Development of an energy management system for the hybridization of high-power EV charging stations

The growth of the electric vehicle fleet must be supported by the deployment of efficient charging infrastructures; this in turn requires investments in localized energy production systems, often integrating storage systems and different power sources. The study analyses a charging station in central Italy, in which a hybrid engine-generator and photovoltaic panels have been installed to upgrade grid-connection. To optimize the performance of the system, a real-time online deterministic energy management system (EMS) has been developed and presented herein. The EMS is characterized by innovative cost-minimization and BESS state-of-charge management algorithms, while maximizing load coverage. The EMS is developed in CODESYS specifically for online PLC implementation and validated in Python. After ten years of simulation, the EMS reports a total energy provision cost of 0.629 M€, corresponding to a specific cost of provided energy of 30.47 c€/kWh, showing significant advantages with respect to more simplified control logics currently in use. Overall, the results prove the potential of hybrid technologies for high-power EV charging stations, highlighting that a dedicated online EMS with custom control algorithms could be key for the development of this technology.