2020 PES GM 8/6 Panel Session: Observability and controllability of power distribution system in big data era

Power distribution systems have recently seen an important influx of distributed energy resources (DERs) and data-gathering equipment. DERs such as distributed PV and electric vehicles provide new opportunities but also technical challenges: 1) Observability issue: the consumer behavior becomes more complex with behind-the-meter DERs; the network topology adjusts more frequently to react to future faster evolving system conditions, which may not fully be observable by the distribution system operator (DSO). 2) Controllability issue: the large increase in the number of controllable elements makes the distribution system management more challenging.
How to use these technologies to significantly delay grid upgrade is hard without careful monitoring and control design. Fortunately, the rise of DERs has come hand-in-hand with large amounts of data generated, and explosive growth in data collection and communication devices.
The large-scale deployment of smart meters and additional substation measuring equipment enables the collection of massive fine-grained electricity consumption and grid status data. This
data needs to be processed, translated into actual information and contributes the observability and controllability of power distribution system.