Medium- and Low-Voltage Network Planning under Consideration of the German Incentive Regulation

In light of the politically enforced increase of distributed generation units based on renewable energies, network operators have to apply proactive network planning measures to guarantee a technically secure and reliable network operation. In addition to the conventional network expansion, network operators use operational measures such as renewable energy curtailment to ensure a secure network operation. Methods of proactive expansion planning usually identify expansion measures and realization times with maximum cost efficiency. This approach implies an optimal regulation framework, which provides ideal incentives for cost-minimal network expansion. In practice, imperfections of the regulation are existent, which may influence the optimal type and realization times of network expansion measures. This research project is aimed to analyse, if and to what extent the regulatory framework affects the investment conditions for network investments. Exemplary results will be presented for the current German regulation framework.