The influence of site physical characteristics on power quality performance

Routine power quality (PQ) monitoring is limited to a statistical sample of sites that are hopefully representative of the overall PQ performance of the network. It would be helpful if the PQ performance of un-monitored sites could be inferred from the results of a PQ survey from a site having similar physical characteristics. This is only possible if it is known which physical characteristics are most influential in determining PQ performance. This paper describes the application of factor analysis techniques to determine the relationship between known site physical characteristics and PQ disturbance levels on the Vector Distribution Network (Auckland, New Zealand).