Distribution Network Planning Towards a Low-Carbon Transition: A Spatial-Temporal Carbon Response Method

Recently, the ambitious targets of emission reduction worldwide have triggered a new trend to focus on low-carbon planning in not only the transmission networks but also the demand-side distribution networks. The existing planning approaches aim to effectively obtain a trade-off solution between emission reduction targets and system economic benefits. In this article, the distribution system planning method with a specific emission reduction target is proposed, in which the emission target is embedded in the objective function via the exterior point method rather than considered as a constraint. Simultaneously, a spatial-temporal carbon response model is proposed, which is based on geographically dispatchable loads (GDLs) incorporating distributed data centers (DDCs) and mobile energy storage systems (MESSs). This model can be extended to further mitigate system emissions without changing the current system framework. The proposed planning method is tested on the modified IEEE 33-bus and 123-bus benchmark systems. According to the simulation results, the impact on system cost and emission results owing to specific emission reduction targets and spatial-temporal carbon response model are analyzed. The results demonstrate that the proposed model and method can achieve a reduction in emissions of more than 30% within 5% of increasing system costs. The effectiveness and scalability of the proposed model have also been verified.