3PhaseInsight
Digitalization can accelerate the green transition by bridging delays from slow conventional grid reinforcements. What if the DSO could ‘simply’ reconfigure the existing meters to deliver 3-phase data and, based on this data, immediately deploy solutions that increase their locally available grid capacity?
Project Outcomes
3PhaseInsight open-source platform for scaling data apps and pipelines to real-world applications
Electrification puts pressure on the distribution grid, which needs more hosting capacity. With the rapid increase of single-phase connected devices, such as heat pumps and low-power EV chargers, phase imbalance and harmonic distortion is becoming even more problematic. DSOs typically do not have information about total harmonic distortion levels, in particular not on per-phase granularity, which complicates the localization of their sources.
The 3PhaseInsight project addresses this by using three-phase measurement data from existing smart meters. By reducing phase imbalance and harmonic distortion, grid capacity can be optimized without heavy infrastructure investments.
The project will test these solutions on real customer data from across Zealand, evaluating their benefits for grid operations, customers, and society through lower costs and greater renewable integration.
In low-voltage grids, many households and devices are connected without clear information about which phase (L1, L2, or L3) they belong to. Without phase-wise measurements, utilities face uncertainty about load balance at the transformer and the exact phase connection of single-phase loads. This lack of visibility can lead to imbalances, reduced efficiency, and difficulties in planning or troubleshooting the network.
One barrier for the efficient use of existing grid capacity is that DSOs lack three-phase observability. A fundamental building block for enabling these insights and solutions is the reconfiguration of existing smart meters to deliver individual phase measurements for each customer.
An unprecedented large, unique data set was created by the project partner Radius in a large-scale campaign reconfiguring 100,000 already installed smart meters to record such three-phase measurements to enable deep-insight.
No project before has had the opportunity to deliver such robust insights on three phase data value and reported on such a large comparable data set.
The map shows the distribution of smart meters examined, revealing key information across different area types in the Danish distribution grid
20. January 2026
The consortium met to review progress on data app development and discuss next steps. Topics included software compatibility with Radius' infrastructure, open-source repository structure, and dissemination strategy, with phase imbalance and data quality identified as the most compelling topics for DSO stakeholders. The meeting reflected the project's shift from individual app development toward a more integrated, deployment-ready platform.
20. August 2025
The 3PhaseInsight consortium addressed current app development, dissemination, and coordination activities, including potential workshops with iEnergi and ISGAN Lighthouse, as well as the need for a structured procedure for partner involvement in social media outreach. Final notes covered upcoming website updates, definitions of deliverables across DTU and INILAB, and plans for onboarding new members. A separate dissemination meeting was scheduled to coordinate stakeholder engagement and contact networks.
01. October 2024
The 3PhaseInsight team met to discuss the status of data app development, prioritisation criteria based on economic and CO2 savings potential, and the identification of new data applications. The workshop also explored situational awareness challenges, concluding that per-phase smart meter data has strong potential to support DSOs in making more informed operational and investment decisions.
03. September 2024
The 3rd of September 2024 the 3PhaseInsight project kick-off meeting was held at DTU Wind and Energy Systems. At this date, representatives from DTU Wind, Radius, INILAB and ELFORSK introduced the project purpose, expectations , workpackages and timeline. In this project, we will investigate how DSOs could use 3-phase insights from local grids to increase hosting capacity and eliminate phase imbalances.
Work package 1
Task 1.1: Coordinating activities across partners
Task 1.2: Managing the internal innovation process, including use case development and data pipeline design
Task 1.3: Overseeing dissemination, stakeholder engagement, and final reporting
Task 1.4: Delivering strategic insights through public reports
Deliverables:
WORK PACKAGE 2
Task 2.1: Provide project internal access to a range of agreed three-phase data sets
Task 2.2: Develop API integration for Energydata.dk to securely transfer the agreed data sets
Task 2.3: Enable continued data set updates suppoert WP3 during data screening and data app prototyping
Task 2.4: Develop data model abstraction for data pipeline
Deliverables:
WORK PACKAGE 3
Task 3.1: Contribute to the identification of data app algorithms and feasibility of data pipeline design
Task 3.2: Development and implementation of data app algorithms
Task 3.3: Produce quantitative results on data app performance on three-phase data set
Deliverable:
WORK PACKAGE 4
Task 4.1: Develop complete solution data pipelines scalable to 100.000 meters.
Task 4.2: Concept for scaling solution to 1.5 mio meters
Task 4.3: Showcase end-user application based on data pipleline outcome
Task 4.4: Showcase pipeline applicability to two database environments
Task 4.5: Release data pipeline as open source solution
Deliverables:
Results of data pipeline applications showcase
Data pipeline source code
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Kai Heussen Senior Researcher kheu@dtu.dk
