Power quality monitoring of single-wire-earth-return distribution feeders

It is costly to have a conventional three phase electricity supply system to service sparsely-populated rural areas. As a solution, the single wire earth return (SWER) network is widely used which has only one overhead conductor delivering power and the ground is used for the return path. This paper presents an on-line monitoring system, currently under development, to provide real-time power quality information of the SWER lines. The system comprises pole-mounted monitoring units distributed along the SWER feeder and relies on its own independent wireless communications platform for data transmission and control.