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Voltage rise caused by high levels of distributed generation is manifesting as voltage regulation challenges for many electricity network service providers. In this environment it would be ideal to reduce supply voltage magnitudes, however, many network operators are hesitant to do so due to concerns related to consumer appliance performance at reduced supply voltage magnitudes. Voltage regulation requirements are defined by network standards and network service providers must ensure voltages remain within specified limits. Through an evaluation of domestic appliance performance when supplied at various voltage magnitudes, this paper examines the impact of varying voltage levels on residential appliances. Equipment energy demand, operation and actuation were monitored for each applied voltage magnitude. While no equipment failures were recorded, appliance behaviour varied significantly with applied voltage magnitude. Individual appliance conservation voltage reduction (CVR) factors have also been established. The results highlight the importance of good voltage regulation and provide substantiated appliance performance figures for future studies. The outcomes of this paper allow electricity network service providers to understand the implications of supply voltage magnitude on domestic appliance performance, whether it be understating of the impact of higher voltage magnitudes caused by distributed generation or implications of reducing voltage magnitudes to provide headroom for distributed generation integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern electric grid usages extensive non-linear loads leading to the increased harmonic current injection in the system. This paper proposes a data-driven algorithm based on a sparse decomposition approach with the Overcomplete Hybrid Dictionary (OHD) and provides in-depth mathematical analysis to detect and mitigate harmonics in emerging electric power systems. The sparse decomposition method is widely used in image processing applications with significant advantages to big-data applications. However, its application is not properly addressed in electric grids’ applications despite massive data generation in a smart grid environment. Hence, in this paper, the performance evaluation of a sparse decomposition-based algorithm using a greedy approach is proposed and carried out in a real-time simulation environment for Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) application for the real-time detection, classification, and mitigation of PQ events to show its suitability and effectiveness. Finally, the experimental results on a small-scale laboratory setup are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed sparse-based control algorithm for DSTATCOM in real-time applications. The comparative result shows that the proposed sparse-based method is advantageous for off-line PQ signal processing and capable of real-time detection, classification, and control of the power apparatus for harmonics mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses an improved inner current reference calculation to be employed in the control of modular multilevel converters operating during either balanced or unbalanced conditions. The suggested reference calculation is derived based on the AC and DC additive and differential voltage components applied to the upper and lower arms of the converter. In addition, the impacts caused not only by the AC network’s impedances but also by the MMC’s arm impedances are also considered during the derivation of the AC additive current reference expressions. Another issue discussed in this article regards that singular voltage conditions, where the positive-sequence component is equal to the negative one, may occur not only in the AC network but also internally (within the converter’s applied voltages). Several different inner current reference calculation methods are compared and their applicability during the former fault conditions is analyzed. The paper presents a detailed formulation of the inner current reference calculation and applies it to different unbalanced AC grid faults where it is shown that the presented approach can be potentially used to maintain the internal energy of the converter balanced during normal and fault conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage and current waveforms contain the most authentic and granular information on the behaviors of power systems. In recent years, it has become possible to synchronize waveform data measured from different locations. Thus large-scale coordinated analyses of multiple waveforms over a wide area are within our reach. This development could unleash a set of new concepts, strategies, and tools for monitoring, protecting, and controlling power systems and apparatuses. This paper presents an in-depth review and analysis of the advancements in synchronized waveform data, including measurement devices, data characteristics, use cases, and comparisons with synchrophasor data. Based on the findings, five strategies are proposed to discover and develop synchronized waveform based applications over multiple application areas. The paper also presents three complementary measurement platforms and two data screening algorithms for application implementation. It further discusses committee activities and standard developments useful to explore the full potential of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inrush current generated by power transformer energization (TE) causes voltage sag of the nearby bus, the typical residual voltage of the voltage sag caused by transformer energization (VSTE) is about 0.7 p.u.