Management strategies of electric vehicles and Concentrating Photovoltaic systems for microgrids

The present PhD dissertation is focused on the development of management strate- gies of electric vehicles and concentrating photovoltaic systems in microgrids (MGs). Firstly the MG concept and then the state-of-the-art analysis of the most important components (that are photovoltaic and energy storage systems and electric vehicles) are presented. Then, the first part of the thesis is focused on the concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems, the most promising new technology for improving the efficiency of PV systems. In particular, two prototypes characterization and the role of CPV systems in MGs are introduced. In fact, the knowledge of the CPV issues highlighted during the characterization process allows the development of a suitable EMS, in order to guarantee the quality, the reliability and the controllability of the MG and consequently of the main electrical power system, especially in presence of a large number of renewable energy sources (RESs). The second part of the dis- sertation deals with the analysis of two battery electric vehicles (BEVs) models. Nowadays, the exploitation of BEVs has to be placed in a future contest in which the vehicle batteries will perform different tasks in addition to driving purpose, such as the vehicle to grid (V2G) paradigm. Thus, an accurate model that reproduces the battery behavior under real dynamic driving conditions is mandatory, as well as its validation. Moreover, the EV modelling allows to make the EV feedback in- formation reliable for managing correctly and profitably an EV eet inside a MG. Consequently, in the last part, two management strategies (MSs) are presented. The former operates in a MG composed by office and laboratory loads, a CPV plant and a traditional at-plate PV one and a BEV eet. The MS proposed aims to maxi- mize the energy self-consumption by respecting both the driver needs and the MG requirements. The second MS manages the same MG by employing a stationary storage system instead of a BEV eet. In this case, the MS purpose is to guarantee a at-programmable power production profile at the DC node of the MG, even in case of severe weather conditions.