Day-ahead scheduling of CNG station and hybrid CNG and plug-in electric vehicles in the form of virtual power plant

Abstract

Integrating plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) with power systems and supplying their required energy is a challenging issue. Decentralized operation of the power systems can decrease the impacts of PHEVs on power systems. One of the high potential options for developing decentralized networks is the virtual power plant (VPP). In this paper, day-ahead scheduling of VPP consisting of PHEVs, which use compressed natural gas (CNG) as their alternative option for electrical energy, and CNG station is presented. VPP can supply the CNG needed by HPEVs by compressing the natural gas (NG) in the CNG station. Therefore, two sources of energy for HPEVs is provided by participating in the scheduling of the VPP. This structure can improve the flexibility and ability of HPEVs to participate in the scheduling. Also, because of using the CNG instead of gasoline, the developed model reduce the pollutant emissions of the transportation system.