The Feasibility of using V2G to Face the Peak Demand in Warm Countries

Abstract

As a result of the very difficult weather in Saudi Arabia during the summer, there is too high power peak demand in the grid and this is expected to increase in the next decade. To fix this problem, power consumers should participate in the power production. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), one of the efficient sustainable technologies, can offer this opportunity. It is defined as a concept where electric vehicle (EV) provides electric to the grid when parked. This investigation looks at the feasibility of using V2G to mitigate the problem of highest electricity peak demand in the summer period in one of the warmest countries of the world (Saudi Arabia). We conduct a survey in order to serve this issue and we use information from Saudi Arabia electricity authority. We found that, V2G is a promising solution to the peak demand challenge in the summer in Saudi Arabia since there is about 80% of the sample interested in using V2G technology. Moreover, 90% of the participants used their vehicles less than 4 hours daily. Furthermore, in the summer period, most of the participants park their vehicles for the longest time between 13:00 to 18:00, which is the peak demand period.