--0.9 p.u. and lasts for a longer duration, which may lead to the sensitive equipment trips. This paper proposes an estimation method of voltage sag frequency considering VSTE. Firstly, based on the maximum entropy method, the residual flux distribution is calculated by considering the relationship between the residual flux and closing angle at the moment of TE. The voltage sag waveform caused by TE is calculated based on the estimation of the probability distribution of residual flux, to evaluate VSTE objectively and comprehensively. Secondly, this paper proposes a non-rectangular voltage sag equivalent frequency statistical method based on multiple magnitude-duration (MMD) function, to avoid the overestimation of voltage sag frequency by the traditional methods. Furthermore, this paper proposes an assessment algorithm of voltage sag frequency. Finally, the simulation of IEEE-30 test system verifies the necessity and correctness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As high-speed railways develop rapidly worldwide, the problems of neutral section and power quality are becoming increasingly prominent. These problems affect the normal operation of the power grid and the electric locomotives. The co-phase power supply schemes were proposed by researchers, which can solve these problems well. Among them, the MMC-based scheme (MMC-5 L) is a representative one. The existing scheme, when applied to the auto-transformer (AT)-fed system which is usually adopted by high-speed railways, needs to install an auto-transformer on the output side. To eliminate the auto-transformer and to obtain the more suitable and superior co-phase power supply schemes to AT-fed system, two improved schemes are proposed in this paper based on the novel MMC-based scheme (MMC-6 L) we proposed before. While establishing the mathematical model, creating the control system, and carrying out simulation verification of the proposed schemes, the proposed schemes are compared with MMC-6 L and MMC-5 L in terms of topological characteristics, control system complexity, power loss, and functionality. The results show that while the proposed schemes can fulfill the functions of the co-phase power supply scheme well like the MMC-5 L and MMC-6 L, they are more suitable and superior for the AT-fed system in terms of control system complexity and power loss. Among them, MMC-5L1CB performs best in power loss, and MMC-4L2CB performs best in control system complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonics, inter-harmonics, and low-frequency (below the fundamental frequency) components produced by nonlinear loads and renewables may cause undesired effects on electric power equipment including overheating, resonance, and voltage flickers. This paper presents a hybrid method for the detection of frequency components of the measured waveform that is nonstationary (time-varying) in a holistic manner. In the proposed method, the multi-syncrosqueezing transform (MSST) is firstly applied to determine time-frequency ridges for the low-frequency, fundamental, harmonic, and interharmonic components. Next, the algorithm of density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) is adopted to precisely identify the prominent frequency components (i.e., intrinsic modes) using the MSST results. The time-domain waveforms corresponding to each detected frequency component and the original signal are then reconstructed via the inverse operation of MSST to assess the rms, and total harmonic and interharmonic distortion (THD and ITHD) trends of the recovered waveforms. The proposed method is validated by simulations and actual measurements to show its usefulness. Results are also compared with different time-frequency analysis methods to show the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage sag insurance (VSI) is an effective measure to reduce the voltage sag loss and risk for enterprises with insufficient mitigation confidence or economic ability. However, due to the lack of understanding of voltage sag risk (VSR), it is difficult for power utilities to identify the enterprises with VSI demands, and it is also unable to realize differentiated premium according to different enterprises' situations. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes an improved voltage sag premium model based on VSR. Firstly, the VSR factors are analyzed, such as the hazard, the vulnerability, the exposure. The process immune time is introduced to describe the vulnerability. Based on the traditional consideration of only the ability of users to resist voltage sag, the ability of users to recover from voltage sag is further considered. Then, the risk evaluation model of voltage sag is established. The evaluation results can help power utilities to judge whether enterprises have the demand of VSI. Finally, the improved premium model of VSI based on VSR is constructed to ensure the differentiation and rationalization of the premium. The correctness and rationality of this method are proved by ten manufacturing enterprises in China by analyzing the VSR and comparing the premium before and after the improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of multiple power converters in a power system the total current may exhibit zero-crossing distortion in the form of recurrent damped oscillations with high magnitude. These oscillations are synchronized with the power system frequency. