This study assesses the feasibility of photovoltaic (PV) charging stations with local battery storage for electric vehicles (EVs) located in the United States and China using a simulation model that estimates the system's energy balance, yearly energy costs, and cumulative ${\rm{CO_{2}}}$ emissions in different scenarios based on the system's PV energy share, assuming silicon PV modules, and 5 kWh of storage capacity. Results show that systems located in commercial or office parking lots and used for charging EVs during working hours can be a feasible solution in all locations from a technical, financial, and environmental perspective in comparison with not only gasoline-fueled vehicles but also with grid-only charging. PV shares of 50% and 75% are achievable in all locations with PV array sizes in the order of 1–1.5 ${\rm{kW_{p}}}$ , whereas a 100% PV share is possible but might result in high system costs. Scenarios with PV charging and local storage show emissions reductions of 60%–93% in the USA and 28%–93% in China compared with a gasoline-fueled vehicle.

The European Directive 2013/35/UE sets the minimum requirements for the protection of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields and defines workers bearing implants as workers at particular risk. The European standards 50527-1 and 50527-2-1 propose risk assessments methods for these workers, including numerical and/or experimental in-vitro approaches. This study aims to conceive by using both methods, a cost-effective test bench for active cardiac implants in order to reproduce induced phenomena on a cardiac implant inside a human exposed to 50 Hz electric field, representing exposure up to 100 kV/m, which covers occupational exposure.

This article presents an in-situ comparative analysis and power quality tests of a newly developed photovoltaic charging system for e-bikes. The various control methods of the inverter are modeled and a single-phase grid-connected inverter is tested under different conditions. Models are constituted for two current control methods; the proportional resonance and the synchronous rotating frames. In order to determine the influence of the control parameters, the system is analyzed analytically in the time domain as well as in the frequency domain by simulation. The tests indicated the resonance instability of the photovoltaic inverter. The passivity impedance-based stability criterion is applied in order to analyze the phenomenon of resonance instability. In conclusion, the phase-locked loop (PLL) bandwidth and control parameters of the current loop have a major effect on the output admittance of the inverter, which should be adjusted to make the system stable.

This paper analyzes the use patterns of a residential smart grid pilot in the Netherlands, called PowerMatching City. The analysis is based on detailed monitoring data measured at 5-min intervals for the year 2012, originating from this pilot which was realized in 2007 in Groningen, Netherlands. In this pilot, smart appliances, heat pumps, micro-combined heat and power (µ-CHP), and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been installed to evaluate their efficiency, their ability to reduce peak electricity purchase, and their effects on self-sufficiency and on the local use of solar electricity. As a result of the evaluation, diverse yearly and weekly indicators have been determined, such as electricity purchase and delivery, solar production, flexible generation, and load. Depending on the household configuration, up to 40% of self-sufficiency is achieved on an annual average basis, and 14.4% of the total consumption were flexible. In general, we can conclude that micro-CHP contributed to keep purchase from the grid relatively constant throughout the seasons. Adding to that, smart appliances significantly contributed to load shifting in peak times. It is recommended that similar evaluations will be conducted in other smart grid pilots to statistically enhance insights in the functioning of residential smart grids.

This paper presents an analysis that frames the impact of various smart grid technologies, with an objective to provide a transparent framework for residential smart grid demonstration projects based on predefined and clearly formulated key performance indicators. The analysis inspects measured energy data of 217 households from three smart grid pilot projects in the Netherlands and a public dataset with smart meter data from 70 households as a reference. The datasets were evaluated for one year and compared to provide insights on technologies and other differences based on seven key performance indicators, giving a comprehensive overview: monthly electricity consumption (100–600 kWh) and production (4–200 kWh); annually imported (3.1–4.5 MWh) and exported (0.2–1 MWh) electricity; residual load; peak of imported (4.8–6.8 kW) and exported (0.3–2.2 kW) electricity; import simultaneity (20–70.5%); feed in simultaneity (75–89%); self-sufficiency (18–20%); and self-consumption (50–70%). It was found that the electrification of heating systems in buildings by using heat pumps leads to an increase of annual electricity consumption and peak loads of approximately 30% compared to the average Dutch households without heat pumps. Moreover, these peaks have a high degree of simultaneity. To increase both the self-sufficiency and self-consumption of households, further investigations will be required to optimize smart grid systems.

In this paper, a framework is presented for the evaluation of smart grid environment which is called the three-layer model. This three-layer model comprises three specific categories, or ‘layers’, namely, the stakeholder, market and technologies layers. Each layer is defined and explored herein, using an extensive literature study regarding their key elements, their descriptions and an overview of the findings from the literature. The assumption behind this study is that a solid understanding of each of the three layers and their interrelations will help in more effective assessment of residential smart grid pilots in order to better design products and services and deploy smart grid technologies in networks. Based on our review, we conclude that, in many studies, social factors associated with smart grid pilots, such as markets, social acceptance, and end-user and stakeholder demands, are most commonly defined as uncertainties and are therefore considered separately from the technical aspects of smart grids. As such, it is recommended that, in future assessments, the stakeholder and market layers should be combined with the technologies layer so as to enhance interaction between these three layers, and to be able to better evaluate residential smart energy systems in a multidisciplinary context.