Monitoring the power flow of a low voltage distribution network using public lighting infrastructure

Abstract

The production of renewable energy sources can change rapidly in a short period of time, making monitoring the power quality of Low Voltage Distribution Networks (LVDNs) one of the biggest challenges for Distribution System Operators (DSOs). An LVDN can overload some equipment if it does not monitors voltage profiles, voltage unbalance and reverse apparent power flow. Therefore, we propose a monitoring system that uses the Public Lighting Infrastructure (PLI), which is fed directly by the LVDN, to monitor the LVDN. It is based on remote management relays installed in the PLI, and replaces the installation of a power quality analyzer (PQ). The system has been empirically validated and the results show that the proposed system can identify reverse apparent power flow, profiles, and voltage unbalance with an average absolute error of 0.096% compared to a professional PQ analyzer. The proposed system can be a relevant contribution to the challenge of power quality monitoring, with cost savings; for example, DSOs can use the proposed system to access real-time information in the LVDN through a low-cost data acquisition model, without the need to send a team to install a PQ analyzer in the LVDN and then obtain the data.