The report describes activities aimed at evaluating new synthetic indicators for Power Quality (PQ) disturbances and strategies for their use. These activities were conducted with a focus on both potential regulatory implications and monitoring the nonlinearities introduced by the spread of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in modern distribution networks. Specifically, the effectiveness of Cluster Indices was assessed for describing network performance during voltage sags, with the goal of potentially using these in a regulatory context as an alternative or addition to currently proposed indicators. A software tool was developed to evaluate these indicators and analyze Clusters based on certain topological network characteristics, using data from both the QuEEN system and national monitoring.

The results achieved will form the foundation for discussions and activities in 2020 regarding national monitoring. Additionally, the impact of potential interventions in the distribution network (such as extending cable portions of the network) on the statistics of “severe” voltage sags was evaluated. The analysis benefited from a full year of national monitoring data.

Regarding new methodologies for characterizing voltage disturbances generated by nonlinear loads connected to the network, innovative techniques were evaluated, such as those based on higher-order statistical (HOS) methods. These methods were used to detect non-stationary transient disturbances in networks, based on voltage data measured by monitoring systems. Specifically, the activity involved analyzing the state-of-the-art application of these methods to Power Quality issues and preparing a model in DIgSILENT to generate voltage signals suitable for evaluating higher-order statistical indices (variance, kurtosis, and skewness).

The goal of these activities was to consolidate and advance the expertise gained on service quality, aiming to improve the effectiveness of methods for evaluating and presenting PQ levels in the network, with the eventual goal of implementing them in the QuEEN system.