Reverse harmonic load flow analysis using an evolutionary technique

Abstract

In the present paper, a new approach to estimate the harmonic distortions is proposed by considering the existence of harmonic sources in the power system. The algorithm employs a differential evolution technique by formulating the reverse harmonic load flow problem for each harmonic order and by considering a limited number of phasor measurement units (PMUs) deployed across the power system. The technique utilizes the measured voltage and current harmonics obtained using synchronized PMUs with known transmission network as input data. The proposed technique estimates the harmonic voltage phasors at the unmonitored buses of the power system with reasonable accuracy. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is validated by applying it to five bus and IEEE 14-bus test systems by considering uncertainty in measurement noise. It is shown that the proposed approach yields optimum solution and provides reliable and accurate harmonic state estimates.