Distribution system operator services: A comparative assessment of multi-product co-optimisation for congestion management and voltage control using a local flexibility market

Abstract

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) into distribution networks poses significant planning and operational challenges in power systems, particularly in terms of local congestion mitigation and voltage regulation. This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of a multi-product and multi-service Local Flexibility Market (LFM) designed to support Distribution System Operators (DSOs) in the procurement of flexibility products based on active (P) and reactive (Q) power for the services of congestion management (CM) and voltage control (VC). Also, the proposed model incorporates AC sensitivity coefficients for grid representation into the market-clearing formulation, capturing non-linear interactions between flexibility activations from service providers (SPs) and network impacts. Using a synthetic medium voltage (MV) grid derived from a real Polish network, this paper evaluates the technical and economic performance of the combination for different service-product configurations (e.g. CMVC_PQ) to solve network problems. The results demonstrate that joint procurement of P and Q in an LFM for CM and VC can significantly mitigate network issues and reduce overall flexibility provision costs, compared to traditional single-product or single-service approaches. The findings underscore the relevance of coordinated market designs in facilitating efficient and cost-effective flexibility deployment in distribution networks.