Plug-in electric vehicle interactions with a small office building: An economic analysis using DER-CAM

Abstract

It is generally believed that plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) offer environmental and energy security advantages compared to conventional vehicles. Policies are stimulating electric transportation deployment, and PEV adoption may grow significantly. New technology and business models are being developed to organize the PEV interface and their interaction with the wider grid. This paper analyzes the PEVs’ integration into a building’s Energy Management System (EMS), differentiating between vehicle to macrogrid (V2M) and vehicle to microgrid (V2m) applications. This relationship is modeled by the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM), which finds optimal equipment combinations to meet microgrid requirements at minimum cost, carbon footprint, or other criteria. Results derive battery value to the building and the possibility of a contractual affiliation sharing the benefit. Under simple annual fixed payments and energy exchange agreements, vehicles are primarily used to avoid peak demand charges supplying cheaper off-peak electricity to the building during workdays.