Minimization of Renewable Energy Curtailment in Radial and Weakly Meshed Distribution Networks

Abstract

In distribution networks, the hosting capacity for Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) is constrained by overvoltage and overcurrent limits, which increase the risk of overloading components and causing voltage violations. RESs curtailment is a common but not optimal strategy used to mitigate these issues. While many existing solutions rely on nonlinear optimization problems or complex algorithms, this paper introduces a novel linear optimization approach for minimizing RES curtailment exploiting flexibility resources of the grid. The proposed method ensures compliance with voltage, current, and transformer overload constraints by replacing traditional load flow equations with linear relationships based on voltage drop calculations.