Abstract
The last decade has witnessed a growing tendency to promote deeper exploitation of power systems infrastructure, postponing investments in networks reinforcement. In particular, the literature on smart grids research often emphasizes their potential to defer investments. The study reported in this paper analyses the impact of reinforcement decisions, comparing the long-term costs associated with different network conditions and economic analysis parameters. The results support the conclusion that network reinforcement deferral is not a panacea, as it often generates costly situations in the long-term. The challenge is not to find new ways to postpone investments, but to find the most beneficial criterion to trigger the grid reinforcements actions. Another contribution of the present work is a decision support system to identify the most economical network reinforcement criterion in terms of the peak to capacity ratio.

Abstract
This article analyzes the effects of the current policy trends - high levels of distributed generation (DG) and grid load/capacity ratio - on network efficiency. It starts by illustrating the network losses performance under different DG and load/capacity conditions. The second part concerns the simulation of network investments with the purpose of loss reduction for diverse system circumstances, including the impact of DG levels, energy cost, and discount rate. The attained results showed that DG, particularly large parks, have a negative impact on network efficiency: network losses tend to intensify with DG growth, under the current regulation. Furthermore, network investments in loss reduction would have a small global impact on network efficiency if the DG parks' connection lines are not included in the grid concession (not subjected to upgrade). Finally, the study determines that it is preferable to invest sooner, rather than to postpone the grid reinforcement for certain conditions, namely for low discount rates. © 2022 IEEE.

Abstract
Energy communities (ECs) are emerging as a promising step to mitigate energy poverty and climate changes, since their main objective is to obtain environmental, economic, and social benefits for the participants, namely in terms of increasing local production using primary renewable resources. In the European Union (EU), Directives D2018 and D944 established a common regime for the promotion of ECs. Given the relevance of the topic, comparing regulations in force in Brazil, Germany, Portugal, and Spain, can contribute to mitigate risks, as well as save time and energy resources. Among the assessed aspects, this work analyzes requirements to access to the activity and measurement issues, which are already well and clearly defined. As for business models and remuneration, focus is given to energy cooperatives and feed-in payments. In turn, the main barriers include financing, end of incentives, need to develop new business models, and issues related to peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. © 2022 IEEE.

Abstract
Performance indicators, such as the SAIFI and the SAIDI, are commonly used by regulatory agencies to evaluate the performance of distribution companies (DisCos). Based on such indicators, it is common practice to apply penalties or grant rewards if the indicators are greater to or less than a given threshold. This work proposes a new multi-objective optimization model for pinpointing the critical assets involved in outage events based on past performance indicators, such as the SAIDI and the System Average Interruption Duration Exceeding Threshold (SAIDET) indexes. Our approach allows to retrieve the minimal set of assets in large historical interruption datasets that most contribute to past performance indicators. A case study using a real interruption dataset between the years 2011-2104 from a Brazilian DisCo revealed that the optimal inspection plan according to the decision maker preferences consist of 332 equipment out of a total of 5873. This subset of equipment, which contribute 61.90% and 55.76% to the observed SAIFI and SAIDET indexes in that period, can assist managerial decisions for preventive maintenance actions by prioritizing technical inspections to assets deemed as critical.

Abstract
This paper presents a three-phase Distribution System State Estimator (DSSE) based on a Bayesian inference approach to manage different sampling rates of typical sources of information present in distribution networks. Such information comes from smart meters, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) measurements, phasor measurement units and typical load profiles from pseudo measurements. The temporal aspect of the measurement set is incorporated in the estimation process by using a sampling layer concept, dealing separately with each group of measurements according to the respective updating rate. A Bayesian information fusion procedure provides the final estimation. The proposed DSSE consists in a multiple stage estimator that combines a prior model for the state variables, updated by new observations from measured values in each sampling layer, through Maximum a Posteriori estimation. This work also introduces an orthogonal method for the information fusion numerical solution, to tackle the severe ill-conditioning associated with practical distribution systems. Simulations with IEEE distribution test feeders and a Brazilian real distribution feeder illustrate the features of the proposed DSSE and its applicability. By exploring the concept of credibility intervals, the method is able to detect events on the grid, such as subtle load variation and contingencies, while maintaining accuracy.

Abstract
This paper describes a new development within the conceptual framework BAYSE (Bayesian State Estimation), which enables the full integration of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) data with PMU (phasor measurement units) data. It is based on Bayesian inference principles and extends the concept of the prior distributions to accommodate a broad set of past state conditions, under a sliding window approach. By choosing an appropriate window length, the method enhances accuracy under stationary conditions, with a reduced impact under system changes. The work also submits a rectangular coordinates transformation procedure, based on the Jacobian method, to consistently integrate polar coordinates estimations with the PMU linear model (in rectangular coordinates). The paper presents the new approach in proof-of concept mode over a didactic test-bed, using real PMU time series, to emphasize the enhanced accuracy and good asymptotic properties.