The Role of Photovoltaic Generation and Electric Mobility in Future Distribution Systems

In order to meet the worldwide limits on greenhouse gases emissions, a shift from a fossil fuels to a renewable energy-based electric system is required. As this process goes on, both the power generation and consumption profiles are changing in daily pattern and magnitude, so the power grid needs to become more and more flexible in order to handle this variability. At the distribution level, photo-voltaic (PV) systems are, by far, the most widespread distributed energy resource, mostly due to the recent drop in the cost at the residential level. As more and more consumers become also producers (the so called "prosumers") and the volatile solar energy production increases, a higher number of storage systems is required to both avoid grid destabilisation and minimise the CO$_2$ emissions. At the same time, since the transportation sector is responsible for a sizeable part of the total CO$_2$ emissions, electric vehicles (EVs) are bound to replace traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. However, two main issues may arise when a large number of vehicles are connected to the existing power grid at the same time. The first issue is that the electricity required to charge them needs to be renewable, while the second is that, a rapid electrification of the existing vehicles fleet could destabilise the grid. In this context, this thesis aims at partially addressing these two issues by analysing different ways to reduce the impact of both PV systems and EVs on low (LV) and medium (MV) voltage grids. After the introduction and a chapter dealing with the most closely related research work, a novel optimisation algorithm, aimed at obtaining the optimal storage capacity for each prosumer belonging to a "renewable energy community" is presented. The algorithm minimises the dependence of the community on the main grid, which is one of the main purposes of this new model, while minimising the total installed storage capacity. The algorithm is tailored to the specific case study, because it keeps track of the willingness of the users to install a battery and keeps the voltage levels between regulatory limits in the optimisation process. In the second part instead, the effects of "uncontrolled" and "smart" EV-charging the electric vehicles with the aim of reducing the power fluctuations at the MV/LV transformer level are analysed. In particular, the interaction between PV production and EV charging is investigated, while considering the grid voltage fluctuations, the distribution line losses and the transformer loading levels at the same time. The broader impact of smart charging is also analysed by performing a simplified economic and battery wear analysis. Results help in understanding if storage devices can reduce the dependence of a renewable energy community on the main grid, and to what extent it is possible and economically viable to do so. Moreover, results quantify a realistic range of EV and PV system penetration in a LV grid that still allows for a combined minimisation of their impact on the power grid.