A Smart Energy Meter for Power Grids
Claudio De Capua, Gianluca Lipari, Mariacarla Lugarà, Rosario Morello
DIIES, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria, Italy
rosario.morello@unirc.it
Abstract— The growing demand of energy and the need of
finding alternative energy sources to the traditional ones, due to
the progressive decrease of fossil fuels and an increasing concern
towards the environment, have led to a revolution in terms of
energy production in the last decade. As a consequence, the
distributed generation is more and more widely spreading. The
network, in this new dimension, has to change its management
and the energy distribution so to achieve and maintain high
efficiency requirements. Coming to drop the concept of
centralized production, it is immediate to conclude that an
efficient distribution of energy must necessarily bring into
account the energy footprint of the area, because the energy
transport should be always as short as possible, to minimize
losses and maximize the efficiency of the network. This concept is
the core of the smart-grid idea, on which the global scientific
community is investing heavily in research, the idea is a power
distribution grid, based on the experience in the information and
communications technology field, which can route the energy
through appropriate algorithms that are able to determine the
optimal path. Of course, behind all this there must be a network
structure capable of acquiring detailed data from widespread
production and consumption of energy and make them easily
available along with additional information, e.g. the Power
Quality of the energy exchanged. This information is demanded
by simple user, who wants to personally evaluate the functioning
of the system, and also by technical personnel, who needs to
access to reliable data to perform targeted and efficient
interventions. In the present paper, the authors propose a smart
energy meter for energy management in power grids. The
measurement system has been projected and developed
according to the IEEE 1451 (ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451) guidelines.
The system is based on a mobile application in order to improve
the data exchange and availability.
Keywords — smart meter; energy accounting; IEEE 21451;
mobile application.
I. INTRODUCTION
The current global energy system is based mainly on a
reduced number of large power plants for the production of
electrical energy, usually powered by fossil fuels. The
electricity is distributed through high-voltage lines, from
which medium and low voltage lines branch off, ranging up to
endusers. In such architecture, the energy flows are
unidirectional, from the producer to the user, who in this case
has only a passive role as simple energy consumer. This
macro-system can be divided into several subsystems:
production, transmission, distribution and user subsystems.
The production subsystem consists of the plants producing
electricity and the power stations. Every power station, in
978-1-4673-6386-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
order to produce electricity, needs to draw from a primary
energy source. The main ones are:
x hydropower
x the thermal energy from fossil fuels or natural vapors
underground (geothermal production).
However, in recent years, due to strong incentives, the weight
of the so-called "distributed generation" has considerably
grown over the traditional centralized production. In fact, with
the gradual spread of the plants producing electricity from
renewable sources such as photovoltaic and wind, the places
of production and consumption of electricity tend to coincide.
Distributed generation represents a different mode of thinking
and managing the power grid, no longer, or not only, based on
large power plants connected to extensive networks, but on
small-medium sized production units (wind farms, solar,
biomass power plants, co-generators), geographically
distributed and connected directly to consumers or otherwise
to low-voltage networks. In recent years there has been a
significant growth in the diffusion of renewable energy
systems. The most common types of renewable plants are:
photovoltaic systems; small wind power system and micro
wind power systems; biomass plants.
In this sight, the electrical network should completely change
its role in order to guarantee suitable efficiency requirements.
It is intended to gradually change from a "passive" network, in
which electricity flows only from the place of production to
point of consumption, to an "active" and "smart" network, that
is Smart Grid, which is able to manage and regulate electrical
flows traveling in a discontinuous and bidirectional way, [1],
[2].
The traditional concept of electrical network is also known in
the literature by the name of "Grid", in which the nodes
represent the single buildings, which use energy or power
plants that produce it. Adjacent buildings can be grouped into
smaller networks at medium and low voltage ("microgrids"),
able to exchange electricity between them or, possibly, with
major production facilities. It is a structure divided into
hierarchical levels comparable to the Internet network, in
which energy flows traveling in a bi-directional way between
the microgrid and the core high-voltage network. Moving
towards an efficient system basically means to monitor flows
at various levels and adjust them, to reduce wastes as much as
possible. One of the major advantages of the proposed
approach is the shortening of the electricity transmission and
distribution networks. High voltage networks lose about 7% of
the electricity transported along the way and, in addition it is
cause of high costs of construction and maintenance.
