New energy technologies like photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and heat pumps increasingly find their way to distribution networks. At the time the existing distribution networks were designed, only conventional loads were considered. The capacity of the (existing) distribution networks is therefore insufficient to handle the additional (bidirectional) peak load caused by these new technologies. The distribution system operator (DSO) is facing network congestion. Flexibility to shift and/or change power and energy in time and/or amount is considered as an option to mitigate network congestion with various implicit and explicit mechanisms. This leaves DSOs with the question on how to deploy such mechanisms seamlessly and effectively in daily business with uncertain congestion scenarios and complex integration processes. To tackle these operational challenges, this paper introduces a generic four-step approach to operationalize the flexibility need of a DSO, for any chosen implementation of an implicit or explicit flexibility mechanism (e.g. price-based schemes, flexibility markets, direct control). To this end, this paper addresses the steps: 1. Data acquisition, 2. Forecasting, 3. Decision-making, and 4. Flexibility mechanism interfacing. Furthermore, a particular implementation is described in relation to the Dutch’ H2020 InterFlex demonstrator, showing the field application of the proposed steps. In this demonstrator, a large amount of flexibility (26 electric vehicle charge points of 22kW, a 250kW/315kWh battery energy storage system, and a 260 kWp photovoltaic installation) is connected to two 630kVA transformers in a residential area with approximately 350 apartments. The results of the implementation show that the proposed steps enable the DSO to predict congestion, put a monetary value on flexibility, and use this value to evaluate flexibility offered through – in this case study – a flexibility market.

光伏，电动汽车和热泵等新能源技术越来越多地进入配电网络。在设计现有的配电网络时，仅考虑了常规负载。因此，（现有）配电网络的容量不足以处理由这些新技术引起的额外（双向）峰值负载。配电系统运营商（DSO）面临网络拥塞。灵活地改变和/或改变时间和/或数量的功率和能量被认为是利用各种隐式和显式机制减轻网络拥塞的一种选择。这给DSO带来了一个问题，即如何在拥塞情况不确定和集成流程复杂的日常业务中如何无缝有效地部署此类机制。为了解决这些运营挑战，本文介绍了一种通用的四步方法来实现DSO的灵活性需求，以实现对隐式或显式灵活性机制（例如基于价格的计划，灵活性市场，直接控制）的任何选定实施。为此，本文介绍了以下步骤：1.数据获取，2.预测，3.决策，以及4.灵活性机制接口。此外，针对荷兰的H2020 InterFlex演示器，描述了一种特定的实现方式，其中显示了所建议步骤的现场应用。在此演示器中，具有很大的灵活性（26个22kW的电动汽车充电点，250kW / 315kWh电池储能系统，一个260 kWp光伏装置）连接到住宅区中约有350套公寓的两台630kVA变压器。实施的结果表明，所建议的步骤使DSO能够预测拥塞，将货币价值置于灵活性上，并使用该价值来评估通过灵活性市场（在本案例研究中）提供的灵活性。