At present, the power system is reliable. There is little problem for power outage, load shedding etc. As the power is now abundant, now comes the point of its quality- that is power quality.
We have adequate electrical power. Now, we need quality, healthy and fit electrical power!
Main factor of power quality:
The main factor of power quality is its Voltage, power factor etc. As a requirement, electrical voltage is needed to be constant or fixed at least within the range. And Power factor is needed to be as much possible to near unity.
Most the electrical system is not affected by minor voltage variation and power factor issues. However, some delicate system is used in the modern electrical system are affected. Especially in the automation sector and data centers where computer system is used.
Thus other than power cut in electrical system there might be voltage and power factor issues that can last for millisecond range. Though we may not be able to detect in naked eyes, but industries using some sensitive system such as data centers, servers , electronic equipment can detect those and can be affected.
As this are computer based system, through any interruption there will be significance delay for restarting. In some cases, it would take over 10 minutes. Even personal laptop and computer takes over three minutes at least to be able to fully functional again. While things are in shutdown and rebooting overall dependent system will suffer by data loss and production loss.
Two reasons why power quality is important:
Data Loss: The automation and computer system is processing data in every second. A sudden disruption whether it last for few second to few minutes will definitely leads to data loss.
Production loss: Production line is controlled by automation system. Any disruption will cause product loss, quality defect or at least delay in production.