Distribution Networks are stressed by the mass adoption of distributed energy resources and new electric loads, leading to capacity issues, voltage limit violations, and volatility. An intelligent approach is needed as an alternative to costly brute-force reinforcement. This strategy focuses on increasing grid "smartness" and hosting capacity by using flexible operation and tariffs that incentivize flexible consumption, turning key assets into part of the solution. We adapt the Distribution Network Expansion Planning framework to embed network users' optimal investment and operation decisions for distributed assets. We address tariff design impact by comparing two strategies: a fully centralized formulation, with simultaneous network and user optimization, and a decentralized approach where user optimization precedes Distribution system operator decisions. The proposed method is applied to the design of a virtual campus electrical grid. To ensure computational tractability, we employ spatial reduction, representative day selection, and linearization techniques.
Moglia et al. (Fri,) studied this question.