Managing prosumer exports in distribution networks through participatory export limits

This paper proposes an innovative stakeholder-centric approach for managing prosumer exports in distribution networks ensuring stakeholder benefits. The rapid inclusion of photovoltaic (PV) systems leads to excessive exports, affecting the stability and performance of the distribution networks and fostering effective export management. In addition, the emergence of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services presents challenges that may exacerbate export-related issues. Several distribution companies use fixed export limits for PV prosumers without looking at network performance. Current studies suggest dynamic limits to unlock export capabilities, providing variable export opportunities while neglecting diverse capabilities and nodal disparities of prosumers. By amalgamating dynamic export limits and prosumer priority indexing, this paper endeavours to derive individualized export limits in distribution networks. This research examined dynamic export capabilities on a real Australian suburban distribution feeder with 966 customers utilizing diverse capacities, nodal situations, and network uncertainties. The prosumer priority ranking is based on nodal constraints, time, and individual capabilities. The paper highlights participatory export limits, utilizing dynamic export limits and individual rankings, to offer enhanced export flexibility, benefiting stakeholders both distribution network operators and prosumers. These stakeholder-centric export limits provide a promising avenue for seamless PV and V2G integration toward a sustainable and resilient energy ecosystem.