Moreover, constant risk of interruptions and blackouts is
present. Distributed generation, instead, is immune from
similar risks, because draws the production site closer to the
usage area. It also increases the reliability of the network,
since the failure of a plant does not involve the interruption of
supply, but it is compensated by the presence of other
production facilities. This aspect is particularly important for
the renewable energy plants, which for the most part deliver
energy in a discontinuous way. The flow of energy from
renewable sources, such as photovoltaic and wind energy,
depends on unpredictable weather factors, this means that the
voltage, current and frequency vary continuously causing high
levels of stress to the existing networks, such as sudden high
peaks of production or contemporary arrests of a large number
of production plants. This highlights the need for active
management of the distribution network in order to ensure the
necessary requirements for adjustment of the fundamental
parameters of operation of the electricity distribution network,
particularly expecting a massive diffusion of distributed
generation in the future. Therefore, it becomes increasingly
important to check the quality of energy transiting on the
power grid. But, while in the centralized approach this
information was observed only by the Network Manager, now
the Power Quality must be guaranteed even by small power
producers that inject energy into the grid. In order to get
information on the power quality in each node of the power
grid, it is necessary to project and develop suitable
measurement systems, [3].
In the present manuscript, the authors propose a smart energy
meter based on mobile application. The system is able to
acquire and process data to get information on energy
exchange and power quality.
In the next Section the Power Quality issue is discussed; in the
third Section the proposed smart meter is described.
II. POWER QUALITY
A. The quality of electric service
In recent years, the quality of electricity supply has become an
important requirement to be guaranteed. The distribution
companies should ensure continuity of power supply and
voltage quality in order to guarantee compliance with the rules
of authority and customer satisfaction. System operators are
increasingly encouraged to report information concerning the
performance of the power system to external parts like users
and Authority. It is therefore very important to consider the
power quality or service quality. A commonly accepted
definition of "service quality" of the electricity supply includes
three aspects: reliability of supply, voltage quality and
information availability. The first two technical aspects are
included in what is commonly called Power Quality (PQ).
Studies of reliability of power are directed mainly to manage
interruptions by means of probabilistic models of complex
systems in addition to the traditional analysis techniques for
electrical systems. The studies on the PQ regarding the quality
of the voltage are generally directed to the analysis of the
waveform deviations from the ideal trend of voltages and
currents. The indexes of voltage quality are established
according to the phenomena originating them and their
consequences. While in the past the Power Quality has often
been regarded as an implicit duty of system operators, today
quality targets have become more and more explicit, both in
the form of contracts negotiated with customers, and of clear
objectives which are agreed with the regulatory authority. PQ
disturbances include very common stationary and transient
events such as: current and voltage harmonics, micro-outages,
voltage fluctuations, short and long breaks, impulsive
overvoltage and over-current, etc… [4].
The effects of these disorders may also affect significantly, in
the worst cases, the proper functioning of the system
components and even temporarily interrupt the normal course
of the energy production process. For industrial and advanced
services, these disorders can lead to annoying, as well as
expensive, disruptions in production, requiring the adoption by
the user of specific tools in order to reduce or eliminate these
disorders. A low quality level of power can, in fact, bring the
following adverse effects on equipment: malfunction; reduced
service life; damage; data loss; power losses.
The Power Quality disorders are classified depending on the
type of their deviation from the ideal waveform: voltage
amplitude variation; voltage phase variation; current variation;
asymmetry of the voltage phases; unbalance of the currents
phases; Voltage Harmonic Distortion; Current Harmonic
Distortion. The following types of disturbances may be
considered as events: voltage interruptions; voltage drops;
voltage surges; very fast events. For these last two events,
reference is made to raising/lowering of the supply voltage
followed by a recovery, in particular those of short duration
are called Voltage Swell/Voltage Dip, while those of long
duration are called simply overvoltage/undervoltage.
Reference is made to disturbances of short duration, typically
a cycle of the system frequency or even less, called Transient
Events, in particular the Voltage Sags transients are indicated
by the expression “notches”.
B. The Power Quality Regulation
The growing interest in the PQ has encouraged the
formulation of new Standards. In fact both the IEEE (Institute
of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) and IEC (International
Electrotechnical Commission) have edited some standards on
this issue. The main IEEE Standards, [5], dealing with the PQ
are:
x IEEE 1159-1995 "Recommended practice for
monitoring electric PQ", which defines the
terminology used in the PQ, the impact of the PQ on
supplier and on user loads;
x IEEE 1159.3-2003 “Recommended practice for the
transfer of PQ data”;
x IEEE 519-1992 “Recommended practices and
requirements for harmonic control in electrical power
systems”;
x IEEE Trial-Use 1459-2000 “Definitions for the
measurement of electric power quantities under
sinusoidal, non-sinusoidal, balanced, or unbalanced
conditions”.
