A Fault Location System Using GIS and Smart Meters for the LV Distribution System

This paper presents a proposed fault locating system for the low voltage distribution systems in Bahrain using the existing installed smart meters and the geographical information system (GIS). The currently used methods for locating faults in the low voltage distribution system in Bahrain are very time consuming, unreliable and potentially very harming to the cable connections. Therefore, this paper implement the use of smart meters in fault location, by utilizing the exiting functionalities of smart meters in order to make the proposed fault location system cost effective. Simulation using MATLAB/SIMULINK and calculation of fault location is conducted in order to investigate the possibility of finding fault location based on voltage sag readings that the smart meter would measure at each house. The smart meter during the power failure would use a GSM connection to communicate the power failure to the server, comparing it with all turned off smart meters, and locate the faulty feeder which will then be displayed on the geographical map using a custom python code integrated with the program. The initial results of the actual practical testing and implementation of the proposed fault location system is presented.