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Active distribution networks increasingly rely on stochastic optimization to manage uncertainties arising from renewable generation, flexible demand, distributed storage, electric vehicles, and local energy markets. These uncertainties affect voltage quality, congestion, operational cost, reliability, and the value of flexibility. This systematic review categorizes and evaluates uncertainty-aware stochastic optimization techniques for demand response, DER coordination, and flexibility provision in active distribution networks. It focuses on methodological transparency, thematic synthesis, and identification of research gaps. A PRISMA-guided systematic review of 31 peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2017 to 2023 was conducted. A structured search, screening, eligibility assessment, and data extraction process was used to organize the evidence. The review maps dominant stochastic frameworks, including two-stage stochastic programming, chance-constrained optimization, robust-stochastic formulations, and distributionally robust optimization. Five synthesis tables are used across the full manuscript to summarize study selection, article characteristics, method taxonomies, application mappings, and research gaps. Stochastic optimization supports secure and efficient operation of active distribution grids, but important gaps remain in scalability, real-world validation, interoperability, and regulatory integration. The review outlines an agenda for more adaptive, transparent, and implementation-ready optimization methods.

Active distribution networks face growing renewable curtailment as distributed photovoltaic and wind generation increasingly encounter voltage, congestion, and flexibility constraints. Battery storage scheduling under uncertainty has become a central operational strategy for absorbing otherwise curtailed energy and improving distribution-level renewable integration. Despite substantial growth in optimization-based storage studies, the literature remains fragmented across stochastic programming, chance-constrained optimization, robust optimization, and distributionally robust formulations. No critical review has systematically compared these paradigms for storage scheduling and curtailment reduction specifically in active distribution networks. This critical review assesses and contrasts stochastic and robust optimization models for battery storage scheduling aimed at reducing renewable curtailment in active distribution networks. It evaluates how these approaches represent uncertainty, network constraints, operational objectives, and implementation readiness. A structured critical review of 27 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2017 and 2024 was conducted. The analysis focuses on mathematical formulations, uncertainty modeling, storage representation, curtailment objectives, network constraints, and operational applicability. Stochastic models offer strong expected-performance reasoning but often depend on scenario quality and can become computationally demanding. Robust models provide stronger protection against adverse uncertainty realizations but may become conservative when uncertainty sets are poorly calibrated, while gaps remain in real-time scheduling, multi-service operation, degradation modeling, and field validation. The choice between stochastic and robust optimization depends on operator risk preference, data availability, computational resources, and distribution network complexity. Hybrid, data-driven, and implementation-oriented methods offer promising future pathways for reducing renewable curtailment through battery storage scheduling.

Smart meters generate high-resolution data that can feed forecasting models for a range of distribution network applications. However, the literature remains fragmented across forecasting methods, data structures, and operational use cases. No comprehensive taxonomy links forecasting model characteristics to the distinct requirements of grid flexibility, microgrid management, and congestion control. This limits the ability of researchers and system operators to choose models according to data availability, forecast horizon, and grid function. This article develops a taxonomy of smart-meter forecasting models for distribution-level operation. The taxonomy maps model categories, data inputs, forecast horizons, and application domains into a structured classification framework. A systematic literature review of 27 peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2017 to 2024 was conducted. Models were classified by mathematical structure, data requirements, forecast horizon, and relevance to grid flexibility, microgrid energy management, and congestion control. The taxonomy organises forecasting approaches into classical time series, conventional machine learning, deep learning, hybrid and ensemble, and probabilistic forecasting categories. Six tables support the review method, model classification, smart-meter data mapping, application suitability analysis, full taxonomy, and research gap assessment. The taxonomy provides a structured decision-support tool for selecting and designing forecasting models for specific distribution grid tasks. It highlights gaps in cross-domain transferability, real-time deployment, benchmarking, data integration, and operational validation.

Electric vehicles are increasingly connected to distribution feeders whose transformers, cables, and voltage-control devices were not originally designed for coincident residential charging. Smart charging coordination can convert this challenge into an operational flexibility resource when user needs and network limits are treated jointly. This case study applies stochastic EV charging coordination to a realistic distribution-network testbed to reduce evening peaks, improve voltage profiles, and support local flexibility procurement. The objective is operational rather than purely algorithmic: the study evaluates what a distribution system operator and an aggregator can learn from coordinated charging under uncertain conditions. The case uses empirical-style charging-session statistics, a radial low-voltage feeder model, and stochastic scenarios for arrival time, departure time, energy demand, and feeder loading. Uncontrolled charging, deterministic coordination, and stochastic coordination are compared using the same network and mobility assumptions. The stochastic formulation is evaluated through network-level indicators for feeder peak demand, transformer loading, voltage deviation, flexibility availability, and procurement cost. The comparison is structured to show whether uncertainty-aware coordination is more robust than deterministic scheduling when charging behavior and grid conditions deviate from forecasts. Stochastic EV charging coordination is a practical planning and operational tool for distribution networks with rising residential and workplace charging demand. The case study provides implementation lessons for DSOs, aggregators, and flexibility-market designers.

This paper presents a two-stage approach that leverages energy savings from optimal network reconductoring to determine the appropriate sizing and placement of electric vehicle (EV) charging loads in residential areas of urban distribution networks. In the initial stage, the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) was used to reduce annual energy losses in the radial distribution system through optimal reconductoring. A multi-objective function was created to simultaneously minimize the investment cost, peak power loss, and annual energy loss cost across various load factors. Outcomes from the flower pollination algorithm were benchmarked against those from the particle swarm optimization algorithm. In the subsequent stage, a straightforward heuristic was introduced to allocate and size the EV charging demand at each node, using a share of the annual energy savings realized from the optimal reconductoring. The quantity of electric cars, electric bikes, and electric scooters that could be supported at individual nodes was calculated without violating voltage or branch current limits. The proposed method was tested through simulations on the 123-bus and 51-bus radial distribution networks to confirm its validity and performance.