The cause of power quality issues and service interruption must be identified and analyzed carefully to determine the appropriate course of corrective action. Many of these can be prevented through careful planning, but are often only identified after the issue arises. The following are some options for preventing or mitigating power quality issues.
Fault Prevention:
Some simple actions can be taken to prevent power system faults. These include:
- Increase tree trimming programs
- Modify fault clearing practices
- Utility-side custom power solutions
- Customer-side solutions
Power Conditioning Equipment:
To alleviate the problems that power line disturbances create and to improve the performance of sensitive equipment, there is a wide variety of protective devices available from several manufacturers. Each of these devices has a different problem-solving function and can be used in a variety of applications. Proper application of power conditioning equipment is required to achieve the desired improvements in power quality. To avoid adverse interactions, the power conditioner must be compatible with both the load and the power source. Table-I below gives a summary of the application of some of the available power conditioning equipment to mitigate the various types of power disturbances.
| Table-I: Expected Disturbance Protection of Select Power Conditioning Technologies (reference IEEE Std 1100-1992) | |
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It is reasonable to expect that the indicated condition will be corrected by the indicated power conditioning technology. |
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There is a significant variation in power conditioning product performance. The indicated condition may or may not be fully correctable by the indicated technology. |