Evaluation of market-based flexibility provision for congestion management in distribution grids

A significant increase in distributed power generation from renewable energy sources (RES) can be observed in German distribution grids. This development leads to a rising need for grid expansion. To avoid cost-intensive grid expansion measures, distribution system operators can nowadays curtail feed-in from RES in case of congestion. In future, the utilization of flexibility provided by distributed generation, demand and storage units via market-based mechanisms might be a more efficient alternative. To analyze the applicability and benefits compared to a curtailment of feed-in from RES, a contribution margin optimizing simulation approach for virtual power plant dispatch incorporating grid restrictions is suggested in this paper. With this method, calculations are performed for an exemplary distribution grid with a high penetration of RES. The results show that market-based flexibility provision can efficiently resolve congestion while leading to a higher integration of electricity from RES and a significant reduction of congestion management costs.