Glossary · Energy and utilities automation
Power monitoring
Also known as: Power metering, Electrical power monitoring
German: Leistungsüberwachung
In electrical and automation engineering, power monitoring is the continuous measurement of electrical quantities, such as voltage, current, active, reactive and apparent power, power factor and energy, at feeders, machines or devices.
- Energy
In one sentence
Power monitoring continuously measures voltage, current, power, power factor and energy at feeders, machines or devices.
Example
Power meters in the main distribution board report active power and power factor for each outgoing feeder to the SCADA system every second.
How it applies
- Engineering: Measurement is done with power meters, protection relays, measuring modules in the controller or drives; communication via fieldbus or Ethernet makes data available to control systems.
- Operation: Power data supports load management, peak shaving and cost allocation.
- Maintenance: Changes in current or power of a motor can indicate mechanical problems and support condition-based maintenance.
- Documentation: The documentation should state what is measured, where, with what accuracy class and at what interval, and how measurement devices are safely installed and serviced. Work on measuring circuits, including current transformer circuits, must follow electrical safety rules.
Power monitoring vs. power quality monitoring
Power monitoring focuses on how much power and energy is used. Power quality monitoring analyzes the characteristics of voltage and current, such as dips, harmonics and flicker, and typically requires higher sampling rates and dedicated instruments.