Duncan Callaway

Roel Dobbe, Werner van Westering, Stephan Liu et al.

Implementing state estimation in low and medium voltage power distribution is still challenging given the scale of many networks and the reliance of traditional methods on a large number of measurements. This paper proposes a method to improve voltage predictions in real-time by leveraging a limited set of real-time measurements. The method relies on Bayesian estimation formulated as a linear least squares estimation problem, which resembles the classical weighted least-squares (WLS) approach for scenarios where full network observability is not available. We build on recently developed linear approximations for unbalanced three-phase power flow to construct voltage predictions as a linear mapping of load predictions constructed with Gaussian processes. The estimation step to update the voltage forecasts in real-time is a linear computation allowing fast high-resolution state estimate updates. The uncertainty in forecasts can be determined a priori and smoothed a posteriori, making the method useful for both planning, operation and post-hoc analysis. The method outperforms conventional WLS and is applied to different test feeders and validated on a real test feeder with the utility Alliander in The Netherlands.

Roel Dobbe, Oscar Sondermeijer, David Fridovich-Keil et al.

The implementation of optimal power flow (OPF) methods to perform voltage and power flow regulation in electric networks is generally believed to require extensive communication. We consider distribution systems with multiple controllable Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and present a data-driven approach to learn control policies for each DER to reconstruct and mimic the solution to a centralized OPF problem from solely locally available information. Collectively, all local controllers closely match the centralized OPF solution, providing near optimal performance and satisfaction of system constraints. A rate distortion framework enables the analysis of how well the resulting fully decentralized control policies are able to reconstruct the OPF solution. The methodology provides a natural extension to decide what nodes a DER should communicate with to improve the reconstruction of its individual policy. The method is applied on both single- and three-phase test feeder networks using data from real loads and distributed generators, focusing on DERs that do not exhibit inter-temporal dependencies. It provides a framework for Distribution System Operators to efficiently plan and operate the contributions of DERs to achieve Distributed Energy Services in distribution networks.