Dynamic Congestion Pricing in Distribution Networks via a Convex-Analytic Bilevel Reformulation

Abstract

Dynamic congestion pricing is an important tool for managing congestion and coordinating distributed energy resources in active distribution networks. However, scalable mechanisms that preserve participant autonomy remain computationally challenging because the operator-resource interaction is naturally bilevel. This paper develops a convex-analytic framework in which a distribution system operator computes dynamic congestion-price adders, while decentralized energy hubs schedule flexible demand, storage, local generation, renewable curtailment, and grid import/export. Unlike conventional single-level reformulations that replace lower-level problems by Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, complementarity constraints, and big-M linearizations, the proposed model represents follower feasibility and optimality through a Fenchel-Young equality involving the convex conjugate of an extended follower objective. The remaining bilinear price-response term is handled through a penalized difference-of-convex reformulation and sequential convex approximation. The method solves continuous convex subproblems and avoids the constraint-wise complementarity and branch-and-bound scaling of mixed-integer KKT reformulations; its main computational drivers are price-response dimension and conjugate evaluation rather than binary encodings of follower inequalities. On augmented IEEE 13- and 34-node feeders, it reduces congestion by 96.89% and 96.45%, respectively, approaches centralized full-information dispatch, certifies price-response consistency to numerical precision, and yields lower residual congestion than time-limited KKT incumbents within the computational budget.