Voltage sags are disturbances that deserve special attention in power quality (PQ) area, given its frequent occurrences. Their constant monitoring is, therefore, essential to diagnose its causes and mitigate economic losses of electric utility customers. However, the cost of a monitoring system may be excessive if not evaluated strategically. In this context, this work presents an algorithm for the installation of PQ monitors at strategic points of electric power distribution systems in order to diagnose voltage sags. Observability area concept and binary particle swarm optimization method were used to evaluate the problem. A sensitivity analysis was also performed, in which the influence of several parameters, such as fault resistance, system loading, detection threshold, fault type, and system expansion, was evaluated. The algorithm was validated in a Brazilian distribution system and in IEEE 34-bus system. The results indicated that the algorithm was able to detect voltage sags throughout the system using monitors at few buses, reducing the cost of the monitoring system.
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