Innovations in EV Charging Applications Unveiled
XENDEE Corporation and Idaho National Laboratory recently launched a Microgrid Fast Charging Station Designer within the XENDEE platform as well as tested and validated it with two in-depth case studies for grid connected and islanded operation.
According to Michael Stadler, CTO of XENDEE, this project was undertaken to offer a design and validation framework for renewable-based Microgrid configurations that deliver optimal electric vehicle fast charging, energy security, and value-added grid services. “The new features, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Microgrid Program, were built on the existing XENDEE platform to optimize the renewable energy and storage resources within the Microgrid,” he said. “Additionally, new features were built for scalability, making these projects a reliable and repeatable foundation for a sustainable nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations.”
The designer itself uses XENDEE’s advanced and extended Microgrid decision support software to create project simulations, financial optimizations, and operational dispatches that maximize the efficiency of the system and capture early returns on investment. The platform also intelligently maps all cables, transformers, and distributed technology interactions to anticipate and mitigate problems during peak usage or adverse conditions. The optimizations performed by XENDEE were tested by INL to ensure project viability and technical feasibility in real world settings. During these tests, INL’s simulations — which were based on real-world data from the University of California San Diego campus — concluded that all electrical results matched within 5% of the predicted values.
“The rich quality of data available from the UCSD network allowed the project team to model upgrades, determine the optimal renewable energy mix, and consider other distributed energy resources to minimize the costs for electric vehicle and truck charging,” said Anudeep Medam, Research Engineer at INL’s Power & Energy Systems department. “The data used, based on the UCSD campus system, facilitated a real-world example of the impact that electric vehicle fast charging stations have on the distribution system. Additionally, we were able to study the impact of upgrades of network equipment.”
The platform also optimizes dispatch and generation at each time step of the day, enabling the Microgrid to take advantage of energy sales to the utility and best manage the charging of an electrical fleet even under changing hourly conditions. This allows operators to reliably build Microgrid systems (both grid connected and islanded) and to operate them efficiently under the dynamic supply and demand conditions for fast charging at scale.