The IEC 61000-XY, [6], [7], addressed the issue of
Electromagnetic Compatibility, the sections of greatest interest
for the PQ are:
x IEC 61000-4-7 "General guide for harmonics and
interharmonics measurements and instrumentation,
applicable to power networks and the equipment
connected to them", which defines the
instrumentation and methods necessary to measure,
for frequencies up to 9 kHz, the harmonics and
interharmonics produced by equipment connected to
the electricity distribution networks at 50 and 60 Hz;
x IEC 61000-4-30 "Power quality measurement
methods". It defines measurement methods of the PQ
parameters in the alternating current power supply
systems, at 50 Hz and 60 Hz, in order to obtain
reliable results, repeatable and comparable, and
parameters that define the quality of supplied or
exchanged power at a given point of the transmission
and distribution network. PQ parameters considered
in this Standard are: frequency, voltage dips, over
voltage, voltage outages, voltage harmonics and
interharmonics, current harmonics and
interharmonics, unbalance between the phases,
flickers, transient voltages, signals transmitted on the
network, rapid variations in voltage. Depending on
the purpose of the measurement only the measure of
a subset of these parameters may be provided.
The IEC 61000-4-30 defines the measurement methods for
both single-phase and multi-phase systems, but does not
impose the choice of parameters to be measured. The voltage
measurement can be made between phase and neutral,
between two phases, or between neutral and ground. The
current can be measured on each conductor, including ground
wires and neutral. The Standard defines, moreover, two
classes of performance, A and B, for each parameter
measured. The class A performance is recommended when
precise measurements are needed, e.g. for contract
applications, to resolve disputes, to verify compliance with
rules etc. The class B performance is recommended to create a
low-cost tool and there are not strong specifications on
uncertainty levels. The definition of an interval for variables
of influence allows avoiding that the measure of a parameter is
influenced negatively by the presence of a disturbance. If
either one parameter is not within this range, then the tool
does not guarantee the uncertainty defined by the Standard.
III. THE SMART ENERGY METER
With the growing relevance obtained by the Power Quality
topic in electrical systems, in particular for consumers, the
presence of equipment that can measure the quality of energy
has become an increasingly important challenge, as it provides
real-time information necessary to prevent malfunctions and
damages to utilities, [8]-[12]. Today the market already
provides solutions for smart meters, capable of providing both
the services offered by the old generation counter that
measures of power quality. However, manufacturers do not
provide adequate or detailed documentation or a way of
accessing data easily and efficiently. In fact, the Smart Meters
currently on the market use the communication protocols and
proprietary software, difficult to setup and use, making the
monitoring of the electrical system nearly impossible for the
common user. Nowadays devices of this type are not very
common and, even when present, the data coming out from
them are not easily understandable by the end user, despite
their growing importance in relation to the new tariff
structures, to incentives for energy saving, to home
automation and to the integration into smart grids of the
future.
In the light of the considerations outlined before, the authors
have projected and developed a Smart Energy Meter that
acquires the energy data of producer, both for the consumption
and production, allowing a bi-directional control of energy
flows. The project is compliant with the guidelines of the
IEEE 21451 Standards Family, thus providing a network-
independent communication interface for the Smart Meter.
The proposed measurement system integrates in a single
device two energy counters: one monitors the production, and
the other one records consumption. The projected system has
useful features, such as: ease of installation and configuration;
reduced number of hardware components; counting of
absorbed and delivered energy with a single counter;
monitoring of Power Quality; possibility of remote control via
LAN or the Internet network.
The measures are carried out through a mobile application,
capable of remotely managing the hardware dedicated to the
acquisition through the Internet network. Each node is thus
able to acquire data and to carry out the storage. The acquired
data analysis is carried out both in steady state, considering
Power Factor and THD, and in the transient, considering
voltage holes (SAG) and overvoltage (SWELL). Voltage
interruptions are taken into account too, in fact, even though
such systems have a characteristic of intrinsically
discontinuous generation, through the analysis of interruptions
is possible to evaluate the weight of disruptions related to the
intervention of the monitoring relay, required by law in each
system. This device, in critical operating conditions, to
preserve the safety of people and equipment, operates
disconnection from the grid. Characterizing the occurrence of
such events is now one of the research challenges.
