Wind power is one of the most widely used renewable energy systems in Europe, but often times their maximum potential for electrical production is not realized due to grid limitations and intermittent wind conditions. When there are subtle breezes, many turbines are needed to produce a sufficient amount of electricity for transmission and use, but in situations where there are strong winds, some turbines have to be disconnected to avoid overloading of the grid. The obvious disadvantage of doing this is not being able to take advantage of, or store, the excess electricity being produced at times of high winds and not being able to supply electricity during times of low winds. However, the rising production and expected popularity of plug-in hybrid cars may be a key component for a solution to this problem as well as another.
The Two Way Plug-In
A new project named Electric Vehicles in a Distributed and Integrated Market using Sustainable Energy and Open Networks Project (EDISON for short…wheeew) has just gotten underway on Bornholm island in Denmark. The aim of the project is to find out if the electrical batteries in plug-in vehicles can be used as storage units for excess electrical energy produced from wind turbines. This concept, known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G), essentially uses the car batteries to store the excess power generated by wind turbines during periods of high production (or low demand) and then feeds that electricity back into the grid during times when wind generated electrical production is low. The idea is to use more electricity from renewable sources without overloading the grid.
The Shift Stops Here?
One of the biggest problems with electric cars being viewed as ‘zero-emission’ vehicles, say environmental critics, lies in the fact that while the car itself may not be producing any emissions, the fossil-fuel burning power plant supplying the electricity to recharge it definitely is. So in essence, an EV is just shifting its emission to the power plant and is not really making much of a difference in terms of its ability to reduce carbon emissions. If V2G technology ends up working, it could really turn this predicament upside down by using EV batteries to store, then supply more clean renewable energy to the grid. By doing this, the EV’s are in essence reducing the demand for the fossil-fuel based power, therby reducing carbon emissions; the EV’s openly marketed and perceived environmental benefit.
It Takes More Than Mere Will
This sounds all well and good, but it takes some fancy software to make a ‘dumb’ grid ’smart’ enough to perform the tasks needed to store and release electricity based on production and demand. Hermione Crease of Cambridge-based Sentec, the company developing the smart grid software, says of the project:
“It’s never been tried at this scale. There are plenty of smart grid trials already under way, usually involving the use of software to monitor and manage supply and demand, for example, by temporarily switching off industrial cooling units during periods of peak load. But unlike these so-called “negawatt” approaches, proving that cars can be used as part of the grid has yet to attempted.”
While this is fairly new and uncharted technology, Google has been working on software for the actual cars themselves that would essentially perform a similar task; though their focus has been more on preventing supply loss when lots of plug-ins are recharged at the same time.
The Good: A possibly better solution for both maximizing renewable energy output use and decarbonizing electric vehicles.
The Bad: Years away from real world deployment. The number of EV’s needed to make such a system function are not even close to being on roads.
The Bottom-Line: The EDISON project could be a glimpse of the future when it comes to how we power our vehicles and our vehicles power us.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:
YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:
Related Posts:
Follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook. While you're at it, subscribe to our feed as well!
Discussion
View Comments for “Denmark Begins Testing Of Vehicle-To-Grid Technology”