Published by Tom Key, EPRI PEAC, Knoxville, TN, Email: tkey@epri-peac.com, 2003
DPQ Project – Benchmarking system power quality
Advancements in power quality monitoring and managing power quality monitoring information – PQView
Tools for power quality analysis – PQ Diagnostic System
Power Quality Services – Is it a business or a customer service?
Many utilities followed with extensive benchmarking projects for their individual systems. This continues to be a priority.
This also resulted in tools and indices for benchmarking – Reliability Benchmarking Methodology and PQView.
Some utility issues – Capacitor switching concerns, Harmonic resonance, Voltage sags and momentary interruptions due to faults, Voltage variations (flicker)
Finding the most cost effective way to solve problems and identifying the investments that are economically justified require a systems approach to the economic analysis.
This is a significant area of research – how much do power quality problems cost?
How much should utilities invest in improving power quality vs investments from customers in improving immunity?
For a variety of reasons, most of these did not succeed.
: Utilities, Manufacturers, End Users
Now working with other industries to develop similar approaches to improve compatibility.: Automotive initiative is under way right now, Textiles, Hospitals, Plastics, Petrochemical etc.
The emphasis right now is trying to bring an international perspective to standards.
What are the compatibility levels?
How should we measure and document PQ?
How should limits be applied to equipment, customers, the supply system?
All investments must be justified.
Regulations must be developed to support flexibility in implementation of power quality solutions at all levels of the system.
PQ Monitoring is everywhere
Power quality management becomes part of system operations
Planning for power quality
Providing flexible levels of power quality to meet customer needs
Expert systems to identify problems use power quality monitoring information
Power quality MUST be a business
These systems will be part of systems operation and system maintenance programs.
The monitoring systems can be the basis of future premium power service offerings, distributed generation performance, customer system performance, etc.
The monitoring systems will integrate equipment for many applications (relays, meters, controls, etc.)
Intelligent applications will be built off the voltage and current monitoring.
The information will be used as part of overall system performance evaluation and prioritizing expenditures to improve performance.
PQWeb set the stage for sharing information in the easiest manner – the web.
Fault location, Equipment problems, System efficiency etc.
System level indices need to move down to substation/feeder level in a probabilistic framework to better define consumer risk.
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