New opportunities for congestion management and grid planning due to decentralised flexibility

In consequence of the increasing electrification in the heat and mobility sector as well as the penetration of decentralised generation technologies and battery storage systems, new volatile load patterns and higher peak loads will challenge the operation and planning of future distribution grids. The demand for flexibility to prevent voltage boundary violations and overloads could be provided by prosumers, which are offering their power flexibility for congestion management. Based on a developed local flexibility market simulation framework, in this study, the question is explored how much flexibility low-voltage grids will demand in different scenarios for congestion management. In addition, the definition of characteristic values such as critical grid states of the annual operating hours or marginal costs of flexibility calls with regard to conventional grid investments will be a result. Finally, this study highlights the opportunities and effects of considered flexibility use in hybrid grid planning.