Abstract—The increased concern about the financial losses due to voltage sags and interruptions plus the advancements in power electronics technology have led to the innovation of very fast acting intervening equipment that can mitigate such disturbances at the facility entrance. Although significant improvements in the overall power quality can be achieved, however, the high cost of these custom power devices can offset the benefits resulting from their application. The problem therefore, is one of finding a compromised solution that makes technical and financial sense. In this paper, the technical merits of the custom power devices are highlighted, along with their effectiveness in mitigating voltage sags and/or short interruptions. The costs of each application are financially analyzed together with a procedure for the decision maker to compare the payback or the revenue of investment in such devices. A case study of an oil refinery in Alexandria, Egypt is considered to illustrate the proposed procedure.

Index Terms—Custom Power Devices, Power Quality, Techno-economic Analysis, Voltage Sags.s

M. A. El-Gammal is the head of the Electrical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544 Egypt (e-mail: gammalmah50@yahoo.com).
A. Y. Abou-Ghazala, is the Electrical Power Engineering Department,Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544 Egypt(e-mail: a.ghazala@electroopower.com).
T. I. El-Shennawy is with Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemicals Co. (ANRPC), Alexandria 23111 Egypt (corresponding author, e-mail : tshennawy@yahoo.com, mob.: (+2012) 3926297, Fax.:(+203) 4446785, Phone(+203) 4264161).

Cite: Mahmoud A. El-Gammal, Amr Y. Abou-Ghazala and Tarek I. El-Shennawy, "Costs of Custom Power Devices Versus the Financial Losses of Voltage Sags and Short Interruptions: A Techno-economic Analysis," International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 900-907, 2010.