The project will last 42 months, from June 2022 to November 2025.
The University of Ljubljana is actively involved in scientific research projects in the field of sustainable development. One of them is the Horizon Europe EV4EU project, whose coordinator at the University of Ljubljana is prof. dr. Matej Zajc.
EV4EU – Electric Vehicles Management for carbon neutrality in Europe
In Europe, 23% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from the transportation sector, mainly due to heavy consumption of fossil fuels. To reduce carbon emissions and global warming, the European Commission has prepared guidelines and regulations that promote energy transition strategies and electric mobility by promoting mass deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) as a key aspect of achieving Europe’s climate neutrality goals.
However, the mass deployment of EVs and thus the adoption of e-mobility is still at a very early stage and faces a number of challenges: a lack of regulatory framework, limitation imposed by the current energy grid infrastructure, battery autonomy and user adoption.
One of the solutions for the mass adoption of EVs is the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept, which is part of a broader concept vehicle-to-everything (V2X). The use of V2X technology enables the exchange of data and energy between the vehicle and its surroundings. In the case of V2G, the exchange of electricity between EV and electricity grid enables EV owner to act as an active consumer. Thus, EV owner can co-create benefits for the grid and reduce its energy costs.
However, there are still barriers and challenges for mass adoption of V2X:
- there is currently insufficient charging infrastructure with V2X technology,
- the degradation of EV batteries could be higher than expected when using V2X,
- the regulatory framework does not consider the possibility of V2X deployment,
- the introduction of V2X services requires increased complexity in the management of Energy Management Systems (EMS),
- the flexibility provided by V2X services should be integrated into existing flexibility services, which requires standardisation.
The EV4EU project addresses these challenges and proposes V2X strategies to promote the mass deployment of EVs.
EV4EU project for the mass deployment of EVs
The EV4EU project, founded by the Horizon Europe research and innovation program explore the impact of the mass EV adoption, with a focus on new technologies and V2X (Vehicle to Everything) business models.
The project aims to develop solutions that promote the integration of EVs with renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to more sustainable mobility. To this end, the project will propose and implement V2X strategies with a user-centred approach, creating the conditions for the mass deployment of EVs.
The proposed V2X management strategies will test the flexibility services, demand response programmes and algorithms in demonstrators installed in four European countries: Slovenia, Denmark, Portugal and Greece. The demonstrators will evaluate the proposed methodologies, tools and consolidate the most promising solutions and business models. In addition, the conditions for the deployment of V2X services in each location will be evaluated.
The technology providers will test different V2X management approaches and evaluating their feasibility and adequacy for the existing conditions in the cities. This means that the testing will take into account factors such as the state of the electricity grid, the charging infrastructure and the readiness of the urban infrastructure for V2X services.
System Operators will estimate the impact of V2X on transmission and distribution level and propose new services to profit from V2X flexibility, mitigate the impact of V2X and support the development of V2X and renewable energy. Moreover, system operators are key players in the development of new tools and applications for EV users.
The impact of V2X management strategies in different cities will be evaluated in a co-simulation tool considering different perspectives, namely the power network, the cities’ constraints (existing parking lots, buildings characteristics, etc.), the EV usage patterns and finally the V2X management infrastructure. The level of user involvement in the implementation of V2X strategies will also be assessed.
Based on the testing of the proposed strategies, new V2X services will be developed and designed to bring benefits to EV users. In addition, as a result of the project :
- Tools and applications for EV users will be developed to provide information on EV usage and available energy services.
- An open platform will be developed and implemented taking into account interoperability, wide applicability, security and privacy requirements to ensure the exchange of information between stakeholders and systems.
- Innovative V2X management systems related to the management of parking lots, houses, buildings, energy communities and EV fleets in enterprises will be demonstrated and developed.
- New services (Green Charging, Sharing Charging and Surge Pricing), Demand Response programmes and Flexible Capacity Contracts will be developed to benefit EV owners and improve services.
- A regulatory framework will be proposed to promote the deployment of V2X and ensure safe and economic management of energy systems in the face of massive EV penetration.
CONSORTIUM
The consortium brings together partners with a strong background in different areas: research centers (INESC-ID, DTU, UL, and NEW), Governmental Entities (SRTTE), System Operators (EDA, BEOF, HEDNO, and CELJE), real and large Aggregators (GEN-I as VPP, managing 380 000 costumers in Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria and PPC as CPO, managing more than 400 public charging stations and 4 000 charging network users), Technology providers (CIRCLE, ABB and SEL), Social Sciences experts (SEL), and car manufacturers (CITROËN). Finally, the consortium includes a set of End-Users (DTU, GEN-I, EDA, CB) in different countries and companies that will manage their EVs fleet.
EV4EU project also has the support of several entities, as associated partners, namely of Nissan (car manufacturer), Vestas (renewable energy company), ANTRAM (Portuguese association of passenger and freight transport companies), Municipality of Krško (the city where the Slovenian demonstrator will be developed), Regional Chamber Krško and Regional Development Agency Posavje.
To test and evaluate the proposed solutions, four complementary demonstration projects will be carried out across Europe. The demonstrators’ activities are organized in Use Cases (UCs).
