Measurement and prediction of network demand in the presence of renewable distributed generation

As the amount of renewable generation on the LV and 11kV distribution networks rises, it becomes difficult for distribution network operators to track the underlying demand for electricity. This paper describes a system under development to deduce renewable generator capacity, generation and consumer demand on individual feeders from current measurement data collected at the primary or distribution transformer. This provides DNOs with a low cost system to understand the true impact of generation on their network, better plan for outages and manage fault conditions. It gives them knowledge of the actual demand on their system, the generation connected and prediction of these values for the hours or days ahead using data already available.