The use of phase measurements for understanding the state of the low voltage power distribution grid

The installations of one-phased electric vehicles and heat pumps have led to an increased phase imbalance and growing need to understand the low voltage grid, which the hourly smart meter readings cannot provide. This paper examines the use of 15-minute power and voltage phase measurements from customer smart meters to increase observability of the low voltage grid. The measurements are used to identify meters where the order of the three phases has been swapped, by comparing the correlations between the phase voltages of neighbouring meters. Outliers from these investigations are used to detect errors in the registered location of the customer in the grid. The meters’ locations in the grid are used to aggregate the measurements to get the load on the low voltage feeders. Aggregations are compared with three phased energy readings, and the phase imbalance is examined. Finally, two methods for reducing phase imbalance are compared, with focus on optimality and practical feasibility.