Proceedings of the 4th Intemational Conference on Advances in Power SystemControl, Operation and Management, APSCOM-97, Hong Kong, November

1997
Survey of Power Quality Problems in Tasmania
M. Negnevitsky*, J . Milanovic'" and M. Green**
*Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Tasmania
GPO Box 252-65 Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
**Network Development Manager
Hydro-Electric Corporation
4 Elizabeth Street, GPO Box 355D, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Abstract
This paper presents results of the power quality
survey in Tasmania. A questionnaire on the present
status of power quality issues was prepared and
distributed in the Hydro-Electric Corporation and
major power users in Tasmania. Both utility and
customer personnel were asked to indicate what
power quality problems were and to identify the
major causes of these problems.
1. Introduction
Power quality problems and solutions have been
studied for several years around the world. Power
quality includes a broad range of concepts and
evaluations form transmission system fault studies to
transient voltage surge suppression for computer data
lines.
The objectives of the questionnaire survey are
summarised as follows:
To have an overview of power quality problems in
Tasmania and to make a comparative study on the
problems identified by the Hydro-Electric
Commission and its customers.
To identify the most important aspects of power
quality in Tasmania.
To identify problems and limitations of the
existing methods and tools for power quality
monitoring.
provided by the Hydro-Electric Corporation and major
electricity users in Tasmania.
The following indicates opinions of the respondents
from the HEC and major electricity users in Tasmania:
Short term voltage variations: the most significant
problems. As shown in Fig. 1, the most significant
problems in Tasmania are voltage sags. Although
respondents from the HEX do not consider voltage
swells as significant problems, from the customer's
perspective swells play an important role in power
quality. Note that 30% of the total number of
responses obtained from the HEC indicate that neither
sags nor swells are considered as significant problems
in Tasmania. The reason for this may be linked to a
small number of complains related to the short term
voltage variations.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
n
HEC Customers
I PSags msweiis .NOW I
Figure 1. Short term voltage variations: the most
significant problems.
To identify relevant methodologies necessary for
the effective power quality monitoring.
Causes of voltage sags. As shown in Fig. 2, the most
common causes of sags are faults on adjacent feeders,
2. Survey of quality of electricity
The following power quality problems are considered
in the questionnaire: short term voltage variations
(voltage sags and voltage swells), long term voltage
variations (undervoltages and overvoltages), notching,
noise, interruptions (momentary interruptions,
temporary interruptions and outages) and harmonics.
Results obtained from the questionnaire indicate the
current status of quality of electricity supply in
Tasmania from a power utility point of view and from
the industry perspective. 26 responses have been
supply in Tasmania
motor starting and load changes. A number of
respondents pointed out that three-phase faults are rare
in comparison with line-to-ground faults. A few
respondents from the HEC indicated that load changes
should not play any significant role, but the majority
of customer's respondents were concerned with load
changes as the most common cause of voltage sags.
Problems caused by voltage sags. As shown in Fig.3,
the most common problems caused by sags are
unwanted tripping of sensitive controls and dropping
out of relay contacts. Note that the IIEC as well as its
customers indicated that unwanted tripping of
sensitive controls was the most significant.
537
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
HEC Customers
Line-to-ground faults on adjacent feeders
Three-phase faults on adjacent feeders
Figure 2. Short term voltage variations: causes of
voltage sags.
Causes of voltage swells. As shown in Fig. 4, the
most common problems responsible for voltage swells
indicated by the HEC respondents are faults, load
changes, insertion of a power factor correction
capacitor and operator errors. However, from the
customer's perspective the most common cause of
voltage swells is load changes.
60
50
40
30
20
10
HEC Customers
Figure 3. Short term voltage variations: problems
caused by voltage sags.
HEC Customers
ower factor correction capacitor
Figure 4. Short term voltage variations: causes of
voltage swells.
Problems caused by voltage swells. As shown in
Fig. 5, the HEC respondents suggested that the most
common problems are unwanted tripping of sensitive
controls, failure of electronic equipment, loss of
excessive numbers of incandescent light bulbs and
even burning out of domestic appliances. From the
customer's point of view there were only two major
problems: unwanted tripping of sensitive controls
(60%) and loss of excessive numbers of incandescent
light bulbs (40%).
Customers
Loss of excessive numbers of incandescent light bulbs
Burning out of domestic appliances
DFai l ure of electronic equipment
Figure 5. Short term voltage variations: problems
caused by voltage swells.
Long term voltage variations: the most significant
problems. As shown in Fig. 6, both undervoltages
and overvoltages are considered as significant
problems in Tasmania. Although the respondents
from the HEC indicate that overvoltages are more
important than undervoltages, from the customer's
perspective undervoltages play a much more
important role than overvoltages (75% against 25%).
Note that 8.6% of a total number of responses
obtained from the HEC show that neither
undervoltages nor overvoltages can be considered as
significant problems in Tasmania.
HEC Customers
IEdUndervoltages H Overvoltages H None 1
Figure 6. Long term voltage variations: the most
significant problems.
