The growing demand for electric power and the need for an energy transition that contributes to the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions have driven the development of various energy generation, storage, and offset technologies. These technologies are known as distributed energy resources. Their integration into distribution power systems not only contributes to improving operating aspects, but also allows supplying electricity to areas that do not have access to large-scale power systems. Therefore, the integration and management of these resources has become a topic of interest, and several studies seek to optimize their impact on technical, economic, and environmental aspects. However, this optimization poses specific challenges related to the type and number of variables related to the operation of a distribution power system. This review article aims to describe the main challenges posed by three-phase AC three-phase distribution power systems under scenarios involving the integration of distributed energy resources. In addition, it presents some approaches proposed by different authors to improve the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of power grids. It can be stated that the strategies presented in the literature fail to consider scenarios that simultaneously integrate different types of technologies and optimize them while following a multi-objective approach and considering three-phase systems in a context of variable generation and demand. Therefore, future work in this field should address these aspects in a holistic manner, taking into account the computation efforts and processing times required by intelligent algorithms.

Due to the increasing demand for electricity around the world, different technologies have been developed to ensure the sustainability of each and every process involved in its production, transmission, and consumption. In addition to ensuring energy sustainability, these technologies seek to improve some of the characteristics of power systems and, in doing so, make them efficient from a financial, technical, and environmental perspective. In particular, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is one of the power generation technologies that has had the most influence and development in recent years due to its easy implementation and low maintenance costs. Additionally, since PV systems can be located close to the load, power losses during distribution and transmission can be significantly reduced. However, in order to maximize the financial, technical, and environmental variables involved in the operation of an electrical system, a PV power generation project must guarantee the proper location and sizing of the generation sources. In the specialized literature, different studies have employed mathematical methods to determine the optimal location and size of generation sources. These methods model the operation of electrical systems and provide potential analysis scenarios following the deployment of solar PV units. The majority of such studies, however, do not assess the quality and repeatability of the solutions in short processing times. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to review the literature and contributions made in the field.