Impacts of electric vehicle charging stations on a greek distribution network

This paper is focused on study the impact of integrating charging stations for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles on a real distribution network. In recent years, with the emergence of new measures and regulations to combat climate change, promote sustainable development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the sale of electric vehicles has been increasing as a cleaner alternative to conventional combustion vehicles. This recent situation introduces challenges that electricity grids must face, as they must be able to support new connections and loads that will be required to meet the demands of existing and future charging stations and that were not foreseen when these grids were designed. To address this problem, the impact of charging stations connected on the power network must be known and studied. For this purpose, a typical distribution network in Greece, managed by the Greek distribution system operator, HEDNO, has been modelled and simulated in the DIgSILENT PowerFactory software, one of the most widely used calculation software by companies in the electrical sector. Different scenarios are analysed by performing quasi-dynamic simulations. The suggested case studies include a baseline scenario and three additional scenarios in which the load profiles of the stations connected to the network are modified. To obtain more realistic conclusions, the characteristics of the charging stations are defined by modelling a study electric vehicle based on average estimates.