This paper will provide insights regarding the financial implications of non-conventional grid development solutions, which are intended to provide agile, flexible and supportive solutions and thereby enable a sustainable development of the power system. As complements to traditional grid expansion developments, Active Network Management (ANM) solutions provide new methods to plan and operate the power system. In the case of long-term investment planning, different grid development solutions are weighed against each other based on e.g., their resilience, cost, environmental impact, and time to operation. The results presented in this paper originate from the ongoing European research project ANM4L [1]. While the developments in the ANM4L project are based on three pillars (ANM control solutions, Business solutions, & ICT solutions), the activity in focus of this paper is on the discussion on necessary investment decisions by the DSO and whether to continue traditional operations or to apply ANM solutions. The pillars of the ANM4L project are collectively resulting in a toolbox developed to support the operation and planning of distribution grids, which functionality and replicability will be tested and demonstrated within the ANM4L project. The activity in focus of this paper lies within the second pillar and is on the discussion on necessary investment decisions by the DSO and whether to continue traditional operations or to apply ANM solutions.
The ANM4L (Active network management for all) project. This project has received funding in the framework of the joint programming initiative ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems, with support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.