Low Voltage Power Quality Assessment using Smart Meters

Power quality on South Africa’s low voltage networks is largely unmonitored and not well understood. Regulatory requirements in South Africa requires utilities to monitor power quality at every 1 in 20 000 customers. Smart grids and smart metering is an ever-evolving field with the number of smart meters rising rapidly. This paper introduces the concept of monitoring power quality parameters on the low voltage networks using smart meters. Utilizing smart meters to monitor power quality on low voltage networks will allow utilities to comply with regulatory requirements in a cost-effective way. In this paper an experimental meter is used to evaluate the capabilities of smart meters to perform Fourier transforms on voltage and current to calculate harmonics. Experimental results prove this capability.