Adaptive planning approach for customer DG installations in smart distribution networks

The planning of active network management (ANM) schemes for distribution systems with distributed generation (DG) does not consider the random participation of customer-owned DGs. This study analyses and addresses the impact of the integration of customer-owned DG on the planning of ANM schemes and maximum DG penetration limits. The random customer DG installations are incorporated by considering sets of events where in each event the number, size and location of DG units are randomly generated. The events, in a set, are chronologically ordered and used to represent a possible scenario of customer-owned DG installations. A two-phase planning approach is proposed where the problem is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming problem with an objective of determining the optimal ANM scheme for maximising the utility DG penetration considering customer DG installations. Several case studies are conducted on a generic 33 kV UK distribution network, including a comparison with the one-time planning approach. The results show that the optimal ANM scheme will vary with the number, locations and sizes of customer DGs and thus for utilities to achieve maximum DG penetration, it is recommended to adaptively control and equip DG units with the capability of switching between various ANM schemes.