Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | NOVEMBER 2022 | 37 ing how National Grid can use smart meter data, along with data from other sources, to help identify the phase a customer is con- nected to more effectively. Electricity is generated, transmitted and distributed as a three-phase system in which the three phases are offset to each other. This means they peak at different times and that at any point the sum of the currents of a bal- anced load would be zero. While industrial and commercial custom- ers with higher demands typically have a three-phase supply, domestic customers are connected to a single phase. Generally cus- tomers on the same low-voltage feeder would be connected to different phases to balance load. The more evenly balanced the loads, the less current flows in the neutral conduc- tor of the cable and the more efficient the system is. "For many customers phase data is not known at all, and for others the phase data that is available is not considered reliable," Woodruff explains, however. "If we can determine which phase a customer is con- nected to then we can use that to understand the balance of loading between the three phases. "This in turn means that if there are new connections on that feeder in the future we can ensure the right phase is selected to reduce imbalance between phases, and therefore make the most of the available capacity." Understanding where devices are installed The scheme is also exploring how to validate the low-voltage feeder to which a customer is connected, Woodruff says. Spotting and correcting historic errors will ensure that National Grid can model low-voltage networks correctly when assess- ing the impact of new loads – for example, from EV chargers or heat pumps. "Having accurate representations of how customers are connected to the network is essential in managing network faults," she says. "SMITN will evaluate whether we can use smart meter data to help identify where there are installations of low-carbon technology that have not been registered with us. While installers should let us know when they con- nect these devices, we know that historically this has not always happened and there are gaps in our records. "We need to understand where these devices are installed in order to understand the flow of power over our low-voltage net- works, which in turn allows us to identify where the network needs more capacity." SMITN's final use case will see National Grid explore how it can use data from the 40% of its customers that have smart meters to create load estimates for entire low-voltage feeders or distribution substations – includ- ing the 60% of customers that currently haven't adopted. "Once we know the best way to estimate the load that we don't meas- ure directly then we can generate typical pro- files for different seasons that can be used in network planning," Woodruff says. Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate National Grid hopes to get smart by aggregating meter data

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