NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Electric Vehicle Grid Integration for 

Sustainable Military Installations

NDIA Joint Service 

Power Expo

Mike Simpson 

Mike.Simpson@NREL.gov

5 May 2011

NREL/PR-5400-51519
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Agenda

2

1. NREL Transportation Research

2. Net Zero Energy Installations (NZEI)

3. Fort Carson as a Case Study

– Vehicles On-Site

– Utility Operations

– Vehicle Charge Management

4. Full Fleet Simulation

5. Continuing Work
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

NREL is the only national laboratory 

solely dedicated to advancing renewable 

energy and energy efficiency. 

Our employees are committed to building a 

cleaner, sustainable world. 

Photo Credits: NREL

3
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

What is Electric Vehicle Grid Integration (EVGI)?

4

Cross Cutting Enablers

Grid / Renewables

Communities

Vehicles

SMART GRID 

& COMMUNICATION

RENEWABLE

GENERATION

INTERMITTENCY

POWER 

ELECTRONICS 

EFFICIENCY

INFRASTRUCTURE

CODES & 

STANDARDS

BUILDING 

ENERGY 

MANAGEMENT

GRID 

OPERATION & 

RELIABILITY

ENERGY 

STORAGE 

LIFE & COST

STRATEGIC

ENERGY 

ANALYSIS

VEHICLE 

SYSTEMS 

ANALYSIS 

& TESTING

DEPLOYMENT & 

PARTNERSHIPS

Tx

Tx Tx
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

CONTROL

5

Natural Gas

Electricity

Distributed 

Renewables

Truck Fleet

Diesel

Generators

Large multi-purpose campuses benefit from reduced 

energy consumption and renewable resources.

Commuter Fleet

Smith Newton EV NREL PIX 17631

Fort Carson 2MW PV Array

NREL PIX 17394
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Fort Carson Commuters

Hundreds of Thousands of Person-Miles Each Day...

Commuters from Local Zip Codes

Fort Carson

Over 2,000

1,000 to 2,000

500 to 1,000

100 to 500

10 to 100

Commercially available 

PEVs are here...

Nissan Leaf

NREL PIX 18215

Chevy Volt

NREL PIX 18215
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Fleet Energy Opportunities 

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GSA-Approved Vehicles Smith Newton Zero Truck ZT Enova Ze

GVWR Class 4 to 6 3 to 5 3 to 4

GSA Item Number 571E.1 95E 134E.1

Maximum Range (mi) 100 75 150

Maximum Speed (mph) 50 60 65

GSA Base Price $167,000 $142,100 $109,500 

Incremental Cost $109,548 $119,573 $80,309 

2012 2030

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Commuter Vehicle Mix on Campus

year

fraction of vehicles

AEV

PHEV

HEV

AFV

Diesel

ICE

2012 2030

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Fleet Mix on Campus

year

fraction of vehicles

AEV

HEV

AFV

Diesel

ICE

0000 0400 0800 1200 1600 2000 2400

0

10

20

number of vehicles (thousands)

hour of the day

Vehicles Parked on Campus

0000 0400 0800 1200 1600 2000 2400

0

50

100

energy available (MWh)

Commuters

Fleet

Commuter Energy 2030 Fleet Energy

Dotted line is energy in PEVs only. 
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Example Power Exchange Scenarios

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1 Opportunity

Charging

2 Managed

Charging

PEV

3 Managed

Bi-directional

Charging

Normal Grid / Microgrid
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

PEV Charge Management 

9 

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

20

30

40

day of week

power load (MW)

Campus Base Load with Electric Vehicle Opportunity Charging

Net Load w/PEVs

Base Load

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

20

30

40

day of week

power load (MW)

Campus Base Load with Electric Vehicle Managed Charging

Net Load w/PEVs

Base Load

2030 

Normal Grid 
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Enable greater resource stability 

10 

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

power flow to vehicle battery (MW)

Generation Supply to PEVs

Coal

Hydro

NG/Oil

Solar

Desired Load Shift

2030 

Normal Grid 
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Load Leveling with PEVs

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Time-step through simulation:

Determine which vehicles are available based on day of the week 

(commuters only M-F) and situation (fleet vehicles alternate between 

parked and mission driving during emergency)

Identify recent peak. 

