Non-discriminatory congestion management scheme for consumer curtailment in low voltage distribution grids

Abstract:
The ongoing integration of power-intensive consumers (e.g. heat pumps, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles) and producers will lead to congestion problems in low voltage (LV) grids. Since traditional grid expansion measures alone are not a suitable solution to this problem, an active grid operation with an automated congestion management (CM) is required. Various CM measures may be available for grid operators. Thus, this paper provides a comprehensive overview on CM measures in LV grids. One reliable and effective measure is the direct active power control of consumers. Since this measure results in the change of the customer’s behaviour, the non-discriminatory distribution of the CM burdens is crucial. The paper therefore deals in particular with non-discriminatory direct active power control and initially differen-tiates this terminologically from fair measures. Subsequently, a non-discriminatory CM algorithm is designed, using spe-cific curtailment mechanisms and calculation procedures. The latter has not been discussed in the literature so far. The developed CM algorithm is implementable in Germany's changed regulatory framework (§14a EnWG). However, due to the generic formulation of the underlying optimisation problem, it can easily be adapted to other scenarios. The effective-ness of the algorithm is demonstrated on two benchmark LV grids.