A stochastic simulation model to assess the impacts of electric vehicle charging on power generation: a case study for Qatar

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have gained popularity in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries as they improve local air quality and are seen as a tool to diversify carbon-based economies. However, power grids in the region are low-inertia systems and often strained by heavy air-conditioning load. In this paper, we present a stochastic simulation study to assess the impacts of PEV charging on the power generation under various penetration and charging schedule scenarios in the State of Qatar. Penetration ratios are obtained from new PEV sales statistics from four different countries, namely Norway, Netherlands, France, and China. Actual 5-min electricity load profiles are used and peak-consumption day is chosen to evaluate the worst-case scenario. The results show that current power generation in Qatar has enough spare capacity to fuel up vehicles, however, uncontrolled PEV charging may require additional peak-power generators if the government goal of 10% PEVs penetration rate is reached. Finally, recommendations for solar-PEV charging is provided by analyzing the actual load and global horizontal irradiance measurements.