Trends in Power Quality, Harmonic Mitigation and Standards for Light and Heavy Industries: A Review

Abstract

The power quality of electrical grids is becoming an important issue worldwide. The electrical grid has to deliver sinusoidal voltages and currents without frequency or amplitude variations. However, the connection of non-linear loads generates harmonics that degrade the grid quality. The presence of harmonics in the load currents has many negative consequences and can distort the voltage waveform at the point of common coupling (PCC). Thus, it is essential to mitigate the harmonics in order to maintain a suitable grid quality. This is a shared responsibility between energy suppliers, manufacturers of electric and electronic equipment, and users. In this context, this work presents, for each stakeholder, a comprehensive analysis of their responsibilities and the standards that they should meet. Additionally, this paper reviews the most common types of filters used to comply with the applicable standards in industrial applications. Finally, in order to prove that active power filters allow maintaining good power quality in all types of grid, commercially available active power filters were installed in three different grids contexts: an office building, a factory, and a stadium with a large number of LEDs. The experimental results obtained were used to evaluate the impact of active filters on grid quality. This review would help users to overcome their grid distortion problems.

A New Optimal Current Controller for a Three-Phase Shunt Active Power Filter Based on Karush–Kuhn–Tucker Conditions

“…It contributes to improved efficiency and functioning of a power system and connected consumers. For this reason, power conditioner systems are increasingly used [1,2].…”

Improving Power Quality by a Four-Wire Shunt Active Power Filter: A Case Study

“…Several types of compensating systems in three-phase four-wire power systems are reported in the literature. These usually consist of passive solutions [1,2], synchronous machines, specially-designed transformers such as zig-zag transformers [4,5] and active solutions such as active power filters (APFs) [1,2,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…The main design features, advantages, and drawbacks of passive, active and hybrid active power filters used to comply with the applicable standards in industrial applications (such as IEEE 519-2014) were recently summarized [6]. Among these, the active power filters are the most attractive topology for low voltage networks, as they are the most flexible and the most cost-effective solution.…”

“…For low-voltage applications, the preferred topology of active power filters in the market is the shunt active power filter (SAPF) based on a two-level voltage source converter (VSC) [6]. Starting from the basic three-wire APF structure, by connecting the fourth wire from the neutral point of the DC-bus to the grid neutral, the cheaper topology of the three-leg APF is obtained.…”

The Influence of a Photovoltaic Micro-Installation on the Low-Frequency Parameters of Electricity at PCC and Its Impact on the Thermal Characteristics of Selected Devices

“…They indicate a number of similarities in the reported problems resulting from incorrect operation of renewable energy systems. The issues related to the spreading use of diverse renewable energy installations cooperating with power grids can be divided into those resulting from [11][12][13][14]: Increase in losses on transmission systems related to power flows; • Problems with reactive power flows and their distribution; • Formation of unbalance in the reference to differences between phases L 1-L 2-L 3.…”