Intelligent charging management in microgrids

As part of a research project, the first charging stations for electric cars were put into operation at the Wieselburg-Land Technology and Research Centre. These stations draw energy from the ‘Microgrid Lab 100% decentralised and renewable energy supply’ research laboratory and the local energy grid.

Back in 2019, one of Austria's first decentralised energy systems (energy community) was created as part of the ‘Microgrid Lab’ research project funded by the province of Lower Austria. COMET partner Netz NÖ supported the project with expertise and in-kind contributions. Since 2020, the fire station has been supplied with biogenic local heating from the TFZ, which in return receives renewable electricity via a photovoltaic system and battery storage. Other technologies such as heat pumps, absorption cooling systems and thermal storage are also integrated.

In the COMET projects ‘OptControl’ and ‘OptInvest’, the consortium COMET Competence Centre BEST - Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies GmbH and the company Wien Energie GmbH jointly researched the optimal operation of charging infrastructure in combination with photovoltaic systems and battery storage systems in local energy grids. To this end, three charging stations were integrated into the microgrid research laboratory and innovative control algorithms were developed and tested.

The development of a higher-level smart and microgrid controller makes it possible to optimally use electricity, as well as heat or cooling, from renewable energy resources on site. This reduces costs, avoids CO2 emissions and relieves the burden on the grid connection.

Following the integration of the charging infrastructure, monitoring and control of the charging stations in real-time operation was implemented. On this basis, load management strategies for avoiding peak loads and optimal energy management strategies for maximising the share of renewable energy when charging electric cars were tested and developed.

For the 600 charging cycles recorded during the course of the project, the charging efficiency was also determined for alternating current compared to direct current and for eight different electric vehicle models, taking into account environmental conditions such as solar radiation and outside temperature (-5 to 35°C).

Impacts and effects

The expansion of the microgrid research laboratory with the charging infrastructure enabled research into the optimal interaction of the charging points with the PV system and the battery storage, and thus the coupling of the energy generation and mobility sectors. In future research projects, the control strategies and findings developed can be further scaled and verified in order to contribute to the energy transition. The next step is to conduct research into other innovative technologies and energy sources, such as the storage and use of hydrogen.

Contact: www.best-research.eu Stefan Aigenbauer stefan.aigenbauer@best-research.eu