Good practices for DSO network development plans

Suggested good practices for distribution network development plans have been identified by Europe’s DSO Entity.

The proposals, which have been collated by the DSO Entity’s Ten Year Network Development Plan task force, draw on current practices for distribution network development plans and input from industry organisations and are intended to provide a basis for further discussion on grid planning to support the advancement and sustainability of Europe’s DSO infrastructure.

While the 10-year network development plan is a statutory requirement for Europe’s system operators and the DSO Entity a key stakeholder in its development, the DSOs – except those with less than 100,000 customers, which may be exempted – are mandated to develop individual 5-to-10-year network development plans on a biennial basis and submit them to their national regulatory authorities.

Have you read?
What’s on the European DSOs’ technology radar?
Mapping the future of utility networks

The proposed good practices for these plans cover five areas.

1. Purpose and scope – outlines medium to long-term plans for addressing grid needs, focusing on flexibility services and investment in essential distribution infrastructure, and thereby serving as a strategic document to align with national energy and climate plans and support the expansion of renewable energy, electrification of consumption, and demand flexibility.

2. Planning principles – based on detailed scenario planning to forecast future energy consumption and production trends with key principles including business objectives, climate and sustainability goals, identifying and addressing bottlenecks, investment portfolios, national implementation plans and stakeholder feedback.

3. Stakeholder engagement – involves comprehensive stakeholder consultations, including system users, TSOs and national regulatory authorities, in order to ensure alignment with broader energy transition goals and reflect a shared understanding of future grid needs.

4. Investment and infrastructure development – details planned investments in distribution infrastructure, including projects aimed at improving resilience, increasing connection capacities and enhancing service quality in order to provide transparency on ongoing and future investments and facilitate better planning and decision-making for system users and stakeholders.

5. Future directions and recommendations – emphasises the need for anticipatory investments to accelerate grid development and support renewable energy integration and calling for better alignment of scenario development timelines and proposing to investigate how information from the plans can be made easily accessible and used on a European level.

These recommendations, published as a requirement of action 3 of the EC’s grid action plan, are now open for refinement and enhancement by stakeholders.

The DSO Entity also believes that the increased visibility and transparency on distribution network planning of the recommendations should help to address action point 13 of the grid action plan, namely the development of common technology specifications and improved visibility of grid project pipelines to facilitate investments in manufacturing capacity and secure supply chains.