Joint Estimation of Operational Topology and Outages for Unbalanced Power Distribution Systems

An electric power distribution system is operated in several distinct radial topologies by opening and closing of system's sectionalizing and tie switches. The estimation of the system's current operational topology is a precursor to implementing any optimal control actions (during normal operation) or restorative actions (during outage condition). This paper presents a mathematical programming approach to estimate the operational topology of a three-phase unbalanced power distribution system under both outage and normal operating conditions. Specifically, a minimum weighted least absolute value estimator is proposed that uses the line flow measurements, historical/forecasted load data, and ping measurements and solves a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) to estimate the operational topology and any outaged sections simultaneously. We thoroughly validate the accuracy of the proposed approach using IEEE 123-bus and a 1069-bus three-phase multi-feeder test system with the help of numerous simulations. It is observed that the approach performs well even at high percentages of measurement errors.