Challenges for a Massive Integration of Flexible Resources in LV Networks

This chapter will review the challenges that the low-voltage electricity distribution network currently has to face in order to become a smart distribution grid that allows real-time management of the system and the devices connected to it. These challenges are of two types: on the one hand, we have technological challenges and, on the other hand, regulatory ones. Regarding the technological challenges, the chapter will focus on the study of how the low-voltage distribution system is currently structured and operated and the changes that the electricity companies have to introduce and are actually introducing into it in order to achieve a real-time operation that allows the massive, safe and efficient integration of new devices such as electric vehicles, distributed generation and storage systems, heat pumps and other flexible loads/generators. The chapter will then focus on the study of the existing regulatory framework (with special emphasis on European regulation), as it considers that the development of stable regulation which promotes new actors or business models such as aggregators or energy communities is key to achieving a low-carbon and efficient energy system. Different types of aggregation models will be reviewed, and the implications of these models within the complex network of roles within the current electricity system will be analysed.