Exploration of measurement data from smart meters for the management of power distribution systems

Abstract

Recently, in developed or in developing countries, the electromechanical energy meters have been replaced by an advanced metering infrastructure, which main components are the smart meters, communication systems, and data management systems. Smart meters create opportunities to provide power, voltage and current magnitudes at the connection points of customers. The communication systems allow accessing these measurements in real or near real time, and the data management systems are essential for processing the data and obtaining relevant information from them. Although the cost of implementing an advanced metering infrastructure is high, when considering the gains related to a better management of the distribution systems, such infrastructure becomes economically attractive. In this context, this project aims to investigate the use of a single method that employs smart meters data to perform multiple functions of the Distribution Management System, such as: (a) mitigation of non-technical losses; (b) location of high impedance faults; and (c) distribution network connectivity verification. The efficiency, advantages and disadvantages of the method will be evaluated employing real measurement data as well as load flow studies. The software tool that will be adopted to perform the load flow studies is the open source software OpenDSS, which has been used by Brazilian utilities for estimating technical losses.