A parametrisation of the operating envelope design space

Conventionally, distribution utilities have dealt with the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) from a worst-case perspective, providing owners/operators of DERs with conservative, static limits on export and import. Operating Envelopes (OEs) are a concept proposed to move away from static limits, enabling customer access to spare capacity existing in the system in a time-varying fashion. Trials using various forms of OEs have been run in a variety of demonstration projects. However, the specific forms of OEs used in these trials differ substantially: they may use different network representations, be calculated with different lead times and update frequencies; they might apply on a per-phase basis for active and reactive power at a connection point, or equally apportion active power to individual customers below a distribution transformer. Given this variety of OE implementations, in this paper, a parametrisation or framework for comparing different OE trials and proposals is developed. The parametrisation allows for a systematic comparison of different OE technical options, and clarifies the implications on customers for policy makers. With this work, we hope to inform on the long-term development of cost-effective, deployable, fair, unbiased, technology-neutral and explainable technological solutions for OE quantification.