Integrating electric vehicles in microgrids: overview on hosting capacity and new controls

This article reports an overview of main issues related to hosting capacity and harmonic disturbances caused by electric vehicle (EV) penetration in a smart grid, taking into account renewable energy sources and energy storage systems as well as nonlinear loads. A new mixed deterministic and probabilistic method based on algorithms and new control strategies, able to perform EVs charging controls, is presented. The methodology shows that it is possible to achieve high levels of power quality, thanks to a pre-evaluation of harmonic disturbance. Studies on real networks are reported in order to carry out indices able to define a preliminary assessment of the network hosting capacity. Suggestions and guidelines about the management of EVs charging stations are proposed and discussed in order to properly integrate them in a smart grid concept.