Simulating spatiotemporal energy technology adoption patterns under different policy designs

Abstract

Recent studies found that the adoption of distributed energy resources (DER) tends to cluster spatially and temporally which has significant implications for distribution network planning. Currently, residential DER adoption is mostly driven by public support schemes, also called incentive designs. Therefore, changes in those incentive designs will result in alternative spatiotemporal DER adoption patterns that affect distribution networks differently. Consequently, distribution network operators urgently need to understand the effects of energy policy changes on the spatial distribution of DER to guide network expansion based on realistic scenarios. The presented work and tool allow network operators to plan network expansion with robustness under future incentive design changes.