Application of Passive Harmonic Filters in Power Distribution System with High Share of PV Systems and Non-Linear Loads

Abstract

The increasing demand of non-linear loads and the revolution towards renewable energy sources connected at the utility scale, would potentially increase harmonic distortion in power distribution networks. Therefore, mitigation measures should be considered to deal with high levels of harmonics. Traditionally, a combination of passive filters has been used as an effective solution. However, the efficacy of such solution has not been investigated thoroughly in networks with high share of renewable energy sources, such as PVs. This paper analyzes harmonic distortions caused by distributed generators (PV) and non-linear loads connected to the 480 V distribution feeder. It aims to model and implement a collection of single-tuned passive filters to mitigate the harmonic levels and improve the power factor. The results have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed collection of single-tuned passive filters in mitigating the harmonic levels and improve the power factor with high share of PV systems (i.e., 59% PV penetration scenario).They have shown that, when designed and tuned properly, single-tuned harmonic filters can significantly reduce the 5th, 7th, and the 11th current harmonic distortions from 22.71%, 12.5%, and 6.102% before applying the filter down to 0.04199%, 0.1956%, and 0.1056%, respectively. The findings have been verified using a distribution feeder on MATLAB Simulink