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Optimal placement problems of electrical devices in power systems have attracted greater attention from researchers in literature. Therefore, in the last 60 years, a wide range of solutions and methodologies have been developed for optimally allocated shunt capacitors, generation sources, switches, transformers, and many other electrical devices in transmission, distribution, and microgrid systems. This large number of methods are paramount to place any electric device with the ability to influence any network parameter. However, this article concentrates on how these works have wrongly impacted the efficiency of the methods developed for the allocation of renewable distributed generation in public distribution networks. To track down this negative impact, a historical literature review of the optimal placement efforts of electric devices in power systems is proposed. Additionally, the existing research works are reviewed from the perspective of their considered device types, design variables, network type, and objective function. Three cumulated shortcomings are identified and discussed. The main aim of this article is to bridge the gap between the efforts developed in the literature and their implementation with renewable generation units and public distribution networks, and also to reorient future works to develop concrete methodologies able to bring benefits for all distribution market actors.