Continuous Line Impedance Assessment of LV Feeders Using Smart Meters

This paper investigates the use of smart meters to measure the line impedance of LV feeders to provide information on the adequacy of protection settings, deteriorating infrastructure, damaged infrastructure, etc. The consequences of a broken neutral conductor are examined for the two earthing schemes used in South Africa. The feasibility of measuring the line impedance using smart meters is evaluated using an experimental model of an LV feeder with experimental smart meters located at customer installations. Experimental results showed that the smart meters can be used to estimate the line impedance to detect a possible broken neutral or protective earth and neutral conductor failure.