Slovenian consortium
The Slovenian consortium consist of four partners in the EV4EU project who are actively involved in testing V2X strategies.
Gen-I in the role of aggregator will integrate EVs with its virtual power plant (VPP). In addition, Gen-I will also act as a charging station operator (CPO) and will therefore collaborate with the system operator Elektro Celje.
The system operator Elektro Celje will provide the connection between the system and EVs.
ABB Engineering, a technology company specializing in electrification and automation, will provide bidirectional V2G charging stations to test developed V2X strategies in Slovenian demonstrator.
The fourth partner of the Slovenian consortium is the University of Ljubljana, recognized as a leading educational and scientific research institution in Slovenia. In the EV4EU project University of Ljubljana will provide the theoretical background for the development of V2X integration strategies into smart grids and the electricity market.
The Slovenian associated partners of the project are the Municipality of Krško, where the practical part of the project will be implemented, the Krško Regional Chamber of Crafts and Business and the Regional Development Agency Posavje.
DEMONSTRATORS
Tje proposed V2X management strategies will be tested in four European countries: Portugal, Denmark,Greece and Slovenia.
The developed V2X strategies that will be implemented and tested in four demonstrators are organized into Business Use Cases (BUC).
Slovenian demonstrator
The Slovenian demonstrator is located in Krško, at the GEN-I office building, where bidirectional charging stations that support V2G technology will be tested.
The Slovenian partners Gen-I, ABB, DSO Elektro Celje and The Faculty of Electrical Engineering are all involved in setting up the demonstration site.
Gen-I’s office building, where the demonstration will take place, is already equipped with a solar power plant with a maximum capacity of 100 kW, which is already part of the VPP portfolio (Gen-I). Ten bidirectional charging stations, which support V2X technology, operate at 11 kW and support the CCS2 standard, will be provided and installed by ABB. More details about ABB’s Terra Nova 11 J charging stations can be found online at the following link.
In the Slovenian demonstrator, the market platform developed within the OneNet project will be further developed by Elektro Celje to meet the needs and requirements of the Slovenian part of the EV4EU project.
In the Slovenian demonstration, the market platform will act as a central communication hub, enabling the exchange of information between DSO, aggregator and CPO. It will ensure interoperability between the actors and enable the collection and activation of offers for flexibility products in the system services developed within the EV4EU project. The implementation of the market platform will improve the reliability of the grid, the integration of flexibility resources and the efficiency and stability of the grid infrastructure.
The aim of the Slovenian demonstrator is to test the impact of V2X strategies on the electricity grid, energy market and ancillary services.
Portuguese Demonstrator
In Portugal, the demonstrator will be implemented on São Miguel, the largest island of the Azores archipelago. São Miguel has 133390 inhabitants, is 744.6 km2 big, 65 km long and between 8 and 16 km wide. In 2020, the total electricity generation on São Miguel was 422 GWh, of which 49.59% came from renewable/endogenous sources. Geothermal energy is the main renewable source, accounting for over 40% of total production. The island is not electrically interconnected with another system. EDA, the electricity supplier of the Azores, will provide 8 EVs from its fleet for the EV4EU project, while SRTTE will provide 3 EVs to validate some UCs. EDA also has 3 AC public charging stations (20.7 kW + 7.4 kW) on its premises in São Miguel. As for the public charging network on São Miguel Island, there are 14 charging stations (including 7 fast charging stations) with a total capacity of 26 vehicles at any given time. These stations are strategically placed so that there is no more than 30 km between them.
Greek Demonstrator
In Greece, the main demonstration site is located in the area of Mesogia on the outskirts of the Athenian metropolis, in Attica. It is a semi-rural area that includes about 225,000 customers in its low-voltage (LV) and medium-voltage (MV) networks, ranging from households to small, medium and large industrial enterprises. The area benefits from the installation of various forms of renewable energy, from wind farms and photovoltaic systems, including net metering and rooftop installations. The main aspects of the Greek demo are the deployment and testing of the Open V2X management platform for public charging stations developed by PPC, the integration and testing of the flexibility algorithms developed by DTU and INESC for local and system-wide grid services, and the study of utilization and commercialization strategies for the proposed solutions with the contribution of CITROËN.
Denmark Demonstrator
In Denmark, demonstration activities will take place at two locations. The first site (Risø) is part of the world-class SYSLAB16 facility, which has been successfully used in several EU and Danish research projects. As part of the Danish-funded ACDC project, the facility has been equipped with 8 controllable chargers (each charger has 2 sockets capable of delivering up to 11+11 kW) that can be autonomously controlled to provide behind-the-meter services such as limiting consumption at the point of common coupling or maximizing consumption of locally generated renewable energy from PV systems and wind turbines. The second site is Bornholm Campus (Rønne, Bornholm Island). Bornholm Campus has a 180 kW rooftop photovoltaic system, its own 10/0.4 kV transformer station, 124 parking spaces on Minervavej, where 372 car arrive per day. As part of the EV4EU project, 6 chargers (each charger has 2 sockets) will be installed on the Bornholm campus using technology similar to that in Risø.
