Floating neutral detection using a form 2S meter: large distribution lines with multiple houses and rooftop PV effect

Different concerns about power quality (PQ) arise in electricity distribution systems that use the single-phase three-wire system (120 V/240 V). One of the most important is what happens when the neutral wire of the distribution system gets damaged or broken, in which case the current returns through the ground and a Floating Neutral (FN) condition arises. One of the main goals from the industry perspective is to identify this problem from the measurements obtained from the secondary equipment as the smart meters (SM). To that end, the authors model a long distribution line with more than one house and analyse the behaviour of the parameters measured at the SM location. Two main conclusions are obtained as a result of this research: the single house simplified model can be used to face the large line configuration and more detailed analysis must be done on distribution lines that contain rooftop photovoltaics (PV).