Energy storage is traditionally well established in the form of large scale pumped-hydro systems, but nowadays is finding increased attraction in medium and smaller scale systems. Such expansion is entirely complementary to the forecasted wider integration of intermittent renewable resources in future electrical distribution systems (Smart Grids). This paper is intended to offer a useful tool for analyzing potential advantages of distributed energy storages in Smart Grids with reference to both different possible conceivable regulatory schemes and services to be provided. The Smart Grid Operator is assumed to have the ownership and operation of the energy storage systems, and a new cost-based optimization strategy for their optimal placement, sizing and control is proposed. The need to quantify benefits of both the Smart Grid where the energy storage devices are included and the external interconnected grid is explored. Numerical applications to a Medium Voltage test Smart Grid show the advantages of using storage systems related to different options in terms of incentives and services to be provided.

This paper details an approach for the optimal scheduling of microgrids, including different distributed resources such as datacenters, electric vehicles, and distributed generation units. Management of both loads and generation systems is considered to be a strategic approach to optimally operate the grid. At this purpose, a multi-objective strategy was formulated, including several objectives that are considered essential for the efficient grid operation. Numerical simulations were performed to test the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the results were compared with those obtained through uncontrolled scenarios.

The availability of charging infrastructure is essential for large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EV). Charging patterns and the utilization of infrastructure have consequences not only for the energy demand by loading local power grids, but influence the economic returns, parking policies and further adoption of EVs. We develop a data-driven approach that exploits predictors compiled from Geographic Information Systems data describing the urban context and urban activities near charging infrastructure to explore correlations with a comprehensive set of indicators that measure the performance of charging infrastructure. The best fit was identified for the size of the unique group of visitors (popularity) attracted by the charging infrastructure. Consecutively, charging infrastructure is ranked by popularity. The question of whether or not a given charging spot belongs to the top tier is posed as a binary classification problem and predictive performance of logistic regression regularized with an l1 penalty, random forests and gradient boosted regression trees is evaluated. Obtained results indicate that the collected predictors contain information that can be used to predict the popularity of charging infrastructure. The significance of predictors and how they are linked with the popularity are explored as well. The proposed methodology can be used to inform charging infrastructure deployment strategies.

A larger penetration of plug‐in electric vehicle (EV) fleets and of data centres in the microgrids (µGs) is foreseeable in the near future. Their presence and the presence of distributed generation (DG) units represent a challenge for system operators in that they must identify approaches for using these distributed resources that allow them to operate the grid in a more efficient and economical way. With particular reference to EVs and data centres, it must be noted that they are equipped with storage devices that potentially could result in the modification of the daily load profile of µGs by shifting peak demand away from the high‐cost periods. This study is focused on the use of data centres and EV aggregators as demand‐response resources, and a new model for the operation of a µG that includes DG units, EV fleets and the data centre's storage systems has been proposed. The procedure is based on a non‐linear, constrained, optimisation model with the aim of minimising the total cost of energy and simultaneously shaving peak power. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy was demonstrated by means of numerical applications to a low‐voltage, test µG.