The energy landscape for the Low-Voltage (LV) networks is undergoing rapid changes. These changes are driven by the increased penetration of distributed Low Carbon Technologies, both on the generation side (i.e. adoption of micro-renewables) and demand side (i.e. electric vehicle charging). The previously passive ‘fit-and-forget’ approach to LV network management is becoming increasing inefficient to ensure its effective operation. A more agile approach to operation and planning is needed, that includes pro-active prediction and mitigation of risks to local sub-networks (such as risk of voltage deviations out of legal limits). The mass rollout of smart meters (SMs) and advances in metering infrastructure holds the promise for smarter network management. However, many of the proposed methods require full observability, yet the expectation of being able to collect complete, error free data from every smart meter is unrealistic in operational reality. Furthermore, the smart meter (SM) roll-out has encountered significant issues, with the current voluntary nature of installation in the UK and in many other countries resulting in low-likelihood of full SM coverage for all LV networks. Even with a comprehensive SM roll-out privacy restrictions, constrain data availability from meters. To address these issues, this paper proposes the use of a Deep Learning Neural Network architecture to predict the voltage distribution with partial SM coverage on actual network operator LV circuits. The results show that SM measurements from key locations are sufficient for effective prediction of the voltage distribution, even without the use of the high granularity personal power demand data from individual customers.

Low Voltage (LV) networks are increasingly required to cope with challenges they were not designed for, requiring for more active network management (ANM). Crucially, ANM solutions require the availability of accurate network information. In practice, available data on LV networks can be incomplete, a problem often overlooked in prior ANM research. For example, in the U.K. and many developed countries, the lifetime of distribution networks assets spans several decades, with some of the available asset data gathered and maintained over many years. This can often lead to incomplete cable data being available to network operators. To overcome this, we propose a novel machine learning technique to autonomously approximate the missing cable information in LV networks. Our proposed algorithm uses a tree-based search methodology, which approximates the missing cable's cross section area (XSA) data based on rules engineers used when designing the LV networks. We validate our approach using a large database of real LV networks, where some of the cables' XSA are treated as unknown and used as ground truth to evaluate the accuracy of the predictions. Moreover, we propose a mechanism that scores the confidence level of the prediction, information which is then presented to the human network planners.

The energy landscape for the Low-Voltage (LV) networks are beginning to change; changes resulted from the increase penetration of renewables and/or the predicted increase of electric vehicles charging at home. The previously passive 'fit-and-forget' approach to LV network management will be inefficient to ensure its effective operations. A more adaptive approach is required that includes the prediction of risk and capacity of the circuits. Many of the proposed methods require full observability of the networks, motivating the installations of smart meters and advance metering infrastructure in many countries. However, the expectation of 'perfect data' is unrealistic in operational reality. Smart meter (SM) roll-out can have its issues, which may resulted in low-likelihood of full SM coverage for all LV networks. This, together with privacy requirements that limit the availability of high granularity demand power data have resulted in the low uptake of many of the presented methods. To address this issue, Deep Learning Neural Network is proposed to predict the voltage distribution with partial SM coverage. The results show that SM measurements from key locations are sufficient for effective prediction of voltage distribution.

The increasing penetration of low carbon technologies and electric vehicles is expected to place a considerable burden to Low Voltage (LV) power distribution networks. The previously passive management of LV networks will no longer be sustainable to cope with this growth. A more proactive approach is required to manage LV networks, usually achieved by using Power System State Estimation (PSSE) tools. The effective use of PSSE tools however, requires accurate reporting of each LV network's topology and configuration of assets (cables) that compose it. This paper presents a method for ongoing accuracy improvement of the LV networks topologies, by automating the process of approximating missing cable information and validating the network architectures. The method proposed was derived based on the assumptions that a specific network infrastructure was selected to meet a certain distributed customer loading requirement. The results obtained agrees with the assumptions, providing also a mechanism that scores the confidence level for the choices made to approximate any missing asset information.