Global assessment of power quality performance of networks using the analytic hierarchy process model

Power Quality is one of the critical issues when operating contemporary distribution networks. The increased interest in PQ is due to the increased employment of sensitive equipment loads and renewable generation technologies. Currently, the evaluation of PQ network performance is based on evaluating different phenomena separately, and a standardised way to evaluate the PQ as a whole for a bus or a network is yet to be applied or widely accepted. The paper presents a methodology for combining the performances of different PQ phenomena and expressing the PQ performance of a bus using a single index. The proposed methodology adopts an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to combine the harmonics, unbalance and voltage sag performances in one proposed index; i.e. Compound Bus PQ Index (CBPQI). The separate and cumulative PQ performances of a 295-bus generic distribution network were evaluated, compared and demonstrated using heat maps.