Study of the evolution of the Italian MV distribution system by means of synthetic networks

In future power systems the resources connected at the distribution level will become increasingly important. A significant share of the additional renewable generation, particularly photovoltaic, is expected to be located at the distribution level. The same can be also expected for electric loads, which will increase due to the spread of electric vehicles and electric heat pumps. To integrate the new resources, the distribution system operators will need to reinforce the network or to adopt advanced control solutions. Both these strategies require important investments, that must be correctly planned. Besides, to determine the best approach from an economic, regulatory and technical point of view, extensive simulations have to be performed on a large number of real distribution networks. However, the network data of real distribution networks are not usually public. In this paper the future evolution of the Italian distribution networks is studied by means of synthetic networks. These networks have characteristics similar to the real distribution networks and are used to outline some preliminary analysis of the impact of new loads and photovoltaic generators.