PowerWeb Lecture: “Grid impact of EV charging… and how different ways of smart charging can realize a smooth integration of EVs into the distribution grids”

20 April 2023 12:45 till 13:30 - Location: Faculty of EWI, Mekelweg 4 (Chip Hall) | Add to my calendar

Practical information

By: Arjan Wargers, Manager Research & Innovation at ElaadNL. 
Date: Thursday 20 April 2023
Time: 12:45-13:30 (free lunch from 12:15)
Location: Faculty of EWI, Mekelweg 4 (Chip Hall)
Moderator: Dr Francesco Lombardi

Video recording: Collegerama.

Abstract

The electricity grid in the Netherlands is robust and highly reliable. Nevertheless, the capacity of the electricity grid is under pressure. In certain parts of the Netherlands, the fast-growing demand for transport capacity is resulting in a queue of (new) users, who cannot all get an expansion or new connection at the same time. In this context new national and European legislation leads to a rapid transition to electric driving for passenger cars. To be able to charge the future population of electric vehicles, more charging points are needed than can be realized within the grid capacity (according to the current calculation rules). By applying smart charging the impact of each charging point on the load on the electricity grid changes and more charging points can be connected. The smart charging mechanism needs and can be adjusted in due time. DSO propositions are in preparation for this.

New national and European legislation will also lead to further and faster electrification of the logistics sector. 30 to 40 Dutch municipalities are accelerating this by introducing ZE zones for diesels. From 2025, the TCO of electric vehicles in the city and beyond will gradually become more and more interesting. This growth must also be facilitated in the form of charging infrastructure and sufficient network capacity. Increasing congestion on the electricity grid, however, creates potential bottlenecks in the roll-out of this charging infrastructure, as a result of which transport companies may not be able to obtain the (additional) capacity that is necessary for charging the vehicles. This then also calls for smart charging incorporated in alternative, flexible contract forms to be able to facilitate charging needs from the logistics sector in a timely manner. The different developments and smart charging solutions will be explained in this lecture. 

Bio of the presenter

Arjan Wargers is Manager Research & Innovation at ElaadNL. He is detached from Enexis to ElaadNL. ElaadNL is founded by the DSO’s in the Netherlands. ElaadNL researches the grid impact of the rise of EV and the possibilities of smart charging to decrease this grid impact. This research is executed on behalf of the Dutch DSO’s, taking into account the smart charging objectives of other stakeholders.

The emergence of EV and different possibilities of smart charging is a significant development for the electricity grid. Arjan is responsible for the ElaadNL research and innovation agenda with multiple initiatives to explore smart charging and energy management. The possibilities range from direct control to indirect control by the use of incentives and variable capacity contracts (from DSO’s point of view) to a (local) market-place approach to contract flexibility.

Recently solutions to ‘unlock’ flexibility from other residential devices also became part of the research scope. And for this reason Arjan joined Flexible Power Alliance Network, FAN (Home - Flexible Energy (flexible-energy.eu)) as a board member on behalf of Enexis.

Next to that Arjan works as an innovation manager at Enexis to align the different research and development results at ElaadNL and FAN with the different innovation agenda’s of Enexis. This with main focus on further development of the deployment of Smart Charging for efficient use of available grid capacity