Avoid exacerbating demand charges

Determine which vehicles need power.

Order vehicles by greatest difference between range remaining and 

range needed (commute distance)

Calculate amount to charge (+/-). NREL-developed Algorithm

Iteratively solve for vehicles that are ready to share the load.

Add power to total demand from those in need of charge.

Calculate miles remaining from SoC of each vehicle.
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY 12 

75 electric trucks “buffer” the demand profile ... 

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

0

2

power load (MW)

Campus Net Load with PEVs Opportunity Charging

Diesel 1

Diesel 2

Diesel 3

Diesel 4

Diesel 5

Diesel 6

Solar

Campus Demand

Net Demand

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

0

2

day of week

power load (MW)

Campus Net Load with PEVs Managed Charging

Diesel 1

Diesel 2

Diesel 3

Diesel 4

Diesel 5

Diesel 6

Solar

Campus Demand

Net Demand

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

0

2

power load (MW)

Campus Net Load with PEVs Opportunity Charging

Diesel 1

Diesel 2

Diesel 3

Diesel 4

Diesel 5

Diesel 6

Solar

Campus Demand

Net Demand

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

0

2

day of week

power load (MW)Campus Net Load with PEVs Managed Bi−directional Charging

Diesel 1

Diesel 2

Diesel 3

Diesel 4

Diesel 5

Diesel 6

Solar

Campus Demand

Net Demand

2030 

Microgrid 
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat −0.8

−0.6

−0.4

−0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

power flow to vehicle battery (MW) charge is +, discharge is 

−

Generation Supply to [and Generation Offset by] PEVs

Diesel 1

Diesel 2

Diesel 3

Diesel 4

Diesel 5

Diesel 6

Solar

Desired Load Shift

... and ensures maximum renewable energy utilization. 

13 

2030 

Microgrid 
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Algorithms intelligently match vehicles with 

grid needs while ensuring mobility 

14 

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Miles Remaining for Each Vehicle Analyzed

day of week

Medium Duty Fleet

Battery SoC

(miles eq.)

2030 

Microgrid 
 NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Commuters add large benefit with little effect on each. 

15 

Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat −4

−3

−2

−1

0

1

2

3

power flow to vehicle battery (MW) charge is +, discharge is 

−

Generation Supply to [and Generation Offset by] PEVs

C

H

N

S

D

> 3 MW Load 

Reduction 

Frequent Solar 

Energy Uptake 

< 25% SoC Window Used 

in Commuter Fleet 

2030 

Normal Grid 
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

Grid-Vehicle Interface Component Requirements 

Definition Through DOD ECIP in FY11

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• US Army sponsored ECIP project

- Energy Conservation Investment Program

• Programmatic Goals: 

- Develop models, complete analysis specific to Ft. Carson 

for a RE and transportation microgrid node

- Use that information to create an RFP for the system 

construction

• US Army Corp of Engineers collaboration

• Supports the development of parameterized models 

that can be used with optimization catered to each 

installation

Collaboration 

on Microgrid 

Modeling

Parameterized 

System 

Simulation

Design and 

Algorithm 

Optimization

Provide 

Advisement 

for RFP
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

ECIP: Current Status

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• Microgrid Model Complete 

• OpenDSS (EPRI) open source platform used

• Node component models started

• Cost model for Colorado Springs Utility initialized

• On track to integrate models and begin optimization NPV

?
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

RECharge Integrated Demonstration Site

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Garage + Vehicle-Grid-Renewables 

Testbed at NREL Campus FY11
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Thank you.

Mike Simpson

Mike.Simpson@NREL.gov

1-303-275-3209

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