Integrated Transmission and Distribution Expansion Planning Considering Customer Actions and Distributed Energy Resources

The continued connection of distributed energy resources (DERs) gives rise to research into integrated transmission and distribution system planning, which coordinates the actions of transmission and distribution system planners. The existing literature on integrated system planning demonstrates that including DERs in the planning process results in system cost savings. Additionally, the literature shows that effective cost allocation can influence investment in DERs. However, to the best of our knowledge, the existing literature does not account for customer actions that determine not only the level of DER output but the underlying motivation for DER adoption. In this thesis, a planning framework is proposed that models customer DER adoption and usage decisions based on the costs they pay for electricity service. The planning framework consists of four stages: a first planning stage, a cost allocation stage, a customer decisions stage, and a second planning stage. The framework is tested on a 36-bus system, and the results indicate that incorporating customer decisions into an integrated planning model can lead to overall system cost savings, reductions in the costs paid by DER and certain non-DER customers, decreased loading on transmission and distribution lines, and reduced reliance of distribution systems on transmission-connected generation to meet energy needs. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that the full potential of DERs is realized when a planning framework can capture the benefits they provide to both customers and the power system.