V2G VPP for hybrid grids system from residential to commercial applications (VVH) (ART/395CP)

Vehicle electrification is one of the defined global directions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. According to EMSD Hong Kong Energy End-use Data 2023 report, ~29% of the total energy consumption was shared by transportation in Hong Kong. By extension, it can be anticipated that a huge amount of energy resources will be shifted from gasoline to electricity to meet the demand of the vehicle electrification globally. A fundamental resistance to massive vehicle electrification is power mismatch between parking garage’s power supply capacity and power demand of massive EV charging operation. EV charging is the very first component that enables EV operation. Popularity of EV implies a massive charging activity will be happened in parking garages. Parking garages generally were not designed with high electricity capacity. The major electricity consumption is lighting and ventilation facilities which are normally less than or in the range of 10kW (e.g. Science Park 2E parking garage). The power is much smaller than EV charging facilities which is larger than 100kW for fast charging of a single vehicle. The total power consumption will even be megawatt range if all parking place equipped with charging facilities and support simultaneous charging. For instance, 50 parking places with 20kW charging power each. Not enough electricity to support massively install of effective EV chargers can be anticipated. In this project, a hybrid grids (AC grid and DC grid) based high utilization and efficient Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) EV charging power module which enables Virtual Power Plant (VPP) function will be researched and developed. VVH is next generation EV charging system solution that ensures efficient and reliable power operation with battery storage system. Three new technologies will be researched and developed with the focuses of system efficiency and reliability, including: 1) Bi-directional DC circuit breaker (B-DCB), it can ensure current increase much faster at only fault location and small current pass-through cables during short circuit. Ensure accurate and safe DC disconnection thus stable DC grid operation. 2) Linear power sharing (LPS), it can distribute power from a power module to two charging poles linearly instead of discrete. It can achieve maximum usage of the power module charging capacity, thus minimum charging time under limited resources. The linear control of power sharing can fully utilize of the power module charging capacity. 3) Ideal switching control (ISC), it can apply appropriate gate resistance at appropriate moment to drive SiC MOSFETs in a way of low switching loss and low voltage / current oscillation simultaneously. Electrical and thermal verification will be conducted in the ASTRI laboratory. B-DCB will be tested at customer site, i.e. ABB site. Upon successful of the project, significant advancements in V2G EV charging system in terms of system stability, charging module utilization, and overall system efficiency will be achieved. This is a solution to support EV popularity in near term to mid term. The project as well as the commercialization of the proposed technologies will be contributed to vehicle electrification and smart city carbon neutrality.