Harmonic distortions at a point of common coupling (PCC) are caused by the harmonic sources in both supply system and customer facilities. In order to verify compliance with harmonic limits for an operating facility, it is essential to determine the contribution of a facility to the harmonic distortions measured at the PCC. Over the past many years, a significant amount of research work has been conducted in developing different harmonic analysis methods, and especially harmonic contribution assessment methods. A common need of this line of research is consistent test systems that can be used to verify/validate a proposed method or to compare different approaches. To address this gap, a benchmark test system representing a typical MV/LV network supplying industrial loads, is proposed in this paper. The paper also includes examples on how to use the system to assess the performance of harmonic contribution determination methods.

This paper presents a novel approach for the state estimation of poorly-observable low voltage distribution networks, characterized by intermittent and erroneous measurements. The developed state estimation algorithm is based on the Extended Kalman filter, where we have modified the execution of the filtering process. Namely, we have fixed the Kalman gain and Jacobian matrices to constant matrices; their values change only after a larger disturbance in the network. This allows for a fast and robust estimation of the network state. The performance of the proposed state-estimation algorithm is validated by means of simulations of an actual low-voltage network with actual field measurement data. Two different cases are presented. The results of the developed state estimator are compared to a classical estimator based on the weighted least squares method. The comparison shows that the developed state estimator outperforms the classical one in terms of calculation speed and, in case of spurious measurements errors, also in terms of accuracy.

This article deals with the influence of distributed generation (DG) on distribution line losses with respect to voltage profile. The article focuses on the development of a control strategy to minimize the grid losses and assure fairness regarding reactive power contributions. As retail customers typically have no choice where they are located along a feeder, it seems unfair that only some of them bear all the burden and responsibility for the voltage rise. On the basis of new technologies, which are capable of fast communication and data processing, a new control system has been proposed that combines classical centralized and local control. The heart of the control system is a load‑flow algorithm, which estimates the voltage drop using a modeled network. Different control solutions were evaluated by means of computer simulations. The simulated network is an actual Slovenian medium-voltage distribution network which covers a large area with diverse feeders and thus gives relatively general results.

The definition and determination of harmonic emission levels in accordance with the new draft edition of the IEC Technical Report 61000-3-6 is presented in this paper. The paper deals with contributions to the voltage harmonic distortion and, in addition, discusses an alternative method for estimating customer harmonic emission levels at the point of common coupling. This method is based on the harmonic vector method where reference impedances are introduced. The results of the harmonic vector method are compared with the results of the method based on the definitions in the IEC Technical Report. The presented harmonic vector method with reference impedances allows calculation of harmonic emission levels without any switching maneuvers or without knowing the actual impedances.

This paper deals with stabilization of an ideal transformer model (ITM) circuit, used as an interfacing algorithm for hardware-in-the-loop simulations. The ITM allows for the distribution of simulation model computations over multiple processors or can be used in power hardware-in-the-loop simulations. When specific impedance conditions of the partitioned circuit are not met, this interfacing algorithm becomes unstable. This paper first presents a new theoretical approach for representing the ITM interfacing algorithm that is based on delay differential equations. With a stability analysis of the obtained time-delay system, a stabilization method is proposed, which increases the stability boundaries of the ITM algorithm. Simulation examples, including the scenario of a two-level inverter system, are provided.

Transmission system operators (TSO) should be able to assess power quality levels in a network in order to properly address the mitigation of power quality problems. High flicker levels might be a serious power-quality problem in transmission networks and are usually caused by arc-furnace operation. TSO can assess flicker levels in real time only at nodes where power-quality measurements are available. As for the rest of the system, a TSO could calculate flicker levels, if a reliable and relatively simple method is available. Besides, proper summation of flicker levels originating from several flicker sources remains an issue to tackle. The paper proposes a simple method for the calculation of flicker levels at all nodes of a transmission network based on the known flicker values at multiple flicker-sources and based on the known network topology. Different flicker summation coefficients are compared and the one that gives the smallest error is chosen. The proposed method enables a TSO to continuously assess flicker levels at all network nodes and to investigate the consequences of network changes on flicker levels. The method was verified on the Slovenian transmission network where the results of flicker calculation were compared with available flicker measurements.