E-mobility integration through AI and digitalization for a higher grid flexibility - iEVsFlex

Transport decarbonization, power grid decentralization,and increasing electricity demands are opening new challenges for the grid owners DSOs(Distribution system operators) where flexibility is emphasized as a key solution. Despite the emphasis on flexibility, there is still a lack of knowledge on: the flexibility potential of industrial and commercial transport companies, and even for smaller players (prosumers),not all potentials have been mapped through advanced technologies, i.e. Renewable Energy, digitalization, and Artificial Intelligence tools.

The project’s goals are to answer:

• How could the flexibility potential in the transport sector from both large players and small players be maximized while enabling all parties (private, commercial, industrial, DSOs, aggregators) to benefit from flexibility?
• how electric vehicles’ flexibility could mitigate the limited grid capacity while boosting the green electrification of the transport sector.

Flexibility is a key in the electricity system of the future to cope with future challenges marked by an increased electricity demand, decentralization and decarbonization of the transport. In the national electrification strategy put forward by the government at the beginning of 2022, it is emphasized that flexibility must be built into the electricity system, and that the possibility of flexibility must be promoted when new electricity-demanding activities, such as in industries and commercial sector, are connected to the utulity grid. This new load is essentially marked by a wide electrification of the industrial and commercial fleet that must also be able to contribute with flexibility rather than burdening the power system.

Despite the emphasis put by industry and society on flexibility, there is still a lack of knowledge on: (i)the flexibility potential of major players like a industry, business, companies in the transport sector and property owners, but even with smaller players not all potential has been mapped based on the latest technologies. (ii) when integrated to the smart grid ecosystem, EVs will interact with a variety of emerging technologies, like RES and electricity storage technologies like batteries, as well as with different stakeholders, such as aggregators and system operators (DSOs, TSOs).

The complex interactions between all these agents are highly dependent on a variety of factors, including regulatory policies,technological developments, economic relationships and EV-user behaviors and preferences. Thus, to unlock the flexibility values of EVs, a proactive framework including the different interacting components of the smart grid ecosystem is a prerequisite.

Project objective

The “i-EVsFLEX” project goal will address the aforementioned knowledge gap by answering the following research questions : how the flexibility potential in the transport sector from both large players and small players could be maximized ? Is it possible to build a sustainable, efficient system that enables all parties (private, commercial, industrial, grid owners, aggregator) to benefit economically from flexibility?