We were at Data Centre World in Frankfurt recently where Alan O’Kelly took to the stage to discuss the drive for energy efficiency and its negative effects on power quality.
For those who couldn’t make the event here is a short summary of what was discussed by Alan. If you wish to learn more or discuss power quality issues at your facility, please contact us via the buttons below.
Globally we are currently experiencing a massive drive by large energy consumers to reduce their C02 emissions. This has resulted in a rise in facilities introducing energy-saving technology and tools, as well as onsite generation as they embark on their extensive energy management programmes.
Although not immediately apparent, energy management measures such as onsite inverter-based generation like PV and Wind Turbines may reduce power quality onsite and thus reduce the reliability of sensitive electrical equipment.
More commonly than not, power quality problems are directly linked to a concentrated use of variable speed drives, diode bridges, non-detuned capacitor banks, and electronic lighting ballasts. This type of equipment is frequently installed in data centre facilities to reduce electrical energy consumption.
With the increasing use of electronic loads which are sensitive to minute power fluctuations, unplanned outages may cost a plant more long term than the potential savings in power consumption that the energy management program hoped to achieve.
Some of the main facets of poor power quality include harmonic distortion, short/long power interruptions, transients, surges, flicker, unbalance, under/over voltages, and EMC issues.
Premium Power offers a number of power quality services to address such problems.
- Monitoring – The monitoring of problem locations is crucial as it allows the extent of problematic harmonics as well as other negative power quality features to be identified.
- Modeling – Modeling of sites using tools such as ETAP or SKM allows a digital twin of a site to be built. Scenario analysis can identify likely or emerging harmonic problems ahead of new builds, network changes or the addition of new equipment to a site.
- Mitigation – Based on the data acquired through monitoring and modeling we can determine the best way to address these critical issues, ranging from the supply and commissioning of passive and active harmonic filtering to DVR’s and other solutions. Our expert engineering services are second to none
