Distribution System State Estimation Will Impact Operation of the Smart Grid

Significant resources are being deployed to enable the future smart grid. To help achieve this ambitious objective, distribution management systems (DMS) are expected to provide a growing number of applications, including real-time control and monitoring, distribution transformer usage optimization, volt/VAr control, feeder reconfiguration and restoration, control of switches and reclosers, demand side management, and capacitor switching. The interconnection of distributed generation and renewable energy sources, which is crucial for enabling the future smart grid, also poses new challenges, such as the occurrence of overvoltages at the distribution level. Since distribution system state estimation (DSSE) provides the initial state/condition of numerous DMS applications (including real-time monitoring), its accuracy and reliability will have a significant impact on the operation of the future grid.