LAUSR

Abstract Smart sustainable grids are characterized with sophisticated demand response schemes. Flexible loads are the key in the concept of demand response and, if well-planned, can save significant costs and emissions through optimal use of energy resources. On the other hand, fast charge electric vehicles, despite their appeal, represent a special type of loads demanding an immediate attendance upon admission to charging stations. This may counterbalance the efforts toward flexible load management. Moreover, there is a rising demand for fast-charge stations with a more balanced spatial distribution. In this paper, a comprehensive multi-stage residential load planning scheme is proposed incorporating the most diverse load groups in a realistic market environment. Within this procedure, a unique concept is implemented which taps into the aggregated residential load flexibility to support fast charge of electric vehicles. Through cluster-wise scheduling for different load classes, the proposed approach aggregates the flexibility of a heterogeneous population of different multi-apartment loads including air conditioning and water heating devices as well as slow-charging EVs to also plan for fast-charge-powered EVs. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the successful implementation of the proposed framework within urban neighborhoods which proves efficient in reducing fast-charge load on the grid besides financial benefits for aggregators.