With the commitment to climate, globally many countries started reducing brownfield energy production and strongly opting towards green energy resources. However, the optimal allocation of distributed energy resources (DERs) in electrical distribution systems still pertains as a challenging issue to attain the maximum benefits. It happens due to the system’s complex behaviour and inappropriate integration of DERs that adversely affects the distribution grid. In this work, we propose a methodology for the optimal allocation of DERs with vulnerable node identification in active electrical distribution networks. A failure or extreme event at the vulnerable node would interrupt the power flow in the distribution network. Also, the power variation in these vulnerable nodes would significantly affect the operation of other linked nodes. Thus, these nodes are found suitable for the optimal placement of DERs. We demonstrate the proposed data-driven approach on a standard IEEE-123 bus test feeder. Initially, we partitioned the distribution system into optimal microgrids using graph theory and graph neural network architecture. Further, using Granger causality analysis, we identified vulnerable nodes in the partitioned microgrid, suitable for DERs integration. The placement of DERs on the vulnerable nodes enhanced network resilience. Improvement in resilience is validated by computing the percolation threshold for the microgrid networks. The results show a 37% improvement in the resilience of the system due to the optimal allocation of DERs. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.