Considering all other available information, it is possible to
distinguish between voluntary disconnections, caused by the
device, and other causes of disconnection (such as faults or
environmental conditions unfavorable to the generation). All
events detected during the analysis are saved by storing the
date and time of the event, the duration and the data window
that contains it. The evaluation of all this information allows
determining the causes of the event. The measures on currents,
voltages and power are averaged over different time intervals
and stored on shared variables, so as to allow access to
historical data of the node. The entire measurement chain,
from the technical specifications of acquisition hardware to
the processing software, has been designed according to the
specifications of IEC 61000-4-30 and IEC 61000-4-7. In this
way the performed measurements meet the specifications for
the range of uncertainty defined for instruments of class A.
Moreover the huge amount of acquired samples has been
reduced so to respect the Standard recommendations. During
the data processing, the system performs the following
operations: acquisition of voltage and current waveforms with
a sampling rate of 50 kHz, resampling of voltage and current
signals into even-angle-spaced signals that are synchronous to
the line frequency with a constant number of samples per
cycle; calculation of the Fourier transforms up to the fiftieth
harmonic, via FFT algorithms, to obtain the spectra of current
and voltage waveforms; calculation of power (active, reactive
and apparent) and Power Factor; calculation of cumulative
energy; calculation of voltage and current THD; identification
of power quality disturbance events. The events detected are
organized into a FIFO queue, which allows to keep memory of
the last ten disturbance events that have occurred. Each
element of the queue contains the following information: date
and time at which the event occurred; type of disturbance (sag,
swell or interruption); maximum value over the threshold,
upper or lower, reached by the voltage; duration of the
recorded event. The trend of power, averaged over intervals of
ten minutes, is calculated and stored in a text file. The
measures relating to the THD are performed on the current Figure 2. Smart transducer architecture.
produced, on the current drawn from the distribution network
and on network voltage. To implement the Network Capable Application Processor
The hardware includes: a NI WLS-9215 wireless data (NCAP) a Web Service has been developed in LabVIEW
acquisition card, a LEM CV 3-500 voltage sensor and a LEM environment on an host computer. The NCAP implements the
CT 10-T current sensor, see Fig. 1 for reference. following functions: TIM Discovery; TEDS Reading;
Transducer Data Reading. The TIM discovery function
allows individuating the available TIMs and automatically
adding them to the list of installed Smart Meters. In this way it
is possible to expand the wireless sensor network, thus
providing access to the acquired data of every measurement
node. In the TEDS of every transducer are reported, in
addition to data regarding transducer identification,
information on geographical locations where the sensors are
installed. This provides information on the morphology and
distribution of the whole network by reporting the location of
the sensors on a map that can be consulted by the user. The
transducers data are read by the host computer which performs
the data processing, calculates power and energy, estimates
PQ indexes and identifies power quality disturbance events.
The implemented LabVIEW web service allows remote access
to the measurement results through the SOAP
request/response protocol. It can provide, when queried, both
the instantaneous state of the node and historical data. Remote
Figure 1. TIM Hardware access to such information may be useful from different points
of view, for the user in order to control its consumption and its
Transducer Electronic Data Sheets (TEDS) for each production, for the provider in order to evaluate the
transducer have been implemented. The TEDS store operational status of the node and verify, for example, the
transducer identification, calibration data, correction data, and performance after a maintenance/repair. The knowledge of the
manufacturer-related information. This devices form the power quality indices of the generation system and the
Transducer Interface Module (TIM) of the smart sensor. evaluation of recorded historical events is certainly an added
Using the NI WLS-9215 wireless DAQ, it has been possible to value, as opposed to common counters that do not provide this
develop a smart sensor that fulfills the IEEE 21451.5 standard information. Such information instead would be a useful aid in
specifications, see Fig. 2. the diagnosis of malfunctions.
To ensure a greater accessibility to network and information,
an application for iPhone/iPad has been developed on OSX
operating system. It provides access to the data of a node, both
instantaneous and historical ones. Fig. 3 shows the user
configuration interface of the application.
Figure 3. Configuration user interface.
