The introduction into the grid of new lighting technologies poses a significant challenge regarding power quality, and more specifically, regarding flicker measurement. The IEC 61000-4-15 standard establishes a flicker measurement procedure based on the response of the incandescent lamp. Because of the increasing use of efficient lighting technologies, it is necessary to analyse the sensitivity of new lamps to voltage fluctuations. This thesis presents a in-depth study of the sensitivity of a set of lamps subjected to fluctuations in their supply voltage.

The results clearly challenge the assumed insensitivity of new lighting technologies. In the light of the results, we recommend that the flicker measurement procedure remains unchanged, and that manufacturers control the immunity of their lamps to voltage fluctuations during the design and manufacturing process. To that end, a procedure for the immunity test of lamps is proposed to guarantee that the sensitivity of the lamp under test is lower than the one of the incandescent lamp. This procedure is included in the technical report of the IEC TC34-MT1 working group, with the aim of considering the adoption of a similar procedure in the immunity standard for lighting equipment IEC 61547.