March 2026

Conference Paper

Impedance-Aware Graph Convolutional Networks for Voltage Estimation in Active Distribution Networks

By:
Ravi, Abhijith; Bai, Linquan; Cecchi, Valentina; Lian, Jianming ; Dong, Jin
Page Number:
1-4
Book Title:
Proceedings of 2024 IEEE Kansas Power and Energy Conference (KPEC)
Publication Date:
March 12, 2026
Publisher Location:
IEEE, New Jersey, United States of America
Conference Name:
2024 IEEE PES General Meeting (PESGM)
Conference Location:
Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Conference Sponsor:
IEEE
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1109/KPEC61529.2024.10676297

Abstract

Voltage estimation plays a key role in ensuring the effective control and reliability of distribution networks. However, traditional machine learning methods often fail to capture the details of the distribution network’s topology. To overcome this challenge, graph convolutional networks (GCN) have emerged as an alternative. Graph convolutional networks inherently capture the topology of the grid, utilizing correlations to achieve precise voltage estimation. Other machine learning models and conventional GCNs fail to account for the distribution line characteristics found in the real world, limiting their effectiveness. This paper proposes an advanced variant of GCN called the Impedance-Aware Graph Convolutional Network (IA-GCN). The IA-GCN layer incorporates the magnitude of the impedance into the graph convolution mechanism, allowing it to capture topological nuances and provide valuable insights into node interrelationships by considering impedance as an intrinsic dimension. The performance of the IA-GCN layer is then compared with that of GCN and GraphSAGE layers through a surrogate model for voltage estimation. The performance analysis demonstrates that IA-GCN outperforms GCN by reducing the MAE by 87.55% and improving the R-squared value by 98%.


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