Congestion Management and Tariffs for Electric Distribution Networks

Abstract

Two concurrent developments lead to challenges for electric distribution networks: On the demand side, there is an increase in the electrification of heating, transportation, and industrial processes, and on the supply side, there is significant growth in the capacity of intermittent electric generation based on wind and solar. Both of these developments lead to a strong growth in the peaks of electricity flows through networks. These networks were often not designed for such large peak flows, and they may be unable to accommodate the desired peak flows with the current infrastructure. As network upgrades have extended lead times and high resource demands, upgrading the network fast enough everywhere is impossible. This leads to the question of what can be done to manage high electricity peak flows, which may overload the network. The peaks can often be flattened on the demand side using the flexibility inherent to the new electrical end-uses. This process is also called congestion management. In this thesis, we investigate different methods for congestion management, with a particular focus on the role of network tariffs and a class of congestion management mechanisms based on limiting network capacity. We analyze how network tariffs and electricity-generation-related end-user prices influence household investments and energy dispatch decisions....