Low-voltage network monitoring from smart meter data
The 0.4 kV network is the largest and the “darkest” part of distribution. Network management systems usually stop at the 6(10)/0.4 kV substation, and what happens on the lines from the substation to the consumer is not visible. Yet smart meters at consumers and at substation inputs are already installed and report every hour. GRID-IN turns that data into network monitoring — with no new sensors or measuring devices.
What does the metering system not show?
AMI was built for billing. It tells how much each meter consumed and what the substation imbalance is. It does not answer the questions a distribution operator needs:
- what technical losses should be at the current load — and how much is lost above them;
- which overhead and cable sections lose the most;
- whether there is energy theft and exactly where;
- which sections are overloaded and what voltage remote consumers get;
- which substation and which phase each consumer is actually connected to.
What does GRID-IN add?
| Question | GRID-IN answer |
|---|---|
| What are the losses really? | the imbalance of every substation for the period and by hour |
| What should they be? | technical losses from the network diagram: transformer and every overhead and cable section |
| Where is energy lost above technical losses? | a field inspection target list: address, meter, type of irregularity, energy estimate, confirmation probability |
| Is the network overloaded? | section loading against the continuous current rating |
| What voltage do consumers get? | voltages at nodes and at consumers, voltage drop to remote ones |
| Do the records match the network? | meters of another substation, houses on the map with no service connection on the diagram, consumer phasing |
Why not measure voltages in the network?
Finding theft from node voltages requires very precise instruments. Example: a 1 kW load (about 5 A) on a 50 m span of aerial bundled cable with a 50 mm² core causes a voltage drop of about 0.16 V — less than a tenth of a percent of 230 V. Finding such a point needs synchronised voltage measurements with an accuracy ordinary meters do not have. GRID-IN does not need such measurements: it works from the data the metering system already collects.
What makes up the imbalance?
When the metering is in order, the substation imbalance has three parts: meter error, technical losses and non-technical losses. Meter error follows from the accuracy class, technical losses are calculated from the diagram, and the rest is non-technical losses to be found at specific addresses. When the metering is not in order, metering errors are added on top — GRID-IN shows them separately (see Substation imbalance).
How is it deployed?
- as a cloud service or installed on the distribution company’s server;
- data — as files in the form the metering system exports them, or through a REST API;
- new periods are added and only the substations that changed are recalculated;
- no hardware has to be installed at substations or consumers.
Inputs — Data requirements; how it is built — System description.