Enabling electric mobility: Can photovoltaic and home battery systems significantly reduce grid reinforcement costs?
Sarah A. Steinbach, Maximilian J. Blaschke
Abstract
The increasing adoption of electric vehicles driven by government plans to strongly electrify mobility will challenge the current distribution grid infrastructure. The related electricity demand increases the risk of overloads and will require significant grid enhancements and infrastructural investments. Our paper evaluates the potential of reducing investment needs through decentralized photovoltaic electricity generation and battery energy storage systems. We use power-flow analyses on representative grid models to test rural, urban, and suburban grids’ resilience to higher electric vehicle penetration. We find significant societal benefits with a simultaneous uptake of decentralized generation and estimate savings of up to €3.2 billion solely within the German grid. In rural areas, photovoltaic and battery systems are especially effective for electric vehicle penetrations up to 20%, reducing grid costs by up to 39%. Suburban and urban grids could achieve significant savings for electric vehicle penetrations up to 60%, with cost-saving potentials of up to 51% and 46%, respectively. We recommend that policymakers facilitate decentralized electricity generation to unlock additional benefits from a societal cost perspective, increase the share of sustainable electricity consumption, and improve energy security.