Power Quality Monitoring in U.K. National Grid electricity transmission system

Power Quality Monitoring System continuously monitors numerous sites in the National Grid´s electricity transmission system in England and Wales. This kind of systems represents a significant costly investment by utilities. The monitoring of power quality in the network on transmission systems is increasingly seen as being critical as evidenced by the increase in number of directly connected customers to the transmission system; that is large offshore and onshore wind farms and HVDC inter-connectors. This pattern of growth is set to continue in the foreseeable future. The importance of monitoring the power quality in the network is important not only from a compliance perspective, but also to identify the performance and health of the network. The monitoring system is capable of storing a huge amount of data and the management of this data for efficient presentation to an engineer helps in making informed decisions. Therefore, this paper will present (1) the design, architecture, implementation and testing leading to going live for National Grid Power Quality Monitoring System, (2) the processing, extraction and compilation of the data for presenting to an engineer for appropriate actions where there are compliance issues.