A Novel Real Time Estimation Technique for Active Unbalanced Distribution Networks Using Smart Meters

Estimation of the distribution system voltages and currents is of utmost importance for the network operator to take online decisions. Traditional state estimation techniques require redundant meters readings in addition to pseudo measurements in order to correctly estimate the network states. In order to estimate the network states with few real time measurements, this paper presents a novel real time estimation technique. The proposed technique requires no additional pseudo or virtual measurements for estimation. Moreover, the introduced technique solves the lack of observability problem associated with few measurements. The proposed technique is based on the placement of smart meters at few selected locations; these locations are only dependent upon the network topology and do not change with the injection point of the distributed generators. The proposed algorithm is efficient in dealing with balanced as well as unbalanced distribution networks. The estimation algorithm is implemented and tested on the 69 bus balanced feeder and the IEEE 34 bus unbalanced feeder. The results obtained are compared to the actual load flow results to show the accuracy of the developed technique.