Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Areas Adjacent to the Forum (Scripps Seaside Forum)
This work proposes a promising scenario of large-scale deployment of battery energy storage systems that attempts to address three important issues toward a sustainable energy landscape in the near future: (1) Suppressed grid integration of variable renewable generations such as wind; (2) Low profitability of battery energy storage systems due to limited applications; and (3) Conflicts between the current power infrastructure and the installation of charging stations to meet the growing needs of electrical transportation. To maximize the utilization of renewable energy while increasing the profitability of battery energy storage systems, a new concept has emerged from our previous work which envisions a transition from "Battery Farm" to "Battery Warehouse", i.e. the batteries can be mobilized instead of completely stationary. More specifically, we design a system in which electric trucks transport the batteries between battery warehouse and electric vehicle charging stations. This facilitates the planning and operation of electric vehicle charging station networks without constraints from the grid. In many areas in the United states (e.g. Texas) where there are abundant renewable energy sources and the road networks do not suffer from frequent congestion, this could be a viable solution. To further demonstrate its feasibility, in this work, we use the theoretical framework of supply chain management and investigate a three-layer supply network (battery warehouse, charging stations, electric vehicles). The objectives are two-folded: firstly, developing an integrated pricing method to include costs, risks, and consumer utilities; and secondly, determining the locations and sizes of charging stations to minimize costs in the logistics system. Using the city of Corpus Christi, Texas and the nearby Chapman Ranch wind farm as test case, we implement the design and simulate its performance based on the supply chain management models. The two main performance indexes are: reliability (supply can always meet demand) and profitability. While the former can be ensured through good planning and control, the latter remains an open problem. However, our preliminary results in this work, even if far from definitive due to various assumptions and uncertainties, would shed some light on this issue to help potential stakeholders make business decisions or policy recommendations.