Phase prediction in distribution systems

It is not uncommon to encounter electric utilities that have not recorded the phasing of laterals in their distribution circuits. This lack of information hampers many studies such as multi-phase power flows and restoration analysis. To obtain the phasing information with manpower-intensive techniques often requires a long term and expensive effort. This paper addresses a low cost, algorithmic approach for estimating the phasing of laterals. The algorithmic approach uses circuit measurements and load information that is available at most utilities. The algorithm employs the tabu search method. Examples are presented.