Economic Assessment of Integrating Fast-Charging Stations and Energy Communities in Grid Planning

Abstract

<p>Distribution grid companies and distribution system operators (DSOs) still mostly follow a traditional framework for grid planning. Such frameworks have so far served DSOs well in the economic assessment and cost-benefit analysis of passive measures, such as grid reinforcement. However, the development towards active distribution grids requires DSOs to also be able to assess an extended set of active measures. To this aim, this paper extends and implements a general planning framework for active distribution grids that builds upon the well-proven traditional framework. The methodology integrated in the framework includes: 1) decoupled models for i) operation with active measures and ii) optimal grid investment, and 2) methods for economic assessment considering active measures from both i) a DSO cost-benefit analysis perspective and ii) a willingness-to-pay perspective. In this paper, operational models are integrated for two examples of active measures, namely the use of fast-charging stations (FCS) and local energy communities (LEC). The methodology is demonstrated in a long-term grid planning case study for a realistic Norwegian medium voltage distribution system. For this case, grid planning with FCS as an active measure reduces the present value of grid investment costs by 70% compared with a passive grid planning strategy. The results also demonstrate how the methodology can be used in negotiating the price of active measures between the DSO and distribution system actors such as LEC and FCS operators.</p>

Methodology for Evaluating Grid Development Strategies Considering Real Options and Risks

“…That work focused on methodology for economic assessment and left methodology for handling uncertainties and risks for future work. The present work extends [9] with i) methodology for assessing the risks (option price, or disadvantages) due to load demand uncertainties and ii) the option value (advantages) of using active measures to manage these uncertainties. The right-hand part of Fig.…”

“…2 illustrates a general process for planning of active distribution grids according to the framework presented in [2]. This framework was implemented and demonstrated in [9] by integrating operational models for FCSs and LECs as active measures. That work focused on methodology for economic assessment and left methodology for handling uncertainties and risks for future work.…”

“…2 shows the modules integrated into the framework in this paper. The modules that are new compared with the framework implementation presented in [9] are illustrated with a yellow colour. Fig.…”

“…Active grid planning has also been formulated as mixed-integer linear programming problems, where multistage grid development plans results from the optimization, taking into account both active and passive measures [3]- [8]. Our previous work [9] applied a similar approach, performing an economic assessment of active measures such as LECs and FCSs on equal footing as passive measures, considering undervoltage as the operational challenge (or grid problem) triggering the need for grid planning.…”

“…The paper is organised as follows: The methodology is presented in Section II, where subsections II-A and II-B describe the quantification of the i) risk and ii) value, respectively, of real options associated with active measures. Here, flexibility provision from LECs is used as an example of active measures, building upon the methodology previously presented in [9] for grid development accounting for LECs. To demonstrate the methodology, a case study with an illustrative example is presented in Section III.…”