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the input current of single-phase ac-dc converters fitted with power factor correction (PFC) controllers. Emphasis is given on the impacts of the source impedance, and on how the number of converters connected to a common coupling point (PCC) impacts the PFC controller’s performance. A system model is developed followed by simulation and measurements in a real installation with electronic ballasts used to drive fluorescent lighting tubes. Results show that the recurrent damped oscillations originating from PFC controllers are close to the harmonic range and with a very low level of cancellation between devices. The magnitude therefore increases proportionally with the number of devices. As the source impedance increases, instability may occur. Possible explanations for these observations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources will be more vigorously deployed under the global trend of carbon emission reduction. The connection of numerous renewable energy sources poses an increasingly critical challenge to power quality (PQ) issues in power systems. Time-frequency analysis (TFA) is a foundational technique for real-time monitoring and disturbance detection for power signals. This paper develops an improved S-transform (IST) to accurately detect the disturbances such as oscillatory transient, time-varying harmonics and interharmonics, flicker, swell, sag, interrupt, phase jump, and frequency variation. The proposed IST features the exploration of a designed Gaussian window as the kernel function, whose shape and frequency spectrum can be controlled using a standard deviation based detection frequency parameter. This ensures that the detection requirements at different detection frequencies can be easily met. The IST can be realized by fast Fourier transform (FFT) and its inverse, which ensures that it can be implemented quickly. The IST can accurately detect the amplitude and phase information of fundamental signal, which is beneficial to determine the start and end time, and the intensity of disturbance. With the increase of detection frequency, IST also has excellent energy concentration performance. Simulation and experimental results validated the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Line-commutated converters are extensively used as the interface between ac grids and classic HVDC systems. At the inverter side, commutation failure of switches is one of the most common faults that can pose threats to the system operation. Practical and reliable study of such phenomena relies on accurate and efficient converter models for simulations. Recently, a parametric average-value model (PAVM) has been presented for ac–dc rectifiers, which considers the internal faults of the converter. In this paper, the PAVM methodology is extended to the dc–ac inverter systems, including the commutation failure of switches. The proposed PAVM also augments an automatic fault detection technique to determine the faulty switches. Using comprehensive simulation studies, the developed model is verified to accurately predict the commutation failure of switches and reconstruct the waveforms consistent with the detailed switching models of inverters while being computationally more efficient. The proposed PAVM is envisioned to be an efficient and accurate asset for simulation of HVDC systems and inevitable when faults of switches need to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supraharmonic (SH) disturbances are generated mainly by power electronics whose usage has increased significantly in the last decades. Consequently, supraharmonics have increased as well. The SH frequency range from 2 kHz to 150 kHz still lacks a normative measurement method. Compatibility levels and emission limits of SH are commonly presented as quasi-peak (QP) detector values for a bandwidth (BW) of 200 Hz measured by CISPR 16 receivers. In this context, this paper proposes an optimized method emulating the CISPR 16 receiver with QP detector for measuring grid disturbance levels. It makes innovative use of PLL (Phase-Locked Loop) units for estimating the highest distortion levels in the SH frequency range of the test signal, and in sequence, the QP detector with the appropriate specifications in the CISPR 16 standard is applied. Different cases of both synthetic and real signals were applied to the proposed method, which showed to be efficient in evaluating SH levels for current and voltage signals. An analysis of maximum permissible distortion levels is performed considering an individual SH distortion. In addition, the proposed method presents a computational cost reduction of approximately 91% in relation to the CISPR 16 method considering a specific case of signal containing SH distortions used for power quality analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, nonlinear loads such as load commutated inverter (LCI) drives are being used by industrial sector throughout the world. However, despite the LCI drive uses low-cost thyristors and their corresponding controllers, which have high efficiency and low manufacturing cost, there are concerns regarding the use of LCI drives which are two-fold: (i) they generate harmonics and (ii) they are sensitive to voltage sags occurring at their PCC. In the literature, passive harmonic filters have been suggested to address the former concern and therefore various filter designing techniques have been introduced. However, the need to elaborate a cost-effective filter to address both concerns regarding LCI drive operation has been neglected. Therefore, this paper presents an innovative approach for designing passive filters which can decrease the harmonic distortions generated by LCI drives while ensuring more reliable annual operation of these equipment. Besides, other aspects of passive filter designing, such as eliminating detuning effects, resonance elimination and harmonic loading of capacitors, have been taken into account to provide a general and practical filter designing approach for real industrial applications. In order to evaluate the