Development and Experimental Validation of a High-Power DC Distribution Testbed for Advanced Charging Infrastructure and Energy Management

Journal Article · Tue Mar 11 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TIA.2025.3550147· OSTI ID:2546938

Khan, Md Shafquat ^[1]; Thurlbeck, Alastair ^[1]; Watt, Edward ^[1]; Kisacikoglu, Mithat ^[1]; Ucer, Emin ^[1]; Meintz, Andrew ^[1]; Mahmud, Rasel ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

This paper presents the development of a hardware testbed for DC-distributed high-power charging (HPC) stations. As DC distributed solutions emerge as a viable solution to optimize HPC site operations, challenges such as interoperability, protection, and seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DER) persist. These issues underscore the need for a robust testing facility to investigate compliance of available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market devices. The developed testbed features a DC-distributed charging hub including a charger, emulated energy storage system (ESS), and site level communication and controller implementation. It facilitates the testing of COTS hardware, charger prototypes, standards validation and site energy management system (SEMS) controllers at rated power. This paper details the development of the charging infrastructure platform, implementation of communication system, validation of different SEMS algorithms, and understanding improvements required for future expansion. Using the developed testbed, interoperability gaps for SEMS implementation with multi-vehicle concurrent charging via a multi-port charger are experimentally observed. Aimed at supporting the transition to large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployment and DER integration, this testbed plays a crucial role in conformity testing of COTS device interoperability.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 2546938
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5400-90744
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 61
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
DC distribution
ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION,POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
ESS integration
EVSE
P-HIL
hardware testbed
high power charging
site energy management system (SEMS)