Flexibility for congestion management in low-voltage grids: an automated network modeling case study on mulitple flex resources with outlook 2025-2050

To reduce congestion caused by newly connected distributed energy resources (DER), a structured approach is researched to investigate which combinations of flexibility (flex) have the highest contribution in limiting congestion in low voltage (LV) grids. This research explores congestion points and addresses them by calculating the potential of flex (reduction of congestion) in the LV grids. This has been done by automated modelling and calculation of the networks, with multiple combinations of flexible DERs (solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, hybrid and all-electric heat pumps, home and public electric vehicle chargers, and home batteries). The automation was necessary to make this research possible in a limited time span, as for more than 5000 flex and network combinations power-flow calculations were done. As the main result, PV curtailment could reduce transformer generation loading. The scenario where all DERs will use a simple flex scheme is not optimal for transformer usage loading. For loading with an optimal combination and enhanced flex scheme, transformer loading could be reduced by 20-30%, but there are opportunities for improvement.