Identification of Power Quality Disturbances in Electrical Distribution System using Fast Fourier Transforms and Super Learner Ensembles

Abstract

Currently, the use of non-linear loads and equipment, as well as renewable energy sources injected into the power system, tends to increase. As a result, the waveform of the electrical signal changes, and distortion occurs in the distribution system, which affects the quality and reliability of the electrical system. Importantly, sometimes this leads to malfunctions in protection equipment. This paper presents the algorithm for power quality disturbance (PQD) identification in electrical distribution systems, which involves three main steps: (1) Generating simulated waveforms using a signal processing approach; (2) extracting features using the Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) technique; and (3) identifying the type of PQD using Super Learner Ensembles (SLE), which employs cross-validation to assess the performance of multiple machine learning models. Subsequently, the model’s efficiency is verified and tested using data from electronic energy meters installed in the distribution system of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA). The accuracy resulting from synthetic and experimental data sets is 99.90% and 99.69%, respectively. The results indicate that the model performs well in identifying power quality disturbances and achieves high accuracy.