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AI-informed Holistic EVs integration Approaches for Distribution grids

Project description

Balancing EV charging needs with grid capacity

As electric vehicles (EVs) surge in popularity, integrating their charging demands into existing power grids presents a challenge. Urban and rural areas require strategically placed charging stations to meet growing needs. The current infrastructure often falls short in optimising grid resources and managing the increased load efficiently. Without a coordinated approach, both consumers and grid operators face higher costs and potential disruptions. The EU-funded AHEAD project will use advanced AI models to develop a tool that balances user accessibility and grid capacity. The project will test flexibility services at seven demonstration sites, focusing on optimising both economic benefits and grid stability. The aim is to enhance the integration of EVs into the power grid.

Objective

The AHEAD (AI-informed Holistic Electric Vehicles Integration Approaches for Distribution Grids) project will create a simulation environment capable of predicting the most convenient location to place the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and optimise both the usage of the power grid resources, and the charging stations located in urban and rural areas. This simulation environment will exploit the unique features of currently available AI models and include two layers: the spatial mapping one (placing the chargers where the people need them to be), and the power grid one (placing the chargers where the grid can support them). Innovative smart charging algorithms will be designed and tested in the model, to minimise the impact of EV charging pools on the network, and ensure the consumers have economic benefits. Moreover, these smart charging algorithms will be tested in three demonstration sites, dedicated to assessing the technical and economic feasibility of smart charging light and heavy-duty EVs, and boats. To this end, AHEAD gathered relevant partners from all the EV value-chain: technology providers who want to test their equipment in the real world, grid operators, who want to optimise the usage of the grid resources and mitigate the EV charging impact, and research institutions, who aim at advancing the knowledge on the topic and producing value for society. Particular attention is going to be placed on the user experience and cybersecurity part of the demonstrators, with specific partners who focus their efforts on understanding how to minimize the impact of smart charging on the user experience and on creating a model to represent cyber-attacks on the chargers to suggest efficient defensive mechanisms for system protection.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL5-2023-D3-03

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Coordinator

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Net EU contribution
€ 1 768 125,00
Address
PIAZZA LEONARDO DA VINCI 32
20133 Milano
Italy
Region
Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 768 125,00

Participants (22)

Partners (5)