Passionate People. Powerful Solutions.
Power Quality Analysis, Surveys & Report Services
We offer expert Generated & Distributed Power Quality Surveys. We understand that poor, or unstable power quality has adverse effects on electrical systems.
- Testing and Diagnosis
- Project Planning
- Post Survey Action Plan
How Can We Help?
Power quality surveys
Our Generator and Distributed Power Quality Surveys help protect your infrastructure, reduce downtime, and extend the life of your electrical systems. Poor or unstable power – caused by low power factor, fluctuating loads, or electrical noise (harmonics) – can quietly damage equipment and drive up operational costs.
Left unaddressed, these issues can lead to overheating, nuisance tripping, component failure, and costly damage to sensitive systems.
The Pleavin Power Solution
Our expert team combines proven industry experience with the latest monitoring technology to deliver detailed, intrusive power quality studies: from targeted equipment analysis to full site-wide assessments.
These assessments pinpoint problem areas and highlight opportunities for improvement. Once identified, we work with you to implement effective solutions, including preventative measures and advanced correction equipment; eliminating poor power factor, harmonics, and electrical noise.
In any application using on-site or mobile generation, power quality is just as critical as generator sizing. Highly inductive or capacitive loads can negatively impact system performance, requiring oversizing calculations to protect overall power factor.
Left unmanaged, poor power quality forces generators to work harder, increasing wear, fuel consumption, and the risk of failure. Our approach ensures efficient operation, improved reliability, and long-term protection of your power systems.
How to make sense of power factor
In an ideal electrical system, demand would match the available power. In reality, when demand exceeds supply, additional strain is placed on the utility network. To manage this, many utilities apply demand charges which are often based on the highest average load recorded over a 15–30 minute period. Irregular or spiking demand requires utilities to hold greater reserve capacity, increasing costs for the end user.
Peak demand represents the highest level of power consumption. Supplying power at these peaks is challenging, and utilities often apply peak demand charges – sometimes using the single highest peak to set costs for the entire billing period.
Utilities may also impose surcharges on customers with a low power factor. A poor power factor reduces efficiency, increases operating costs, and places additional strain on the network, much like an inefficient engine consuming more fuel. While a perfect power factor is rarely achievable due to inherent system impedance, improving it can significantly reduce costs and utility penalties.
Types of Power
Beer is active power (kW) – the useful power, or the liquid beer, is the energy that is doing work. This is the part you want.
Foam is reactive power (kVAR) – the foam is wasted power or lost power. It’s the energy being produced that isn’t doing any work, such as the production of heat or vibration.
The Mug is apparent power (kVA) – the mug is the demand power, or the power being delivered by the utility.
How to calcuate power factor
Power factor shows how efficiently electrical power is being used. It is calculated by comparing the useful power doing the work (kW) to the total power supplied to the system (kVA), using the formula:
Power Factor (PF) = kW ÷ kVA
In simple terms, the closer this value is to 1, the more efficiently power is being used. A low power factor means more power is being drawn than is actually needed to do the work.
Poor power factor leads to higher current, which increases heat, stresses electrical components, and reduces the amount of usable power available. It can also require larger cables and equipment, driving up infrastructure and operating costs.
