A Study of Harmonic Distortion Limit Change During the Reconfiguration Process of the Smart Grid

Abstract

On the purpose to find out if harmonic distortion limits of customer installations will change during a smart grid reconfiguration process, the thesis was completed. The smart grid concept has been widely accepted to gradually improve the current power system which can be made more efficient, reliable, and secure. However, reconfiguration, which will happen frequently in a smart grid concept, may bring appreciable changes to harmonic distortion limits of customer installations. This phenomenon may be an issue of concern in the smart grid concept. In this thesis, a 30-bus power system will be used as the test system, MATLAB codes about the calculation of short-circuit current will be written, and harmonic limit results will be collected, presented, and analyzed. A conclusion will be drawn that the reconfiguration process of a smart gird could apparently change harmonic limits of some of the customer installations. Short-circuit ratios of several load buses in the test system will be studied in detail to obtain the pattern of harmonic limit value distribution in all the load buses; histograms will be made to clearly explain the pattern.