Research Interests

My research interests span the areas of operational research, electrical and civil (transportation) engineering. My long-term goal is to carry out interdisciplinary research that can provide policy makers, researchers, and practitioners with valuable insights on building & managing future sustainable cities.

My primary research area lies in the interface of power and transportation systems. I hope to bridge the research gap between different research communities, i.e., from electrical, industrial or civil engineering. My work covers comprehensive aspects of transportation electrification including: 1) grid-integration of electric vehicles, 2) charging infrastructure planning and operation; 3) Autonomous electric vehicles.

My second major research arena is the grid integration of distributed energy resources (DERs, e.g. energy storage, demand response, renewable energy). I develop models, algorithms for strategic power scheduling and market biding of aggregated large-scale DERs. I also design incentive mechanisms (e.g., compensation mechanisms, power markets in distribution systems) to promote DER adoption.

Electric Vehicle Grid Integration

sample image Large-scale plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) utilizing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology can collectively behave as a storage system under the control of an aggregator, e.g., arbitraging in the energy market and providing ancillary services to the grid. However, effectively utilizing PEVs' flexibilities is extremely challenging because: 1) their behaviors are stochastic and difficult to forecast; 2) they are in large scale with small power & energy capacities so that the optimization may be computationally expensive; 3) they have unique characteristics compared with traditional resources, e.g., they are energy-constrained so that their flexibilities are easy to get saturated.
We develop methodologies to handle the aforementioned challenges: 1) We study aggregate modeling of large-scale PEVs to enable accurate forecasting and computationally efficient modeling. 2) We develop applicable and lucrative ahead-of-time power scheduling and market offering strategies for large-scale PEVs. 3) We design efficient online controlling strategies for real-time charging (and discharging) power controlling of large-scale PEVs.

Featured Publications:

  1. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, E. Munsing, S. J. Moura, and Y. Song, "Data-driven Chance-constrained Regulation Capacity Offering for Distributed Energy Resources," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.
  2. X. Chen, H. Zhang, Z. Xu, C. P. Nielsen, M. B. McElroy, and J. Lv, "Impacts of Fleet Types and Charging Modes for Electric Vehicles on Emissions under Different Penetrations of Wind Power," Nature Energy, vol. 3, no. May, pp. 1-41, 2018. (equal contribution)
  3. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "Evaluation of Achievable Vehicle-to-Grid Capacity Using Aggregate PEV Model," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 784-794, 2017.
  4. Z. Hu, K. Zhan, H. Zhang, and Y. Song, "Pricing Mechanisms Design for Guiding Electric Vehicle Charging to Fill Load Valley," Applied Energy, vol. 178, pp. 155-163, 2016.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Planning

sample image To satisfy the exponentially growing PEV charging demands, the investment on charging infrastructure is dramatically increasing. However, the society's knowledge on this new type of infrastructure, which is fundamentally different with gas stations, is quite limited. To help social planners and practitioners make economical investment decisions, I developed planning models for PEV charging infrastructure: 1) At the single-station level, we design novel PEV smart chargers, e.g., the single-output-multiple-cables (SOMC) charger. One SOMC can provide charging services comparable to several traditional chargers under coordinated charging control. It can help enhance infrastructure utilization and reduce investment cost for destination charging in public parking lots. I also proposed a two-stage stochastic program to determine the capacity of an SOMC station considering coordinated charging control. 2) At the charging network level, we study optimal siting and sizing of PEV fast-charging network on coupled transportation and power networks. 3) At the city level, we investigate the substitute effect between different types of charging infrastructure, e.g., fast-charging stations, and private or public charging spots etc., and then study the macro-vision urban charging infrastructure planning to provides insights for a social planer.

