An MV distribution automation system and its assessment in light of the smart grid vision

Automation is a very important technology for sustainability and reliability in generation, transmission and distribution of the power system. The goal of the Distribution Automation Systems (DASs) in power grid is to improve the operational efficiency, reliability, and power quality by enabling operators to monitor and control various distribution components and thus decreasing response times after a fault occurs. With the introduction of the Smart Grid (SG) vision and its concepts, DAS has to be improved with additional features, such as integration of renewables, open architecture communications infrastructure and demand side management. In this paper, we report a pre-SG era DAS, referred to as TUDOSIS, and evaluate it in light of the generally agreed SG conceptualization framework. An analysis of missing components and features to augment TUDOSIS with the state-of-the-art SG capabilities is provided as well as potential methods of implementing them.