A review of power distribution planning in the modern power systems era: Models, methods and future research

In recent years, significant research efforts have been devoted to the optimal design of modern power distribution systems. The aim of power distribution planning (PDP) is to design the distribution system such as to timely meet the demand growth in the most economical, reliable, and safe manner possible. The gradual transformation of the distribution grid from passive to active imposes the need to also consider the effect of distributed generation and active demand during planning and the increased advantages of their control. Several models and methods have been proposed recently for the solution of the modern PDP problem. This paper presents an overview of the state of the art models and methods applied to the modern PDP problem, analyzing and classifying current and future research trends in this field.