innovative proposed approach, a passive filter is designed for LCI drive used in an Iranian large copper mine company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the role of the medium-voltage network and low-voltage loads in harmonic voltages with low-voltage customers and harmonic propagation. A general model as well as a detailed transfer function-based model are used. By applying them to an existing network, it is shown that remote low-voltage loads have a significant impact on the source and transfer impedance. The main impact occurs for a specific range of frequencies below the resonant frequency of the low-voltage network. The general model is able to estimate this frequency range with an acceptable level of accuracy. Furthermore, by utilizing the concept of overall transfer impedance, it is shown that voltage harmonic levels for harmonic orders around this frequency range are determined mainly by aggregated remote emission rather than local emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a practical challenge in Distributed Energy Resources (DER) operation: open phase detection. The paper presents a wide variety of naturally occurred open phase events recorded by power quality meters in DER commercial operations. The events demonstrate the complexity of open phase detection due to electrical and magnetic interphase couplings through transformer winding and core configurations. The coupling effect could recreate the missing phase in various patterns so that the DER control and protection systems or control room operators may not detect the anomaly for prolonged period of time. This paper shares experiences of timely DER open phase detection by using power quality data and suggests practical detection guidelines based on waveform signature analytics. The original field records provide credible benchmarking references for algorithm development to meet the new DER open phase detection requirement in the IEEE Stdandard 1547–2018 revision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel transactive energy approach that uses the utility's distributed energy management system, the home energy management systems in the residential customers and the existing inter-communication infrastructure to: 1) enable the electric utilities to identify the negative impacts of integrating local distributed energy resources (such as rooftop solar photovoltaic) and electric vehicles; 2) provide voltage support, transformer management and phase balancing to mitigate such impacts (utilities’ objectives); and 3) create a day-ahead local energy market whose participants are the homeowners with home battery storage. In this market, the homeowners compete among each other through a dynamic Bertrand game to maximize their payoffs (customer's preferences). The results have demonstrated the capability of the proposed transactive energy approach to resolve the conflicting objectives between the utility and the customers by improving the service voltage, extending the lifetime of the transformers, and reducing the voltage unbalance, while increasing the profits for the homeowners through the energy arbitrage without sacrificing the homeowner's convenience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of an algorithm to extract power quality parameters on a low-end digital controller with constrained resources and computational capacity can promote comprehensive adoption of power quality control and monitoring infrastructure because of reduced cost and thus improve operational ability in a microgrid or distribution grid and support more in-depth integration of renewable energy. Since conventional harmonic extraction for single-phase grid mostly operate on Fourier transform, lock-in amplifier and their derivative algorithms, they demand large memory and computational power which are available with high-end application-specific processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In this paper, a computationally efficient harmonic extraction algorithm is proposed, which can be implemented on commercially available microcontrollers with ease, without compromising accuracy. A detailed theoretical analysis of the proposed method, along with various simulation and the experimental results are presented. Workarounds for minor implementation issues on digital controllers are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inevitable voltage sag events cause losses to distributed generation (DG) and sensitive users. Reasonable planning for both of them helps to mitigate the impact of voltage sag. In this paper, a joint optimal planning method is proposed for DG and large sensitive user (LSU) considering the influence of voltage sag. Firstly, the new models of accelerated trip and chain trip for DG under voltage sag are established, to characterize the influence of DG tripping on other DG and sag characteristics during the sag event accurately. Secondly, a new voltage sag frequency assessment method is proposed, which considers models of accelerated trip and chain trip for DG, the tripping characteristics of distance protection (DP), to quantify the voltage sag severity accurately of DGs and LSUs in the gird which is with DP. Lastly, a joint optimal planning model is established considering the losses of DG and LSU under voltage sag, to support the planning of DG and LSU in different scenarios. The method is applied to IEEE RTS-30 for verification, proving that the method can give a direction of the most beneficial solution for the planner, to reduce the losses of voltage sag to both the power system and users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new three-phase to five-phase transformer, with a 30-pulse AC–DC converter for power quality improvement in