Analysis of power quality performance of the Dutch medium and low voltage grids

Modern installations have become sensitive to power quality (PQ) related problems because more sophisticated devices with non-linear operating characteristics are often used there. On the contrary, most of these devices produce emissions that could decrease the PQ level of the network. It is becoming an increasing problem for the network operators to maintain good voltage quality because of the interactions of customerpsilas loads with the grid. It is anticipated that the networkpsilas physical characteristics (e.g. short circuit power, grid impedance) can influence the PQ performance (harmonic distortion, flicker severity) in the distribution grid. In this paper, a typical modern medium and low voltage Dutch grid is described that is modelled in the analysis tool dasiaPower Factorypsila. The network is simulated to analyze grid impedance and short circuit powers at different parts of the network. Furthermore, the importance of grid impedance is analyzed in relation to PQ aspects at the customerpsilas point of connection