sustainability Article Effectiveness Evaluation for a Commercialized PV-Assisted Charging Station Nian Liu * and Minyang Cheng State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +86-10-8079-0940 Academic Editors: Jiawei Gong, Qiquan Qiao, Zhengping Zhou, Tingting Xu, Mao Liang and Wenfeng Zhang Received: 19 January 2017; Accepted: 17 February 2017; Published: 22 February 2017 Abstract: The Photovoltaic–assisted Charging Station (PVCS) is regarded as one of the most promising charging facilities for future electric vehicle (EV) energy supplementation. In this paper, the operation mode and profitability of a commercialized PVCS are analyzed under the energy policy of China. In order to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of using the PVCS to provide guidance for the investors of the stations, a set of evaluation indexes is introduced, including the quality of service, the environmental and economic benefits, and the impacts on the grid. Furthermore, an easily-achieved charging strategy which considers the quality of service and the self-consumption of PV energy is proposed. Finally, an effectiveness evaluation for different operational scenarios of the PVCS is completed, based on the actual statistical data. The simulation and evaluation results indicate that the PVCS has the potential to produce satisfactory environmental/economic benefits and to reduce the impacts and dependence of an EV’s charging load on the grid. Keywords: electric vehicle; PV system; effectiveness evaluation; operation mode; charging strategy 1. Introduction Developing renewable energy resources and electric vehicles (EVs) has been seen as an effective way to reduce carbon emissions and ensure energy security [1–3].