As more sites are added to the PQ system, evaluation efficiency becomes even more important. NamPower installed PQ Secure and their first Power Quality Meters (PQM) in 2014. Today they have a system of nearly 200 PQM’s from Unipower in constant operation, connected throughout their transmission network.
We asked Izaias Lot Ndapona at NamPower, the National Power Utility of Namibia, about their experiences of operating a PQ system efficiently.
“To a large extent we let PQ Secure do the work for us as we do not have the time to analyze everyday data from each PQM. We use the profile view (management view) a lot, which is analyzing all our PQM’s towards the grid code automatically. Only when a certain site is identified to be close to or exceeding a limit do we initiate a comprehensive analysis in PQ Secure. Our PQ system is also equipped with automatic alarms which help us to be notified timely and take action before the disturbance may escalate.
“Together with Unipower we have designed the management report, which is one comprehensive report of all PQM’s I have selected. The report describes only the sites that have breached any compatibility level towards grid code norms and rank the events by type and time.
“Lately we added the web service for NamPower transmission customers and fellow NamPower engineers that are linked to power quality issues on the network. Now they log in and generate a PQ compliance report of the Power Quality from their feeder point at any time, this is much appreciated service as well as it saves us time.
“As we have the compliance monitoring, alarms and managements reports automated we have more time today for analyzing long-term trends and statistics, which is a valuable asset for current problems and also enhances our planning for the future.”
