This paper presents an approach of demand response (DR) scheduling with thermostatically controlled loads (TCL) in a distribution grid with high penetration of distributed generations (DC). In this approach, household TCL are employed as flexibility resources to support the distribution network for mitigating voltage or congestion constraints. A two-stage rolling optimization based control scheme is proposed to determine the optimal operating status of flexible loads using the forecast of generation and demand in the distribution system. The proposed methodology is conducted in a distribution test feeder with realistic scenarios. The simulation results have shown the usefulness and efficiency of the proposed method in improving the network operation and increasing the hosting capacity of DG. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.