Impact of Integrating Renewable Energy Systems on the Smart Grid-Transportation Nexus Operation under Electric Vehicle cyber-attacks

Abstract

The transition of the power grid into a smart grid in recent years brings the concern of the grid’s cyber security. The smart grid-transport nexus includes two major elements, which are the transport network elements, including Electric Vehicles (EVs) and their Charging Stations (EVCSs), and the smart grid network elements, including the generation nodes and the demand nodes. The aim of this paper is to study the cyber security aspects of the smart grid and transportation system while operating in a nexus. This was done by modeling and simulating the transient stability effects of demand side cyberattacks (load alteration and arranged EV discharging attacks) on the conventional generators-based nexus and on the renewable energy generation (solar PV system) and conventional generatorsbased nexus, respectively. The results have demonstrated that demand side cyber-attacks can cause complete system failure and blackouts and are more lethal to a smart grid-transport nexus that includes conventional generators and renewable energy generation units due to its lower inertia compared to a nexus that has conventional generators only. Additionally, the conventional generators-based nexus may not require the addition of cyberattacks’ detection or mitigation schemes which reduces the system complexity and cost.