A distribution network planning model considering neighborhood energy trading

The widespread adoption of small-scale distributed energy resources (DERs) amongst energy users has drastically changed the operation of distribution networks. To date, there has not been a consolidated model to incorporate the investment decisions of the end-users in the distribution network planning. The contribution of this paper is a distribution network planning model for the utility which considers the neighborhood energy trading (NET) as a platform for end-users to directly exchange energy between them. The proposed mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) problem provides the optimal decisions for line and transformer upgrades, as well as for photovoltaic (PV) and battery in end-users’ premises. Moreover, it indicates a fair allocation of network charges among the participants to NET schemes. The simulation results on the IEEE-33 bus test system confirm the effectiveness of the proposed model in lowering the total cost of the planning and the operation. This platform can be used by government-owned utilities as a guide to avoid sunk investments while motivating the increased installation of renewable distributed generation and storage units by end-users.