Featured Publications:

  1. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "Joint PEV Charging Network and Distributed PV Generation Planning Based on Accelerated Generalized Benders Decomposition," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, 2018.
  2. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "A Second Order Cone Programming Model for Planning PEV Fast-Charging Stations," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 2763-2777, 2017.
  3. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, and Y. Song, "PEV Fast-Charging Station Siting and Sizing on Coupled Transportation and Power Networks," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 2595-2605, 2018.
  4. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "Optimal Planning of PEV Charging Station with Single Output Multiple Cables Charging Spots," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 2119-2128, 2017.
  5. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "An Integrated Planning Framework for Different Types of PEV Charging Facilities in Urban Area," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 2273-2284, 2016.

Shared-use autonomous electric vehicles

sample image To satisfy the exponentially growing PEV charging demands, the investment on charging infrastructure is dramatically increasing. However, the society's knowledge on this new type of infrastructure, which is fundamentally different with gas stations, is quite limited. To help social planners and practitioners make economical investment decisions, I developed planning models for PEV charging infrastructure: 1) At the single-station level, we design novel PEV smart chargers, e.g., the single-output-multiple-cables (SOMC) charger. One SOMC can provide charging services comparable to several traditional chargers under coordinated charging control. It can help enhance infrastructure utilization and reduce investment cost for destination charging in public parking lots. I also proposed a two-stage stochastic program to determine the capacity of an SOMC station considering coordinated charging control. 2) At the charging network level, we study optimal siting and sizing of PEV fast-charging network on coupled transportation and power networks. 3) At the city level, we investigate the substitute effect between different types of charging infrastructure, e.g., fast-charging stations, and private or public charging spots etc., and then study the macro-vision urban charging infrastructure planning to provides insights for a social planer.

Featured Publications:

  1. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "Joint PEV Charging Network and Distributed PV Generation Planning Based on Accelerated Generalized Benders Decomposition," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, 2018.
  2. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "A Second Order Cone Programming Model for Planning PEV Fast-Charging Stations," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 2763-2777, 2017.
  3. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, and Y. Song, "PEV Fast-Charging Station Siting and Sizing on Coupled Transportation and Power Networks," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 2595-2605, 2018.
  4. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "Optimal Planning of PEV Charging Station with Single Output Multiple Cables Charging Spots," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 2119-2128, 2017.
  5. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "An Integrated Planning Framework for Different Types of PEV Charging Facilities in Urban Area," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 2273-2284, 2016.

Grid integration of distributed energy resources

sample image To satisfy the exponentially growing PEV charging demands, the investment on charging infrastructure is dramatically increasing. However, the society's knowledge on this new type of infrastructure, which is fundamentally different with gas stations, is quite limited. To help social planners and practitioners make economical investment decisions, I developed planning models for PEV charging infrastructure: 1) At the single-station level, we design novel PEV smart chargers, e.g., the single-output-multiple-cables (SOMC) charger. One SOMC can provide charging services comparable to several traditional chargers under coordinated charging control. It can help enhance infrastructure utilization and reduce investment cost for destination charging in public parking lots. I also proposed a two-stage stochastic program to determine the capacity of an SOMC station considering coordinated charging control. 2) At the charging network level, we study optimal siting and sizing of PEV fast-charging network on coupled transportation and power networks. 3) At the city level, we investigate the substitute effect between different types of charging infrastructure, e.g., fast-charging stations, and private or public charging spots etc., and then study the macro-vision urban charging infrastructure planning to provides insights for a social planer.

Featured Publications:

  1. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "Joint PEV Charging Network and Distributed PV Generation Planning Based on Accelerated Generalized Benders Decomposition," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, 2018.
  2. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, W. Qi, and Y. Song, "A Second Order Cone Programming Model for Planning PEV Fast-Charging Stations," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 2763-2777, 2017.
  3. H. Zhang, S. J. Moura, Z. Hu, and Y. Song, "PEV Fast-Charging Station Siting and Sizing on Coupled Transportation and Power Networks," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 2595-2605, 2018.
  4. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "Optimal Planning of PEV Charging Station with Single Output Multiple Cables Charging Spots," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 2119-2128, 2017.
  5. H. Zhang, Z. Hu, Z. Xu, and Y. Song, "An Integrated Planning Framework for Different Types of PEV Charging Facilities in Urban Area," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 2273-2284, 2016.