Every year at Roskilde Festival (RF) several food-stands are set up to serve food and drinks to thousands of hungry festival guests. These stands experience a varying degree of pressure/busyness throughout the day, which naturally translates to an alternating power consumption, with a significantly lower power usage during some periods compared to others.
During the peak hours, the total consumption from the Food Court exceeds the power allocated from RF; thus alternative power sources that can respond to an instant demand are necessary. For many years, these alternative power sources have been huge diesel generators, capable of turning on and deliver huge amounts of power when needed. However, to guarantee the necessary power is available during peak hours, usually these diesel generators will be switched on and running during most of the day. This is not only an expensive solution, but it is also contrary to the environmentally conscious image of RF.
Therefore, RF is interested in another solution that is both cheaper and environmentally sustainable. One such solution is by peak shaving using electric vehicles (EVs). Peak shaving is the process of reducing the amount of power needed from the grid/utility company during peak hours. In our case, the goal is to level the power usage to something RF will be able to deliver directly from the grid. This can potentially be achieved by using EVs capable of directing charged power back into a power system. This method is called vehicle to grid, or V2G. Thus, the EVs can charge from the power grid outside peak hours, especially during the night when demand is low, and then deliver the power necessary to shave the peaks during peak hours back into the system, such that the grid and the EV’s together are able to supply the Food Court in peak hours. The EV’s will, in other words, flatten out the power usage, or shave off the peaks, from the perspective of the power grid outside the festival.
In addition to the solution itself, RF wishes to communicate the impact of the V2G-solution compared to the diesel generator to the festival guests.