MSCA-COFUND-CLEAR-Doc - PhD Position #CD22-57: Design and control co-optimising of a smart grid combining renewable energy and electromobility, including battery ageing

Context:

Two trends are emerging in the energy and transportation sectors as a result of environmental concerns and regulations on CO2 emissions. On the one hand, there is an intense penetration of renewable energies (wind and solar photovoltaic) in a move towards distributed rather than centralised energy production. This poses a problem of intermittent energy production, which requires energy storage devices.

On the other hand, vehicle electrification is booming, and electric vehicle (EV) batteries are becoming more attractive in size and energy density. These EV batteries can be used as energy storage systems when the vehicle is connected to the grid (in Vehicle to Grid - V2G - configuration) or as stationary storage when considering the second life of the batteries.

The design and energy management of these grids or micro-grids, including the ageing consideration, especially in the control of energy storage devices and the effects of battery ageing on their economic profitability are issues that are still not well studied. Smart energy use constitutes a vital point of the energy transition needed by our societies.

LICIT – ECO7 has a background in the design of the energetic system for transport, co-optimization approaches and battery ageing. FREESI-LAB research activities include the management of distributed and flexible energy resources in future smart energy systems, as well as future-proof technology and market concepts for smart grids. Both laboratories started collaboration two years ago to create a synergy between their complementary expertises.

Subject:

The classical approach optimises the energy management for a given system design (source, storage and consumers). In a micro-grid, as in any complex system, there is a strong coupling between the system's control and its components' sizing. An iterative process could be applied but may be lengthy and time-consuming. To obtain the best performance from an energy and environmental point of view, coupled design/management optimisation must be developed. This approach will have to consider the ageing of the batteries to minimise the environmental impact of the vehicles, the storage systems and the micro-grid and maximise the profits for energy storage owners in general.

For this, the system will have to be modelled, and innovative management strategies will have to be developed and optimised.

Work to be done:

Starting from the existing models and tools developed by both laboratories, the PhD work will consist in:

• Enrich the VEHLIB library with grid/micro-grid models: solar or wind generation sources, stationary energy storages, consumers (residence, industry), and electric vehicles with or without V2G.
• Adapt the energy management models developed in the laboratory for hybrid vehicles to the case of micro-grids with stationary storage or explore new energy management methods
• Adapt the battery models (electrical and ageing) to the case of stationary storage (second life battery).
• Develop a bi-level optimisation method (dimensioning/management coupling) of a micro-grid including battery ageing characteristics

Several scenarios and case studies will be studied:

1. Case of a completely isolated network
2. Case of a smart grid type network connected to the grid

In each of these cases, the coupling with fleets of vehicles (which can be used as energy storage) will be studied as well as the impact on the ageing of the vehicle batteries.

The present PhD will rely on previous works that must be adapted to the new system:

• Methodology for sizing an electric motor for hybrid vehicles: joint optimisation of components and energy management (Vincent Reinbold – 2014)
• Multi-physics sizing of hybrid vehicles, their components and system control (Mathias Le guyadec – 2018)
• Lithium-ion traction batteries in second life in charging applications: ageing control (Marwan Hassini - ongoing)
• Accurate Battery Modelling for Control Design and Economic Analysis of Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage Systems in Smart Grids (Chethan Parthasarathy - ongoing)

LICIT-ECO7 will bring expertise in energy management in transport and battery ageing. The Finnish partner, FREESI LAB of the University of Vaasa, will bring expertise in power grid control and management. Collaboration with this research group started two years ago. It resulted in one submitted paper and three months visit to France by a PhD student from the University of Vaasa.

In addition to the expertise and the data from LICIT-ECO7 and FREESILAB, the PhD will benefit from the experimental platform of a micro-grid in construction in Lyon. On the one hand, this installation can be used to validate our models, and on the other hand, the results of this thesis can be applied to this platform (management and sizing).