Causes of undervoltages. As can be seen from Fig. 7,
there are two major causes of undervoltages in
Tasmania: large motor starting and energising large
loads. These causes are equally important from the
HEC point of view, but from the customer's
538
perspective large motor starting plays a more
important role in comparison with energising large
loads (56% against 32%).
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
E Energising large loads
Desnergising a shunt capacitor
0 Loss of reactive generation
Figure 7. Long term voltage variations: causes of
undervoltages.
Problems caused by undervoltages. As shown in
Fig. 8, both the HEC customer's respondents indicate
that undervoltages cause problems with industrial and
domestic electronics and computers and also may
cause load loss.
Customers
W Impact on industrial electronics and computers
Load loss
UMot or stalling
Figure 8. Long term voltage variations: problems
caused by undervoltages.
Causes of overvoltages. As shown in Fig. 9, the most
common causes are weak system conditions and
problems with power system regulation, particularly
with voltage regulators and generator excitation
systems. De-energising large loads, energising
capacitor banks and system faults are less important.
Problems caused by overvoltages. As shown in
Fig. 10, the most significant problem caused by
overvoltages is impact on industrial and domestic
electronics and computers.
HEC Customers
I EI Power system regulation (voltage regulators) I
.Weak system conditions (radial systems)
De-energising large loads
Energising capacitor banks
1 USystem faults
Figure 9. Long term voltage variations: causes of
overvoltages.
/ I I
HEC Customers
Impact on domestic equipment, TV and lights
Damage to industrial electronics and computers
.Other
Figure 10. Long term voltage variations: problems
caused by overvoltages.
Notching and noise: significance of the problems.
As shown in Fig. 11, notching does not have any
significant impact on power quality in Tasmania from
both the .HEC and customer's perspectives. Noise is
not a very important factor today either, but it was
indicated that in the future it may affect quality of
electricity supply in Tasmania.
HEC CU.10IIUI. HEC CI UMM.
I .Yes .NO . NOtSUre( ~ Y e f mNo .Notsure)
Notching Noise
Figure 11. Notching and noise: significance of the
problems.
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Interruptions and harmonics: significance of the
problems. As can be seen from Fig. 12, both the
HEC and customer's respondents indicated that
interruptions do cause very significant problems in
Tasmania. While almost all respondents have
determined their views on interruptions, a situation
with harmonics is more complicated. Most
respondents pointed out that harmonics do not cause
any significant problem today but may cause a variety
of problems in the future.
HEC cu.,omn WEC
@Yes l l No .Notsure
Interruptions Harmonics
Figure 12. Interruptions and harmonics: significance
of the problems.
Types of interruptions. As shown in Fig. 13, from
the HEC perspective, an outage is the most common
type of interruption in Tasmania. However, from the
customer's point of view all types are equally
common.
HEC Customers
Figure 13. Types of interruptions.
Causes of interruptions. As can be seen from Fig.14,
the respondents from the HEC identified power
system faults, scheduled maintenance and equipment
failures as the most common causes of interruptions in
Tasmania. Although customer's respondents
considered power system faults, equipment failures
and control malfunctions as one of the most common
problems, they did not identify scheduled maintenance
as a significant problem.
HEC Customers
El Power system faults
Equipment failures
.Generation shortages
OControl malfunctions
I3 Scheduled maintenance
Mot her
Figure 14. Causes of interruptions.
Causes of harmonics. As shown in Fig. 15, both the
HEC and customer's respondents identified electronic
equipment and arcing devices as the main causes of
harmonics.
MTransfonners and rotating machines
Figure 15. Causes of harmonics.
Problems caused by harmonics. As shown in
Fig. 16, the most significant problem caused by
harmonics is interference with communication. I t was
also pointed out that this problem could become more
serious in the future.
3. Major identified problems
On the basis of the survey conducted, the summary of
the major problems or malfunctions experienced in the
reported were those with sensitive electronic
equipment. Close to 50% of all problems reported by
theutility were those experienced by computers (25%)
and lighting (25%). In industry too, computers,
lighting and programmable logic controllers (PLCs)
are those who were most affected by fluctuations in
quality of supplied electricity.
past by utility or industry is made. The most problems
540
As far as the frequency of experienced problems is
concerned the findings of the survey show that the
most frequent failures or malfunctions reported by the
utility are relays and breakers malfunctions, shut
downs, interference with communications and
problems experienced by measuring equipment. Those
four groups of problems are of equal frequency of
occurrence.
In industry the most frequent failures reported were
relays and breakers malfunctions and shutdowns.
Those two are reported to be of equal frequency of
occurrence. Next group of frequent problems reported
by the industry consists of malfunction of motor
controllers, overheating of motors and transformers
and data loss in computers. Problems with
communications and measuring devices are not among
those reported as the most frequent.
