Electric Vehicles in Power Systems with 50% Wind Power Penetration: The Danish Case and the EDISON programme

Electric vehicles (EVs) provide a unique opportunity to reduce the CO2-emissions from the transport sector. At the same time, EVs have the potential to play an important role in an economic and reliable operation of an electricity system with high penetration of renewable energy. EVs will be an important balancing measure to enable the Danish government’s energy strategy, which implies 50% wind power penetration in the electric power system. An EV will be a storage device for smoothing power fluctuations from renewable resources especially wind power and provide valuable system services for a reliable power system operation. Cost-benefit analysis shows that intelligent bidirectional charging – vehicle to grid (V2G) – provides a socio-economic profit of 150 million Euro/year in the Danish electric power system in 2025 assuming that 15% of the Danish road transport need is supplied by electricity. This paper analyse the potential for using EVs in Denmark and identify the benefits of the electric power system with high wind power generation by intelligent charging of the EVs. Based on the analysis important technology gabs are identified, and the corresponding research and development initiatives of the recently establish EDISON program are described. EDISON is a research consortium which will design a new model for the Danish Energy system with high penetration of wind power and EVs with V2G-functionality. EDISON will have access to a real-life test bed on the Danish island of Bornholm (population 40,000).