Renault has signed a partnership agreement together with RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité) and Jedlix (European Vehicle-Grid-Integration platform) to test the ability of electric vehicles to contribute to balancing electric production and demand by controlling their charging process. This experiment is part of the expected evolution of the secondary reserve market, which will open up to European competition by 2021.
The massive integration of intermittent renewable energy and the closure of traditional thermal power plants is driving the companies to look for innovative and flexible solutions to guarantee the balancing of the power system at the lowest cost.
The secondary reserve is mainly based on thermal or hydropower plants. The Renault Groupe has decided to experiment with a new alternative: controlling the charging of electric vehicles which, following a signal sent by RTE, will inject or draw electricity to help to ensure the balance between production and consumption. This is one of the services electromobility will be able to provide to the new electrical system. The objective of this experiment is to evaluate not only the technical feasibility of this new type of service, which is based on embedded connectivity of the vehicle but also its value for the power grid and ultimately for the electric vehicle owner.
‘We are very pleased to collaborate with RTE and Jedlix. This is an important step in the integration of the electric vehicle as an essential link in the energy network. In the long term, our customers who own electric vehicles will benefit from more economical and greener electricity consumption and will therefore be remunerated for the service they provide to the electricity grid,’ says Yasmine Assef, New Energy Business Program Director of Renault.
