EPRI recommends new metrics for characterizing the performance of power delivery systems. (News).

PALO ALTO, CA--A new standard that more accurately measures power delivery system performance and outlines a methodology for determining the level of service required by a consumer is needed, according to a recent report from the Consortium for Electric Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS).

The CEIDS Initiative, launched in 2001 through the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Strategic Science & Technology Program, is sponsored by the EPRI and its affiliate, the Electricity Innovation Institute (E2I).

The report, "Analysis of Extremely Reliable Power Delivery Systems," examined four electricity customers with widely different types of digital systems, processes, and enterprises with varying electric power interface configurations. The case studies included an Internet data center, a textile manufacturer, a hospital, and a residential development.

EPRI's new metrics enhance the efficacy of existing methods employed to determine reliability and power quality, says a news release. Because these measures--defined in terms of number of events or minutes or seconds of unavailability--may not adequately characterize the actual impact of a power quality disturbance, CEIDS researchers say they developed a more precise definition of power quality.

Specifically, they combined these measures into categories of consumer requirements based on the mean-time between failure (MTBF) and the mean-time to repair (MTTR). These categories reflect the sensitivity of critical ...