4. Identified possible problem sources
Considering the fact that the majority of the problems
with power quality are generated at the same site
where they are reported the survey addressed that
issue as well. Both, the utility and industry identified
various possible sources of disturbances at the
customer site that can contribute to deterioration in
power quality. The major source of the problems with
power quality at the customer site identified by the
utility is arc-welding devices. The next group of
potential problem sources consists of uninterruptable
power supplies and rectifiers, as viewed by the utility.
As far as the industry is concerned, by far the major
sources of problems are rectifiers and variable speed
drives (VSDs).
5. Coditioninglprotective devices used
Awareness in industry and utility of the importance of
power quality issue for proper and secure operation of
sensitive electronic equipment resulted in
implementation of various protective devices.
Unintemuptable power supplies ( UPSs) are the most
widely used protective measure in both, utility and
industry. Transient surge suppressor is second most
widely used device in the utilitys sites while various
types of transformers (isolation, ferroresonant, etc.)
are used in industry for protective and conditioning
purposes.
experienced most problems with the computers,
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), and lighting.
This is to be expected as those are highly sensitive
electronic devices or lighting sensitive to voltage
variations. Analysis of the phenomena responsible
for malfunctions of these equipment showed that main
causes were short term voltage variations, namely
voltage sags and swells, and long term voltage
variations, namely overvoltages and undervoltages.
As the principal reasons for such voltage variations
were identified faults in the power system,
manipulation (switching off/on) of large loads or
starting of large motors, power system regulation , and
weak system conditions in some areas.
The phenomena identified to significantly contribute
to the problems that were most frequently experienced
by utility and industry ( described in previous section)
were: Short and long term voltage variations (sags and
sells, and undervoltages and overvoltages
respectively) and harmonics to nuisance tripping of
relays and breakers. Interruptions of power supply to
shut downs. Harmonics to interference with
communications and overheating of motors and
transformers.
Main sources and/or causes of these phenomena were
voltage variations and interruptions manipulation
(switching off/on) of large loads, power system
regulation and weak system conditions in some areas
for long term voltage variations, equipment failures
for interruptions, electronic equipment and arcing
devices for harmonics.
Though power system faults, regulation and weak
power system conditions in some areas were identified
as some of the major contributors to existing
problems in electricity supply there are other sources
of disturbances located at the users sites equally
important for forming a complete list of contributing
sources of disturbances. They were identified by both,
utility and industry. The latter, site located sources of
disturbances are particularly responsible for
malfunctions of equipment caused by harmonics. This
group of malfunctions in turn makes almost three
fourths (3/4) of all most frequently experienced
malfunctions reported.
The correlation between sources of disturbances and
consequences is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 16.
7. Conclusions
6. Discussion of the results
On the basis of extensive survey conducted and
contacts with chief collaborators from various
participating companies in project it could be
summarised that both, electric power utility (Hydro
Electric Corporation) and industry (including heavy
industry and hospitals in commercial city center)
On the basis of conducted survey it could be
concluded that there are no severe problems with
quality of electricity supply in Tasmania. Some of the
reasons for this are well managed, controlled and
operated power system by the Hydro Electric
Corporation (HEC) and industry awareness of the
highly complex issue of power quality which is
54 1
~\ . - - - - - - l F l ~~ Mani pul at i on Power system Equi pme nt Electronic
ent
Probl ems
obs erved
Figure. 16. Summary of the results of survey of current situation with quality of electricity supply in Tasmania
reflected in application of various protective devices
at their sites such as Uninterruptable Power Supplies
(UPSs), transient voltage surge suppressors, and
various types of protectivelconditioning transformers.
However some problems with quality of electricity
supply do exist and were reported. There is still
enough room and necessity for further improvement
in quality of electricity supply in particular having on
mind future developments in power system industry in
the country (deregulation) and further increase in
application of highly sensitive electronic equipment in
industry.
In order to competently assess the required measures
to be resumed for further improvement of quality of
electricity supply the monitoring of quality of
electricity supply over an adequate period of time
would be necessary.
The major reason for this being to confirm at least
some of the reported malfunctions and to establish the
correlation between malfunctions of equipment and
actual system events leading to those malfunctions.
Further, to establish the contribution to actual
malfunction of power system based sources and
customer site based sources.
The analysis of the results of monitoring of quality of
electricity supply will lead to proposal of an adequate
protective and/or corrective measures to be resumed
and to determining of the locations where
protectivelconditioning devices should be installed for
maximum effect.
8. Acknowledgment
The authors wishes to acknowledge the financial
support for this study obtained from Hydro Electric
Corporation, Comalco Aluminium (Bell Bay) Pty.
Ltd., Goliath Portland Cement Co. and Pasminco
Metals EZ.
We are also grateful to a number of experts from
Hydro Electric Corporation Comalco Aluminium
(Bell Bay) Pty. Ltd., Goliath Portland Cement Co.,
Pasminco Metals EZ, Australian Paper (Burnie),
Australian Newsprint Mills (Boyer), and Royal Hobart
Hospital who supplied information to the Survey of
Quality of Electricity Supply in Tasmania.
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