Voltage Harmonics Monitoring in a Microgrid Based on Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

Smart meters are the main part of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and are usually able to provide detailed information on customers’ energy consumptions, voltage variations and interruptions. In addition, these meters are potentially able to provide more information about power quality (PQ) disturbances. This paper will address the monitoring of voltage harmonics utilizing the features of smart meters and AMI system. To do this, the first step is to select proper indices to quantify the distortion. An important point which should be considered in this regard is the limited processing power of smart meters in comparison with PQ Analyzers (PQAs). Furthermore, the indices are categorized as site and system indices. The site indices measure the distortion at one metering section while the system indices provide a PQ view in an area encompassing multiple meters. In addition, the smart metering system which is implemented in Intelligent Microgrid Lab of Aalborg University (AAU) will be introduced.