Why should power quality be monitored?

Power supply:
Even in Germany, up to 46 percent of all serious cases of data loss are attributable to the power plants. Although the power grids in this country have an average availability of 99.98 percent, according to Adam Riese, this means that the power is gone for 105 minutes every year. In addition, we also experience regular voltage fluctuations that can affect sensitive computer systems almost as much as a total outage. So spending money on your own uninterruptible power supply can be money well spent.

Source: http://www.lexware.de/unternehmer-und-organisation/it-sicherheit

Due to rapid growth of non-linear loads in the interconnected power system, the appearance (waveform) of current i(t) and voltage u(t) has changed. The clean sinusoidal waveform produced by the generator is distorted by harmonics generated by nonlinear loads. Many devices such as computers, frequency converters, etc. cannot tolerate the distorted voltage and go into fault.

In many companies, the effects of poor supply quality are ignorantly underestimated. However, these can trigger unplanned, long downtimes, increased energy costs or premature machine wear. Poor supply quality costs industry and commerce around €2.5 billion a year.

All production downtimes can often be avoided in time by monitoring the networks. By recording important electrical parameters, such as voltage, current, frequency, …, performance profiles can be created; energy consumption with its peaks and even energy costs become apparent. By monitoring these parameters and identifying potential savings at an early stage, hard cash can be saved.

Another point that should not be neglected is the stability of the voltage as a quality feature. For many manufacturers, voltage quality now serves as an important quality indicator. It is not uncommon for producers to demand corresponding proof of power quality from their suppliers.

Costs of poor network quality

	Typical financial loss per
branch	incident
Semiconductor production	3,800,000 euros
Financial trading	6,000,000 euros per hour
Automotive	630,000 euros
Data center	750,000 euros
Telecommunication	30.000 euros per minute
Steel mill	350,000 euros
glass industry	250,000 euros