Analyzing and Mitigating the Impacts of Integrating Fast-Charging Stations on the Power Quality in Electric Power Distribution Systems

Abstract

The research presented in this paper focuses on the impacts of fast-charging stations on three power quality phenomena, namely voltage magnitude variations, voltage unbalance, and voltage fluctuation. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo is proposed to estimate the energy requirements of each fast-charging station when it is utilized to charge electric vehicles, considering their sto-chastic parameters such as battery capacities, state-of-charge levels at time of arrivals, and time of arrivals at charging stations. Two charging methods are implemented in this work: charging with an estimated output power and charging with an actual output power. The results reveal that the impact of fast-charging stations on voltage fluctuation by either of these charging methods can lead to light flickers. When the estimated output power is utilized, the light flicker is higher compared to when the actual output power is utilized; the proposed mitigation method is to integrate distribution static compensators, which can effectively eliminate the light flickers, whether the output power of the fast-charging station is estimated or actual. Not only will the system’s power quality be improved by installing distribution static compensators, but also the electricity consumers will not be annoyed by the light flicker, even when the rated power of the fast-charging stations is increased; this can positively lead to a reduction in charging time and an increase in customer satisfaction with electric vehicles, lending them to be more widely adopted.