Analysis of Smart Meter Data and Impacts on Large-scale Power Distribution Networks

The deployment of smart meters has resulted in visibility in power distribution systems beyond substations. The important attributes related to smart meter data, such as time synchronization errors, meter bias, and measurement granularity, may result in the usability of the data for system-level situational awareness. This paper investigates the effects of several attributes related to smart meter data gathering, processing, and transmission on the collected information. To this end, we analyze the effects of temporal aggregation of smart meter data on data distribution and how it impacts information loss. The analysis of time synchronization errors in smart meter data reveals a non-Gaussian error distribution. The simulation analysis is conducted using IEEE 8500-node test system. Our results conclude that the temporal aggregation of data, time synchronization error, meter bias, and measurement noise cause information loss in simulated system states, including voltages and power loss. The analysis presented in this paper will inform algorithms for distribution system planning and operations.