A Differentiation-Aware Strategy for Voltage-Constrained Energy Trading in Active Distribution Networks

Free trading of distributed energy resources (DERs) is an effective way to enhance local renewable consumption and user-side economic efficiency. Yet unrestricted sharing may threaten operational security. To address this, this paper proposes a voltage-constrained, differentiated resource-sharing framework for active distribution networks (ADNs). The framework maximizes users’ economic benefits and renewable absorption while keeping system voltages within safe limits. A local energy market with prosumers and the distribution network operator (DNO) is established. Prosumers optimize trading decisions considering transaction costs, wheeling charges, and operational costs. Based on this, a generalized Nash bargaining model is developed with two sub-problems: cost optimization under voltage constraints and payment negotiation. The DNO verifies prosumer decisions to ensure system constraints are satisfied. This paper quantifies prosumer heterogeneity by integrating market participation and voltage regulation contributions, and proposes a differentiated bargaining model to improve fairness and efficiency in DER trading. Finally, an ADMM-based distributed algorithm achieves market clearing under AC power flow constraints. Case studies on modified IEEE 33-bus and 123-bus systems validate the method’s effectiveness, the allocation of benefits between producers and consumers is more equitable, and the costs for highly engaged producers and consumers can be reduced by 46.75%.