Generation Expansion Planning Considering Electric Vehicles

This chapter studies the generation expansion problem considering explicitly the presence of electric vehicles. The demand associated with the charge of electric vehicles may change substantially the shape of the system demand curve and can influence the determination of the generation mix of future power systems. The model described in this chapter considers the possibility of using financial incentives to modify the consumption patterns of electric vehicle users. The aim of this financial tool is to place the charge of vehicles in convenient periods from the perspective of the power system operator. Therefore, it is assumed that electric vehicle users will be willing to leave the charge of their vehicles in hands of the power system operator if a high-enough financial incentive is offered to them. Price-quota curves are used to model the willingness of electric vehicle users to give the control of the charge/discharge of their vehicles to the system operator. The formulation of these curves implies the use of binary variables. The model analyzed in this chapter considers uncertainties such as the annual demand growth, the capital costs of generating and storage units and the number of electric vehicles. As a result, a two-stage stochastic programming problem is formulated. In this model, generation and storage capacity investments and financial incentives for electric vehicle users are decided in the first stage, whereas operating decisions are made in the second stage. The Benders' decomposition technique is applied to solve the resulting mathematical problem in reasonable computational times. A number of illustrative examples and a realistic case study are included in this chapter to show the performance of the described formulation. The realistic case study included at the end of the chapter is based on the isolated power system comprising Lanzarote and Fuerteventura islands in Spain.