# Smart Grid Architecture for Rural Distribution Networks: Application to a Spanish Pilot Network
## 5 Study Case
### IDPR Field Performance  
This subsection presents the performance of the IDPR in the LV grid [26]. The waveform recording is carried out with an oscilloscope, and then the data is processed and treated with the mathematical software Matlab (R2014b, MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA).Four different scenarios are proposed in order to test the IDPR contributions to improve the power quality of the grid:  
* The scenario (1) depicts an IDPR balancing the three-phase currents. * The scenario (2) depicts an IDPR balancing the three-phase currents and compensating the reactive power. * The scenario (3) depicts an IDPR mitigating the harmonic currents. * The scenario (4) depicts an IDPR balancing the three-phase currents, compensating the reactive power and posteriorly dispatching 12 kvar. The recorded three-phase voltage and current waveforms for each scenario are shown in Figures 15-18. Note that the voltage waveforms correspond to the phase-to-neutral voltage. Figure 16: Voltage and current waveforms for scenario (2): balancing three-phase current and compensating the reactive power from the consumptions. Figure 15: Voltage and current waveforms for scenario (1): balancing three-phase current from the consumptions. The voltage waveforms are sinusoidal and their Root Mean Square (RMS) value remain about 137 V in all scenarios and phase (which corresponds to 230 V phase to phase voltage RMS). Table 8 picks up for all scenarios their voltage and current RMS for each phase. It is possible to appreciate that the RMS voltage value lightly increases in scenario (4) because of the reactive power dispatching. In addition, note that the unbalanced current scenario is the third one. On the other hand, the currents' waveforms are not completely sinusoidal, and also not equal in all scenarios, and their RMS value is also different. The main differences between them are described below. When scenario (1) is compared to scenario (2), the reactive power compensating capability is demonstrated. This particularity is observable in phase A, the phase difference between voltage and current waveforms is null in scenario (2) (see phase A from the right plot of Figure 16), while the phase difference is not null in scenario (1) (see phase A from the right plot of Figure 15). When scenario (1) is compared to scenario (3), the harmonic mitigating and current balancing capabilities are proven. The harmonic mitigating capability is easily observable in scenario (3) (see the right plot of Figure 17) where the current waveforms are much more sinusoidal than the previous scenarios (1) and (2). In scenario (3), it is also observable that the current balancing is disabled because the phase difference between phases A, B, and C is not constant (see phase B from the right plot of Figure 17), while, in the rest of scenarios, this difference is constant and equal to \(2\pi/3\) rad. Finally, when the previous scenarios are compared  
Figure 17: Voltage and current waveforms for scenario (3): mitigating the harmonics from the consumptions. Figure 18: Voltage and current waveforms for scenario (4): mitigating the harmonic, balancing the three-phase currents, compensating the reactive power and posteriorly dispatching 12 kvar. to scenario (4), the capability of dispatching reactive power is demonstrated (see the right plot of Figure 18. In this last scenario, the RMSs of current waveforms are equal and bigger than previous cases because of this dispatching. The IDPR contributes to reducing the asymmetrical losses and diminishing the operational stress of the distribution transformer. In order to validate this contribution, the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) from the voltage and current, the power factor and the degree of unbalance are calculated. The degree of unbalance is defined as the part of the total current that corresponds to each phase [26]. Table 9 presents the results with and without the IDPR contribution. In case of the voltage THDs, this fulfills the power quality requirements, which are defined as EN 50160 [60].