Investigation of Approaches for Incorporating Smart Meter Data in Load and PV Models in Medium Voltage Power System Studies

The amount of data collected at the distribution level has grown exponentially due to the proliferation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Increasing penetration of embedded generation sources, many of which are renewable sources, is also changing the dynamics of distribution systems. How do we utilize the vast amount of data available to better understand the changing dynamics of the distribution networks to improve grid reliability? This paper presents different approaches for incorporating smart meter data in load models for power flow studies using time series simulation in OpenDSS. The paper also investigates the impact of photovoltaic distributed generators on distribution voltage stability using simulations in OpenDSS.