IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i2p457-d1321006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Solar PV and Stationary Storage to Buffer the Impact of Electric Minibus Charging in Grid-Constrained Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Johan H. Giliomee

    (Department of E&E Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

  • Brendan G. Pretorius

    (Department of E&E Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

  • Larissa Füßl

    (Reutlingen Energy Center (REZ), Reutlingen University, Alteburgstraße 150, 72762 Reutlingen, Germany)

  • Bernd Thomas

    (Reutlingen Energy Center (REZ), Reutlingen University, Alteburgstraße 150, 72762 Reutlingen, Germany)

  • Marthinus J. Booysen

    (Department of E&E Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa
    Department of Industrial Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

Abstract

Despite the unstoppable global drive towards electric mobility, the electrification of sub-Saharan Africa’s ubiquitous informal multi-passenger minibus taxis raises substantial concerns. This is due to a constrained electricity system, both in terms of generation capacity and distribution networks. Without careful planning and mitigation, the additional load of charging hundreds of thousands of electric minibus taxis during peak demand times could prove catastrophic. This paper assesses the impact of charging 202 of these taxis in Johannesburg, South Africa. The potential of using external stationary battery storage and solar PV generation is assessed to reduce both peak grid demand and total energy drawn from the grid. With the addition of stationary battery storage of an equivalent of 60 kWh/taxi and a solar plant of an equivalent of 9.45 kW pk /taxi, the grid load impact is reduced by 66%, from 12 kW/taxi to 4 kW/taxi, and the daily grid energy by 58% from 87 kWh/taxi to 47 kWh/taxi. The country’s dependence on coal to generate electricity, including the solar PV supply, also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 58%.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan H. Giliomee & Brendan G. Pretorius & Larissa Füßl & Bernd Thomas & Marthinus J. Booysen, 2024. "Using Solar PV and Stationary Storage to Buffer the Impact of Electric Minibus Charging in Grid-Constrained Sub-Saharan Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:2:p:457-:d:1321006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/2/457/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/2/457/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kucevic, Daniel & Englberger, Stefan & Sharma, Anurag & Trivedi, Anupam & Tepe, Benedikt & Schachler, Birgit & Hesse, Holger & Srinivasan, Dipti & Jossen, Andreas, 2021. "Reducing grid peak load through the coordinated control of battery energy storage systems located at electric vehicle charging parks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    2. Mehta, R. & Verma, P. & Srinivasan, D. & Yang, Jing, 2019. "Double-layered intelligent energy management for optimal integration of plug-in electric vehicles into distribution systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 146-155.
    3. Diouf, Boucar & Pode, Ramchandra, 2015. "Potential of lithium-ion batteries in renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 375-380.
    4. Li, Ying & Davis, Chris & Lukszo, Zofia & Weijnen, Margot, 2016. "Electric vehicle charging in China’s power system: Energy, economic and environmental trade-offs and policy implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 535-554.
    5. Behrens, Roger & McCormick, Dorothy & Orero, Risper & Ommeh, Marilyn, 2017. "Improving paratransit service: Lessons from inter-city matatu cooperatives in Kenya," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 79-88.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kucevic, Daniel & Englberger, Stefan & Sharma, Anurag & Trivedi, Anupam & Tepe, Benedikt & Schachler, Birgit & Hesse, Holger & Srinivasan, Dipti & Jossen, Andreas, 2021. "Reducing grid peak load through the coordinated control of battery energy storage systems located at electric vehicle charging parks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    2. Liu, Hailiang & Andresen, Gorm Bruun & Greiner, Martin, 2018. "Cost-optimal design of a simplified highly renewable Chinese electricity network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 534-546.
    3. Ostanek, Jason K. & Li, Weisi & Mukherjee, Partha P. & Crompton, K.R. & Hacker, Christopher, 2020. "Simulating onset and evolution of thermal runaway in Li-ion cells using a coupled thermal and venting model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Ghorbanzadeh, Milad & Astaneh, Majid & Golzar, Farzin, 2019. "Long-term degradation based analysis for lithium-ion batteries in off-grid wind-battery renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1194-1206.
    5. Yang, Jie & Yu, Fan & Ma, Kai & Yang, Bo & Yue, Zhiyuan, 2024. "Optimal scheduling of electric-hydrogen integrated charging station for new energy vehicles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Parlikar, Anupam & Truong, Cong Nam & Jossen, Andreas & Hesse, Holger, 2021. "The carbon footprint of island grids with lithium-ion battery systems: An analysis based on levelized emissions of energy supply," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    7. Parlikar, Anupam & Schott, Maximilian & Godse, Ketaki & Kucevic, Daniel & Jossen, Andreas & Hesse, Holger, 2023. "High-power electric vehicle charging: Low-carbon grid integration pathways with stationary lithium-ion battery systems and renewable generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    8. Daniel Y. Mo & H. Y. Lam & Weikun Xu & G. T. S. Ho, 2020. "Design of Flexible Vehicle Scheduling Systems for Sustainable Paratransit Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Balu, Korra & Mukherjee, V., 2024. "Optimal deployment of electric vehicle charging stations, renewable distributed generation with battery energy storage and distribution static compensator in radial distribution network considering un," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    10. Yang, Yuqing & Bremner, Stephen & Menictas, Chris & Kay, Merlinde, 2022. "Forecasting error processing techniques and frequency domain decomposition for forecasting error compensation and renewable energy firming in hybrid systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    11. Jose-Maria Delgado-Sanchez & Isidoro Lillo-Bravo, 2020. "Influence of Degradation Processes in Lead–Acid Batteries on the Technoeconomic Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-28, August.
    12. Alessandro Di Giorgio & Emanuele De Santis & Lucia Frettoni & Stefano Felli & Francesco Liberati, 2023. "Electric Vehicle Fast Charging: A Congestion-Dependent Stochastic Model Predictive Control under Uncertain Reference," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-16, January.
    13. Ko, Chi-Jyun & Chen, Kuo-Ching, 2024. "Using tens of seconds of relaxation voltage to estimate open circuit voltage and state of health of lithium ion batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    14. Bostan, Alireza & Nazar, Mehrdad Setayesh & Shafie-khah, Miadreza & Catalão, João P.S., 2020. "Optimal scheduling of distribution systems considering multiple downward energy hubs and demand response programs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Fernando Moreno-Brieva & Carlos Merino, 2020. "African international trade in the global value chain of lithium batteries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1031-1052, August.
    16. Lucy Baker, 2021. "Everyday experiences of digital financial inclusion in India's ‘micro-entrepreneur’ paratransit services," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(7), pages 1810-1827, October.
    17. Arias, Mariz B. & Bae, Sungwoo, 2016. "Electric vehicle charging demand forecasting model based on big data technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 327-339.
    18. Calise, Francesco & Cappiello, Francesco Liberato & Cimmino, Luca & Dentice d’Accadia, Massimo & Vicidomini, Maria, 2023. "Renewable smart energy network: A thermoeconomic comparison between conventional lithium-ion batteries and reversible solid oxide fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 74-95.
    19. Shariatio, O. & Coker, P.J. & Smith, S.T. & Potter, B. & Holderbaum, W., 2024. "An integrated techno-economic approach for design and energy management of heavy goods electric vehicle charging station with energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 369(C).
    20. Lybbert, M. & Ghaemi, Z. & Balaji, A.K. & Warren, R., 2021. "Integrating life cycle assessment and electrochemical modeling to study the effects of cell design and operating conditions on the environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:2:p:457-:d:1321006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.