Coordinated Fast Frequency Response from Electric Vehicles, Data Centers, and Battery Energy Storage Systems

TL;DR

This paper develops a hierarchical control framework to coordinate electric vehicles, data centers, and battery energy storage systems for fast frequency response, improving grid stability in low-inertia power systems with high renewable energy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coordinated control architecture and dynamic models for heterogeneous resources, enabling systematic aggregation for enhanced frequency support.

Findings

Improved frequency nadir by up to 0.2 Hz

Reduced RoCoF and faster frequency recovery

Enhanced grid stability in low-inertia scenarios

Abstract

High renewable penetration has significantly reduced system inertia in modern power grids, increasing the need for fast frequency response (FFR) from distributed and non-traditional resources. While electric vehicles (EVs), data centers, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) have each demonstrated the capability to provide sub-second active power support, their combined frequency response potential has not been systematically evaluated. This paper proposes a coordinated control framework that aggregates these heterogeneous resources to provide fast, stable, and reliable FFR. Dynamic models for EV fleets, data center UPS and workload modulation, and BESS are developed, explicitly capturing their response times, power limits, and operational constraints. A hierarchical control architecture is introduced, where an upper-level coordinator dynamically allocates FFR among resources based on response speed and available capacity, and lower-level controllers implement the actual power response. Case studies based on the IEEE 39-bus test system demonstrate that the coordinated EV-DC-BESS framework improves frequency nadir by up to 0.2 Hz, reduces RoCoF, and accelerates frequency recovery compared with single-resource FFR. Results confirm that synergistic coordination significantly enhances grid stability, especially in low-inertia scenarios. This work highlights the value of multi-resource aggregation for future frequency regulation markets in renewable-dominated grids.