A method to place meters in active low voltage distribution networks using BPSO algorithm

This paper proposes a method to be used by a Distribution System Operator (DSO) to optimally place sensors at medium voltage/ low voltage (MV/LV) substation and some low voltage cable distribution cabinets. This method aims to improve the estimation of the grid states at low voltage distribution networks. This method formulates a multi-objective optimization problem to determine the optimal meter placement configuration. This formulation minimizes the low voltage state estimation error and the cost associated to a particular meter deployment configuration. The method uses Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) to solve the optimization problem and it has been tested on a network based on the Cigré LV benchmark grid. The simulation results show that the method can be applied to both situations where smart meter measurements are available and situations where they are not. In the latter situation the measurements are replaced by pseudo-measurements, which represent meter readings by using smart meter historical data and prediction models.