Economic evaluation of active network management alternatives for congestion avoidance — the DSO perspective

The introduction of distributed renewable energy generators in the electricity grid implies a number of challenges for energy suppliers and utilities. One of these challenges is the increased risk for grid congestion issues due to the installation of large amounts of e.g. solar panels and wind turbines to the existing grid. As alternative to costly grid reinforcements several Active Network Management (ANM) techniques to mitigate this risk are researched, including (1) dynamic line rating and (2) demand side management. In this paper, we make an economic evaluation of those options from a Distribution System Operator (DSO) perspective. We discuss the aforementioned techniques and elaborate their business case for a specific use case in the MV-grid. Our calculations show that dynamic line rating can be considered as an alternative to network reinforcement, depending on the regulatory framework.