Distribution System Hierarchical Load Modeling: Needs, Trends and Methodologies

With the emerging penetration of renewable/distributed sources and dynamic loads, the distribution systems are becoming more complex and unobservable in terms of modeling and analysis. Traditional models of substations, feeders and loads are no longer sufficient in performing accurate analysis. However, the incorporation of more instrumentations and data points such as smart meters and PMUs have enabled the acquisition of useful information to remodel the load under the distribution hierarchies from substation, feeder to microgrid and device level loads.