Title: Electric vehicle fleet contributions for isolated systems. The case of the Canary Islands

Authors: Gustavo A. Marrero; Yannick Perez; Marc Petit; Francisco Javier Ramos-Real

Addresses: Departamento de Análisis Económico, Universidad de La Laguna, Camino la Hornera, s/n., 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo Regional, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de La Laguna, Camino la Hornera, s/n., 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain ' Supélec, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, Plateau de Moulon, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; RITM, University Paris-Sud, 15 Rue Georges Clemenceau, 91400 Orsay, France; Armand Peugeot Chair, Centrale-Supélec and ESSEC Business School Paris, 1 Avenue Bernard Hirsch, 95021 Cergy-Pontoise, France ' Department of Power and Energy Systems, E3S SUPELEC Systems Sciences, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Armand Peugeot Chair, Centrale-Supélec and ESSEC Business School Paris, 1 Avenue Bernard Hirsch, 95021 Cergy-Pontoise, France ' Departamento de Análisis Económico, Universidad de La Laguna, Camino la Hornera, s/n., 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo Regional, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de La Laguna, Camino la Hornera, s/n., 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract: The Canary Islands offer an example of an isolated electric grid of relatively important size within the EU. Generally, these systems do not have access to every technology available, nor can they be connected to continental grids when necessary. Due to their particularities, renewable energies, benefitting from their complementarity with fossil fuels, can play an important role in achieving the main energy policy goals of the islands. Electric vehicles (EVs), thanks to their storage capacity, can provide benefits to the power system reducing both the need for backup thermal generation and the amount of spilled renewable energy (mainly wind). Moreover, EVs can introduce more demand flexibility, which reduces the extra costs (intermittency costs) that renewable technologies impose on power systems. Comparing an efficient mix under a baseline scenario (null impact of electric vehicles) with an equivalent efficient mix under an alternative scenario assuming the introduction of a maximum of 122,000 cars into the Canarias market in 2025, we find a reduction of almost 11% in average generating cost (about 80 million euros/year), 9% in risk (measured as the standard deviation) and almost 13% in emissions.

Keywords: electricity generating cost; electric vehicles; efficiency frontiers; isolated electricity systems; electric vehicle fleet; Canary Islands; renewable energy; energy policy; electricity demand flexibility; generating cost; vehicle emissions; energy mix.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2015.068552

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2015 Vol.15 No.2, pp.171 - 193

Received: 10 Mar 2014
Accepted: 27 Jun 2014
Published online: 05 Apr 2015 *

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