Current trends on applications of PMUs in distribution systems

Distribution systems are evolving at a high pace largely due to the proliferation of DER, the growing utilization of DA, AMI, DMS, and the expected propagation of PEVs. This evolution is also leading to new challenges, for instance large penetration of intermittent DG can lead to noticeable impacts on distribution feeders. The coordinated implementation of Smart Grid technologies is called upon to handle these challenges. This paper explores the contribution that PMUs can provide to handling these challenges by examining recent research results on applications of synchrophasors in distribution systems. This review includes descriptions of representative works in a wide range of applications designed for smart distribution feeders, and some developments originally proposed for transmission level, but with equivalent applicability to distribution systems.