Voltage and frequency measuring plug: As part of Smart Grids metering system

The penetration of renewable energy is increasing and in some cases is causing voltage instabilities. In order to guarantee that the compliance of limits given by EN50160 is kept everywhere in the grid, measurements of voltage at different points of the grid should be constantly performed. In this paper a metering system is presented that uses the home-outlets as measuring points. A prototype plug adapter has been developed. It measures the voltage and frequency, sends the data to a smart phone application, which after some preprocessing submits it to a central server for further evaluation. Preliminary results show that this approach could be used for fast measuring of voltages in different points of the grid and thus obtaining a quick overview of the grid when no other smart-metering infrastructure exists.