Estimation of the planning levels for flicker in the Dutch networks

The electricity grid operator should supply a voltage at a customer´s installation according to the requirements of the standard EN50160 or national grid code. In contrast, no present grid codes specify clearly the responsibility of the customers regarding power quality (PQ) at their installations. The voltage flicker is one of the most irritating PQ problems on which the Dutch grid operators get many complaints. It often happens that flicker is generated because of the customer´s own or neighboring customer´s loads. Therefore, the standard should specify a limit for the customers about the flicker emission at their installations. The new technical report IEC/TR 61000-3-14 indicates a method to estimate the flicker emission limit for various customers in the low voltage (LV) network. In this paper, an analysis is done on a model Dutch network to estimate a LV customer´s maximum share of flicker emission into the network. Also, the most appropriate planning level value of flicker at different voltage levels in the Netherlands is suggested.