Potential of Using Multiterminal LVDC to Improve Plug-In Electric Vehicle Integration in an Existing Distribution Network

The integration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) to a power system leads to significant impacts on the electricity distribution infrastructure, and coping with the charging demand of high PEV penetration in an existing distribution network is an important concern. This paper provides a comprehensive study on using multiterminal low-voltage direct current (MT-LVDC) to connect multiple feeders or transformers, which can solve network constraints efficiently to improve the ability of the power supply for more PEV integration. This paper proposes an adaptive droop control for the MT-LVDC distribution system and presents a probabilistic evaluation method to analyze the PEV integration capacity. To illustrate the potential of using MT-LVDC to improve PEV integration in an existing distribution network, a case study is performed, and the results show that MT-LVDC based on the proposed adaptive droop control can share the charging power demand during steady-state and dynamic conditions between multiple feeders or transformers. The ability of MT-LVDC to improve the PEV integration capacity and cost can be evaluated effectively.