Use of near real-time and delayed smart meter data for distribution system load and state estimation

Distribution system state estimation is essential for real-time monitoring and control of distribution systems. In recent years, an increasing number of Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems have been installed to provide customer consumption information. The deployment of smart meters in low voltage (LV) distribution networks, within the context of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems, will enhance the electric energy consumption data storage, processing and analysis capabilities. Because of the limited number of real-time measurements in distribution systems, increased smart metering data availability from LV consumers is necessary to provide load estimates, which can be treated as pseudo-measurements to guarantee the network observability and estimate the system states. This paper presents two distinctive load estimation methods which utilize near real-time consumption data and short past consumption data, respectively. The accuracy of estimated loads is tested with a combined load and state estimation approach. Numerical results with a distribution system will show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.