A NEW CONCEPT FOR POWER QUALITY AND RELIABILITY MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT-THE PQM PROJECT

Quality of supply problems in T&D systems increase both due to increased pollution in networks (increased emission) and due to increased use of electrical equipment that are sensitive to disturbances (reduced immunity). Customers quality of supply requir ements with respect to reliability and voltage quality increase as electricity is more widely used in business critical work and industrial processes The increased influx of distributed generation (i.e. small hydro power, small wind farms) and renewable technologies (for instance larger wind farms) in T&D systems is restricted by power quality and reliability aspects, giving new challenges both to grid operators (TSOs and DNOs) and to power plant operators. There is a lack of knowledge on how to achieve the best balance between quality of supply and costs (methodology, decision tools) and there are limited observation of quality of supply delivered to customers due to expensive measurement equipment. The project will develop an improved and holistic qua lity of supply documentation and management chain. Based on a new power quality measurement patent increased and enhanced documentation of the quality at customer terminals is an expected outcome of the project. Numerous PQ data represents both a new chal lenge and a new opportunity to utilities. The develop efficient methods for large scale PQ data management is included in the project together with utilisation of increased surveillance of transmission and distribution system. The project will also follow up international cooperation with important stakeholders in France and Italy.