Self-Powered Cyber Physical Systems

8Recent Advances in Integrating Renewable Energy Micro-Grid Systems With Electric Vehicles

Hitesh Alen D’Costa, Sohan R. Alva, Vishal H. Kanchan, Preethesh B. and Rathishchandra R. Gatti*

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management, Mangalore, India

Abstract

Decentralizing power grids becomes increasingly essential due to rapid urbanization with increasing power loads across the nation. Over the years, microgrids have proved to be a promising alternative to the traditional centralized grids for serving remote locations where the power distribution costs from the centralized grid have become expensive and difficult to operate. On the other hand, due to advancements in power conversion technologies, harnessing renewable energy sources (RES), such as solar, wind, and wave power, has become practical and cost-competitive compared to their fossil fuel contenders such as coal or shale gas. Considering these two growing trends of microgrids and renewables, renewable energy microgrids prove to be very promising to meet the power demands of remote locations.

One more trend on the power consumption side is the transition of automotive consumer demand from Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) to electrical vehicles (EVs). Although this transition is environmentally friendly and economical, it adds more dynamic loads to the grid on the demand side. While such fluctuating dynamic loads add complexity to a large-scale centralized grid, they can ...