SmartPark placement and operation for improving system reliability and market participation

• SmartParks placement (SPP) problem for PEVs aggregator is formulated and solved.
• Aggregator improves system reliability and participates in energy market.
• Behavior of PEVs and their participation level in SmartPark programs is modeled.
• Time-varying load is applied and load model-based power flow is performed.
• Maximizing aggregator's profit is possible by determining optimal value of incentive.

In this paper, SmartParks placement (SPP) problem as seen by a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) aggregator is formulated and solved. SmartParks refer to parking lots for charging/discharging PEVs. The objective of the SPP is to cooperate with the local distribution company (DISCO) in order to improve system reliability, and also to participate in energy market transactions considering several economic and technical aspects over a definite planning horizon. Herein, the behavior of PEVs fleet is modeled from the aggregator's viewpoint. In addition, the percentage of PEVs’ owners participating in SmartPark programs based on the amount of charging cost discount (as an incentive) is modeled and then the optimal value of the discount is investigated. Furthermore, in order to be realistic, time-varying load and realistic customers’ load type are applied in the system load modeling, and load model-based power flow is performed rather than a simplified power flow. Results obtained illustrates that optimal SPP and smart decision-making on the incentive value can remarkably raise the aggregator's profit and improve the system reliability.