A Unified Definition of Hosting Capacity, Applications, and Review

Over the past decade, the landscape of distribution network hosting capacity has been extensively explored through numerous studies. However, a notable gap remains in the absence of a standardised and universally accepted generic definition. Bridging this gap, this paper provides a comprehensive and unified definition of the hosting capacity concept for distributed energy resources (DERs). To illustrate the presented definition, a practical demonstration using a basic illustrative example is provided. Additionally, this paper aligns the most impactful papers in the field, as well as select literature articles, with the proposed definition. This comparative analysis showcases the versatility and applicability of the definition across a spectrum of research contributions. This paper seeks to establish a shared foundation for the determination of hosting capacity that can guide future research.