• Typical PQ Problems
• IEC 61000-2-4
• BS EN 50160
• ENA G5/4 -1

Power Quality

It is estimated that power quality problems cost industry and commerce in the EU about €10 billion per annum while expenditure on preventative measures is less than 5 % of this* . The question is the obvious one: ‘How much money should be invested in prevention to balance the risk of failure?’ and the answer depends on the nature of the business. The first step is to understand the nature of the problems and assess how each of them relates to the business and what losses might result.

* Source data: Copper Development Association

According to a study performed by European Copper Institute in 2001, covering 1,400 sites in 8 countries, any given site in Europe has a 5-20 % probability that it will suffer from one or more power quality related problems.  Typically, half of sites in energy-intensive industries or mission-critical office buildings will suffer from two or more problems. Very few sites are trouble free. PQ problems are complex, and often an expert team needs to be assembled for their diagnosis and solution.  Similar symptoms, such as equipment overheating, can have different causes (harmonics, unbalance, overloading), and each needs a different solution.