Integration of 100% micro-distributed energy resources in the low voltage distribution network: A Danish case study

Abstract The existing electricity infrastructure may to a great extent limit a high penetration of the micro-sized distributed energy resources (DERs), due to the physical bottlenecks, e.g. thermal capacitates of cables, transformers and the voltage limitations. In this study, the integration impacts of heat pumps (HPs) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) at 100% penetration level on a representative urban residential low voltage (LV) distribution network of Denmark are investigated by performing a steady-state load flow analysis through an integrated simulation setup. Three DERs integration strategies, namely dumb operation, half-direct controlled operation (i.e. controlling HPs only) and full-direct controlled operation (i.e. controlling both EVs and HPs), are modelled and simulated. The quantitative comparison proves that, by implementing a simple merit of order based congestion management oriented integration strategies, having 100% integration of DER in the provided LV network is feasible.