Interval State Estimation for Low-Voltage Distribution Systems Based on Smart Meter Data

The real-time monitoring and control of distribution systems are an essential step toward the future smart grid. This paper presents an interval state estimation model for low-voltage (LV) systems based on smart meter data provided by electrical customers. The formulation is based on a two-level approach, constituted of a nodal processor and a system state estimator. The nodal processor filters the smart meter data and provides a smaller amount of clean processed data to the upper level system state estimator. The system state estimator, based on the extreme value theory, provides the maximum and minimum values of the system states. To obtain narrow interval images, a scaling parameter is used to consider the fact that the errors of downstream smart meters are rarely at the maximum values simultaneously. The presented approach allows removing the assumption on the particular probability distribution of the smart meter measurement errors. Simulations are carried out on a sample LV network to show the characteristics and performance of the proposed approach.