Supporting increasing renewable energy penetration in Australia — The potential contribution of electric vehicles

The current Renewable Energy Target (RET) of 20% renewables by 2010 commits Australia to a progressive introduction of renewable generation over the next 10 years. Due to the inherently intermittent nature of supply, this will require careful planning for efficient integration into the existing grid. It is shown that at an introduction rate of only 2% per annum, Electric Vehicles could provide sufficient ramping support for a much greater rate of introduction of renewables than that proposed under the RET. Furthermore, with the concurrent introduction of rooftop grid-connected PV generation, EV charging load would provide little additional energy burden to the existing grid.