Empowering a Proactive Grid with Power Quality Visibility

The evolution of the power grid is progressively shifting towards a much more dynamic and complex system. Generation sources that are more decentralized and reliant on inverter-based technologies, plus increasing demand for electrification of new types of loads are introducing more challenges to grid stability. Grid operators must adapt, requiring more extensive, granular, and timely data to enable analytics for improved efficiency and development of proactive mitigation strategies. Maintaining reliability during black sky days and resiliency during blue sky days is relevant now more than ever in the rapidly changing grid. Moving from a reactive operation to a proactive operation is a key initiative in maintaining and improving grid resilience for grid operators.     This paper discusses how advanced power quality monitoring provides critical visibility into the health of the power system, providing grid operators with actionable information that enables improving grid resilience. Power quality analyzers equipped to monitor, alarm, and provide compliance reporting on disturbances can provide early warning notifications on potential system faults or equipment failure before they develop into permanently faulted conditions that result in costly system outages and downtime.