Assessment of switched communication network availability for state estimation of distribution networks with generation

Active management of complex distribution networks with distributed generation requires state estimation. As complete supervisory control and data acquisition systems are seldom available on 11-kV or lower voltage distribution networks, real-time measurements at remote points on 11-kV distribution networks are expensive. Therefore, the economical selection of a communication system for active management of distribution networks with distributed generation becomes an important issue. This paper presents the investigations into a. leased communication system made of public-switched communication network channels for a distribution network state estimation application. It analyzes the effects of a different number of primary channels for real-time measurements on the distribution network state estimation accuracy. The leased communication system availability performance has also been analyzed and used to identify a number of reserve channels required to improve the leased system availability. The overall cost for improving the leased communication system availability has been calculated and compared with both a fiber-optic communication system and a power-line carrier communication system. The results show that the leased communication system is able to provide the lowest overall cost performance for the distribution network state estimation application.