacity.

We examine the potential of V2G power generation, firstly, from the EDV's owner perspective and, secondly, in the energy market place. Our results confirm that EDVs have some potential market value, considering our assumptions that are based on the CAISO Californian power market. To complement and extend the previous analysis, we compared the full economic costs of EDVs providing V2G power generation and mobility services with conventional solutions: power generated by gas turbine or coal-fired power plants; and mobility provided by conventional gasoline internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). Our analysis indicates that although conventional systems generally remain competitive under today's market conditions, the complementary use of EDVs for energy and mobility may be competitive in specific power markets and under certain conditions. We explore the conditions under which V2G systems could be more competitive with a sensitivity analysis of the potential impact of technology and resource costs and infrastructure requirements. In addition, we analyse the impact of a climate policy on the competitiveness of alternatives. These results suggest that only carbon taxes up to $650/tonne of Carbon would have significant impacts on the ranking position of V2G technologies, although we explored only a limited set of scenarios and thus results should be envisaged with caution

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