California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE)

Phasor-based interdependencies of multiple harmonic sources, especially Distributed Energy Resources, on distribution networks are analyzed in this paper. A new index, Phasor Harmonic Index (IPH), is proposed by the authors. IPH considers both harmonic source magnitude and phase angle for different harmonic orders. Other commonly used harmonic indices are based solely on magnitude of waveforms. A very detailed model of a distribution network is used in the harmonic assessment. With the help of the detailed distribution network model, the phase couplings and the phase balancing impacts on harmonic propagation between three phases are investigated. Moreover, effects of harmonic source phase angle deviations are analyzed at both the customer side and the substation side. This paper investigates the importance of phase angles in harmonic assessment and how distribution network characteristics can be analyzed appropriately with phasor-based harmonic studies. In addition to device level harmonics, system level harmonic propagation need to be considered.