Considerations for a wide-area power quality monitoring system

Power quality monitoring has evolved from device-specific analysis of an event to system-wide benchmarking and reporting. Whether implementing power quality improvements for customer satisfaction or to comply with regulatory requirements, utilities need advanced software systems to reduce analysis time, ease reporting and demonstrate the return on investment. This paper describes the necessary components of a wide-area power quality analysis system including monitors, communication channels, data validation software, user interface needs and reporting features. Means of addressing potential pitfalls such as late- or missing-data, biasing statistical results due to planned outages and over-counting power quality events are presented. The system described allows for power quality benchmarking to industry standards such as EN50160 and trending of key performance indicators to show improvements over time.