Distribution network reinforcement planning considering demand response support

Abstract

Recently, Electricity North West Limited (ENWL), one of the UK Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) has proposed a Demand Side Response (DSR) based scheme for reducing social costs (e.g., power losses), increasing distribution network capacity, and postponing (or even avoiding) future network reinforcements in the presence of uncertainty. This solution, named Capacity to Customers (C 2 C), consists of pushing the network limits beyond traditional planning standards that apply under contingency situation by resorting to temporary customer disconnection after a fault occurs. The assessment of the C 2 C solution (and other network solutions) should be consistent with the cost benefit analysis (CBA) model proposed by Ofgem (the UK regulator). However, this CBA model (i) is deterministic, which is not adequate for evaluating the impacts of the C 2 C solution on network reinforcements under uncertainty and (ii) is based on two potentially conflicting objectives that either fully acknowledge or disregard social costs. In this light, this work proposes an extension of Ofgem's CBA model based on scenarios, optimizations, and the opportunity loss (regret) criterion to assess the effects of uncertainty and tradeoffs between investment and social costs. The proposed CBA model relies on a new simulation based approach to optimize network reinforcement plans (including the C 2 C solution) while considering risk management (i.e., via the regret criterion). The proposed approach is illustrated on a real UK distribution network where the C 2 C is currently being deployed. The results show that the implementation of the C 2 C solution can lead to substantial cost reductions, particularly for social costs.