“Smartizing” power quality assessment based on IEC smart substation automation

Power Quality is a multidisciplinary systemic challenge. It involves huge data collection, many utility areas, and many other players outside the utility. Because it must connect massive amount of measured current and voltage data from various process levels to almost all utility corporate areas, allowing power conformity, energy availability and high service quality (achieving national and international standards), power quality should be the most suitable area to gain benefits from the smart grid derived concepts. However, issues like substation automation, Common Information Model (CIM) and other attributes from the IEC Smart Grid conceptual landscape are not, by themselves, enough to perform a plug and play power quality (or other area) solution. This article will first discuss the conventional power quality assessment, and subsequently will propose a new approach to “smartize” the power quality assessment from the utility power quality data collection to both its corporate treatment and the external players. The referred utility provides energy to a highly dense urban area as well as to an industrial area. Altogether, both areas account for about seven million consumers, supplied by more than 400 substations scattered over 570 municipalities.