What is the quality assessment of power quality?

Power quality has emerged as a significant concern for commercial and industrial customers as sophisticated electronic devices are more widely deployed. These devices not only require a reliable high-quality power supply but also themselves produce distortions in the power supply due to their nonlinear characteristics.

Systems capable of producing harmonic disturbances include power electronic equipment, variable-frequency drives, advanced motors, lighting, and switching technologies—some of which are related to the integration into the power grid of distributed generation (photovoltaics, wind, and micro-turbines).

Among the power quality issues that can arise are smart meter malfunction, loss of electronic information, malfunction of building automation systems or various systems in data centers, nuisance tripping power, supplementary power and energy losses in transformers, motors, and cables (with higher rate of aging and failure), and production downtime.

New Assessment Service

To address these issues, Powertech Labs is offering a new service for commercial and industrial customers that provides power quality assessments to identify the cause of the disturbance, recommend mitigation, and calculate a return on investment.
The power quality assessment will aim to detect one or more sources of the disturbance, one or more loads sensitive to the disturbance, and the channel for the disturbance to be propagated between them.

The service will:

• Conduct site visits to deploy instrumentation and perform data collection on selected points.
• Analyze results using Powertech expertise, dedicated software, and methodology complying with power quality standards.
• Provide a report with options to mitigate each power quality issue and a business case identifying the return on investment (ROI).

Advantages of Powertech’s Power Quality Assessment

• Longtime prominence in the field, with experience raising awareness and championing power quality standards.
• Staff expertise and experience.
• In-house instrumentation, software, and simulation tools.
• Work performed by professional engineers adhering to APEG BC Code of Conduct and BC Hydro Code of Conduct as part of Customer Care Policy.

Results from the service will enable commercial and industrial customers to improve productivity, avoid loss of information, and prevent equipment failure.

For more information contact:
Giuseppe Stanciulescu – 604.598.5011
Business Development Specialist
Business Development
email→

Save Money by Improving Your Power Quality

Your electric company or generator system is responsible for supplying a steady source of power. This includes a:

• voltage and frequency that’s predictable and stable
• source of maximum current that’s steady and dependable

Any deviation from these  targets is considered a “power quality” problem, regardless of whether divergence occurs at your supply point or inside your facility.

Power Usage Assessment

The power usage assessment is a questionnaire designed to assess how your business can improve its power quality and save money on electric bills. Fill out the form on the right to download the Power Usage Assessment.

Once you’ve completed this questionnaire to the best of your knowledge, send the form and copies of your facility’s electricity bills from the past 12 months to info@utilityadvocates.com. We will assess your submission and provide a summary of our findings and advice on your savings potential.