Distributed intelligence: Unleashing flexibilities for congestion management in smart distribution networks (Invited paper)

Electrical distribution networks worldwide are facing frequent capacity challenges due to the widespread roll out of various distributed energy resources (DERs). A number of demand response (DR) mechanisms have been developed in order to circumvent the problems and enhance the flexibility of the distribution network. While the existing centralized control system remains its crucial role for reliable and secure grid operation, distributed intelligence is a complement technology with a focus on dividing the control task into a number of simpler problems and solve them with minimum exchange of information. Based on the recent developments of distributed intelligence, this paper discusses a decentralized approach to enable demand response for managing the congestions more efficiently. The approach is validated with simulations for representative Dutch low-voltage (LV) networks.