New approach for power lines performance estimation based on load variation due to voltage sags

The power line performance has traditionally been assessed in terms of its efficiency and reliability. The increase of the effect of voltage sags on sensitive loads, maybe located far away from the faulted line, is the reason to carry out a new analysis of power line's performance. A new method to evaluate the power line performance, based on voltage sag indices, is proposed. The voltage sag indices suggested to assess power lines performance are the load variation, the non delivered energy and the total cost due to voltage sags. The proposed power line performance is compared with the traditional performance based on power line outages. The results show that the proposed method can change the assessment of power lines performance and therefore the utility focus for investment.

► A new power line performance index, based on alternative voltage sag indices is proposed.
► The sag indices are related to the load variation during a voltage disturbance.
► The results show that the new method may change the line performance ranking and therefore the utility focus for investment.