The user interface consists of five tabs: a configuration and
connection tab; a screen that shows the values of absorbed and
produced power and energy, voltage and current THD and the
Power Factor; a third screen within which the graphs of daily
delivered and absorbed powers, averaged over intervals of ten
minutes, are shown. Each node can be selected interactively
through a map on which are shown all the available nodes of
the network, considering, for example, an user owning
multiple distributed production systems or a technician who
has to do the maintenance for several clients. Once the unit to
be monitored has been selected, by default, the application
displays information about the current day (Peak Power,
Instantaneous Power, Power Factor, THD, and any transient
event), see Fig. 4 for reference.
Figure 4. Node information.
Through a dedicated command, historical data can be shown.
On the abscissa there is time variable in hour unit, starting at
midnight, while on the ordinate there is power in kW unit, see
Fig. 5.
Figure 5. Power graphs.
The user can interact with the chart area through touch,
zooming with multitouch gestures and moving inside the chart
to analyze in detail different portions of it. A final tab shows
the list of power quality disturbance events that have occurred
during the day. Each cell of the table shows the type of event
and the time at which it is occurred; tapping on the desired cell
the user accesses to detailed information on the event such as
the peak voltage reached and the duration of the event. The
user can send commands to the webservice to check and
change some configuration options of the acquisition system.
Numerical simulations and experimental tests have been
carried out. The measurement system was able to correctly
perform the monitoring of energy and Power Quality of a
distributed generation system, providing performances in line
with those of devices with similar characteristics. During tests,
the instrument was able to correctly identify the disturbance of
the Power Quality events, as defined by IEC regulations.
Experimental validation data will be reported in future works.
IV. CONCLUSION
In the present manuscript, the authors have proposed a smart
energy meter. The measurement system has been projected in
compliance with the guidelines of the IEEE 21451 Standards
family. An iOS application has been developed to provide
additional tools in order to facilitate the data sharing of energy
production and consumption and Power Quality parameters by
using a smartphone.
The system has an intuitive and user-friendly graphical
interface. The use of graphs and histograms makes it easy to
understand the results and to perform the comparison between
data and information.
The use of a web-service has made it possible to overcome the
main limitations of smart meters currently used on the market.
So data can be accessed easily via the Internet network and
without the need of using proprietary software. Moreover, it
has allowed reducing the computational complexity of the
Smart Energy Meter.
 REFERENCES [7] IEC 61000-4-7: Testing and measurement techniques – General guide on
harmonics and interharmonics measurements and instrumentation, for
[1] C. Muscas, Power Quality Monitoring in Modern Electric Distribution power supply systems and equipment connected thereto, 2009.
Systems, IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, October [8] A. Delle Femine, D. Gallo, C. Landi, M. Luiso, Power-Quality
2010. Monitoring Instrument With FPGA Transducer Compensation, IEEE
[2] A.Molderink, V. Bakker, M. G. C. Bosman, J.L. Hurink, G. J.M. Smith, Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 58, Issue 9,
Management and Control of Domestic Smart Grid Technology, IEEE september 2009.
Transactions on Smart Grid, vol.1, 2010. [9] L. F. Auler, R. d’Amore, Power Quality Monitoring Controlled Through
[3] L. Ferrigno, R. Morello, V. Paciello, A. Pietrosanto, Remote metering in Low-Cost Modules, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and
public networks, Metrology and Measurement Systems, Vol. 20, Issue 4, Measurement, Vol. 58, Issue 3, march 2009.
pp. 705–714, 2013. [10] A. Carta, N. Locci, C. Muscas, GPS-Based System for the Measurement
[4] C. P. Gupta, J. V. Milanovic, Probabilistic Assessment of Financial of Synchronized Harmonic Phasors, IEEE Transactions on
Losses due to interruptions and Voltage Sags, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 58, Issue 3, march 2009.
Power Delivery, Vol. 21, 2006. [11] G.Betta, L. Ferrigno, M. Laracca, Cost-Effective FPGA Instrument for
[5] IEEE 1159, Transmission and Distribution Committee of the IEEE Harmonic and Interharmonic Monitoring, IEEE Transactions on
Power & Energy Society - Recommended Practice for Monitoring Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 62, Issue 8, august 2013.
Electric Power Quality, 2009. [12] C. De Capua, E. Romeo, A Smart THD Meter Performing an Original
[6] IEC 61000-4-30: Testing and measurement techniques – Power quality Uncertainty Evaluation Procedure, IEEE Transactions on
measurement methods, 2010. Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 56, Issue 4, august 2007.