Research of electricity stealing identification method for distributed PV based on the least squares approach

With the photovoltaic (PV) subsidy policy of China, the installed capacity of distributed PV is increasing rapidly. However, as the amount of subsidy is in proportion to PV power generation, few dishonest users take some methods to increase the value of PV meter and get extra subsidy. These behaviors are called electricity stealing of PV. This paper introduces four typical methods of electricity stealing of PV and proposes an electricity stealing identification method using measured value of PV meter and gate meter. The least squares approach is adopted to fit the linear functions between PV meter data and gate meter data of electricity stealing model and none-electricity stealing model. The slopes of the two linear functions are different, which can be used to identify the behavior of electricity stealing. Finally, simulations are performed, and the results show that the method based on the least squares approach can identify the stealing behavior effectively if the solar array simulator is used.