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Description
This report is a partial summary of a research project that explores the use of synchrophasor measurements at the distribution level of the electric grid. The project, which is sponsored by ARPA-E, is now concluding its third year of work. During that time, a huge amount of analytical effort has been undertaken by a number of researchers and students. That effort has been aimed at everything from basic science applications to the advancement of an operational and commercial case for synchrophasors in distribution systems. A sampling of these efforts are included in this report, which is intended to double as a collection of updates that can be provided to individual research partners. Therefore, the chapters into which it is divided are modular and can be read in any order. The topics covered include: the initial performance validation of the Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) used in the project, along with their comparison to the present state of the art in voltage measurement; a methodology for estimating line impedance from PMU measurements and a description of a case in which it was successfully implemented; the limitations of that methodology due to the specifics of another PMU deployment and an analysis of that failure case; and an ongoing examination of voltage volatility and its potential application to customer-side PV discovery.