Need of voltage quality regulation in the future electricity infrastructure

Electricity as a commodity should satisfy strict quality requirements. In the last two decades, the customer´s urge for good quality of power supply has increased due to the use of more sensitive electronic devices which on the other hand might influence the electricity network too. At present, no definite responsibility with respect to power quality (PQ) aspects at the point of connection (POC) is defined in the European standard EN50160 or other standard. Also, the limiting values for various power quality parameters differ in different standards available in different countries of the world. For implementing power quality regulation in the future electricity infrastructure, it is required to evaluate the actual performance level of the electricity network. In this paper, various PQ related problems in different countries of the world are highlighted. A brief overview is presented on the present PQ status of the Dutch network and other PQ related activities.