On the impact of storage in residential power distribution systems

Abstract

It is anticipated that energy storage will be incorporated into the distribution network component of the future smart grid to allow desirable features such as distributed generation integration and reduction in the peak demand. There is, therefore, an urgent need to understand the impact of storage on distribution system planning. In this paper, we focus on the effect of storage on the loading of neighbourhood pole-top transformers. We apply a probabilistic sizing technique originally developed for sizing buffers and communication links in telecommunications networks to jointly size storage and transformers in the distribution network. This allows us to compute the potential gains from transformer upgrade deferral due to the addition of storage. We validate our results through numerical simulation using measurements of home load in a testbed of 20 homes and demonstrate that our guidelines allow local distribution companies to defer transformer upgrades without reducing reliability.