vector-controlled induction motor drive. Here, three isolated transformers (T1, T2, and T3) are used and each transformer is designed to convert three-phase AC-supply into five-phase AC supply, to achieve ten-pulse AC–DC conversion. A unique configuration and angle among these three transformers is designed in such a way that the resultant input current of this transformer shows 30 pulses in it. A hybrid multilevel inverter is proposed in this paper, which is cascading a three-level neutral point clamped inverter with a two-level voltage source inverter to drive an induction motor (IM). A modified level shifted carrier-based sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation and a 3rd harmonic injection techniques are utilized to modify the modulating signal, to enhance the fundamental magnitude, and to reduce the harmonics than traditional technique. The responses of proposed medium voltage induction motor drive (MVIMD) are evaluated by simulating in MATLAB-Simulink. The proposed MVIMD performance is then verified using a scaled down laboratory prototype under various operating conditions such as steady state, starting, load perturbation, speed control, field weakening, varying load conditions, and over a wide speed range of IM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging of power system assets challenges utilities to maintain reliable service while minimizing their maintenance costs. Although malfunction of devices in the transmission or distribution networks can have catastrophic consequences, their failure is seldom unforeseen. Typically, the device aging occurs gradually over time until its health condition reaches a point of complete breakdown. The overall objective of this paper is to devise a non-invasive, online condition monitoring technique of circuit switchers for shunt capacitor banks. It aims to detect abnormal operation of these devices based on features derived from raw voltage and current waveforms, such that a predictive maintenance strategy may be employed before a complete failure occurs. The data analyzed in this paper are collected at a transmission capacitor bus, where the banks are equipped with pre-insertion impedance. Through a baseline range of values for selected parameters, the proposed technique is able to detect missing pre-insertion impedance during the capacitor energizing and failure of pre-insertion impedance switch out a few cycles after the energizing operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased penetration of wind power has made its low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability more crucial than ever. Currently, the LVRT performance of wind generators is verified using experimental voltage sags with different magnitudes and durations. The actual fault, however, also causes the phase angle jump (PAJ) of the grid voltage. In this paper, the impact of PAJ on the LVRT capability of doubly fed inductor generator (DFIG) under three-phase fault is analyzed. To achieve this, detailed analytical calculations and experimental verifications are conducted. The results demonstrate that the PAJ imposes more challenges on the LVRT by intensifying the rotor overcurrent through the natural stator flux. As a result, DFIGs that have passed the existing LVRT test may still fail to comply with the grid code requirements in practice. To tackle this issue, an improved test procedure is recommended. The new procedure considers the impedance angle of the target system as an additional test condition, thus can reveal the LVRT performance of DFIG under the potential PAJ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a comprehensive optimization method of determining the size and location of dynamic voltage restorers (DVRs) in distribution network considering customers’ demand for sag mitigation. The objective is to minimize the investment of DVRs subject to customers’ satisfaction. In the objective function, the unit price per kVA of DVR was described by a continuous function of the capacity to calculate the investment. In the constraints, a mitigation expectation index (MEI) was proposed to assess the customers’ demand for mitigation. The MEI indicates the proportion among all sag events affecting customers, which were expected to be mitigated by the customers. It is represented by the cumulative probability of residual voltage of sag events. To improve the computational efficiency, the binary encoding for the locations and real encoding for the output voltage of DVRs are combined as chromosomes in multiple population Genetic Algorithm (MPGA). The proposed method was testified with the IEEE 33 bus distribution system with different sensitive loads. Optimal results were obtained to satisfy different customers’ demand for sag mitigation efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the consequences of voltage sags is unexpected motor trips or stalls. This is caused by the simple voltage-magnitude-based tripping logic used in the motor contactors. Since a motor has momentum during a voltage sag, a deep voltage sag with a short duration does not necessarily lead to motor misoperation. Based on this reasoning, a novel motor contactor operation scheme is proposed in this paper. The proposed scheme takes into account both the magnitude and duration of a voltage sag plus the momentum of the rotor, in real-time, to decide if a motor will be tripped. The core idea of the scheme is to utilize the critical clearance time (CCT) of motors as the tripping time of AC contactors. The proposed scheme combines an offline analysis and an online calculation to minimize the computation burden in real-time operation. An improved motor parameter estimation method is also proposed to ensure the accuracy of the calculated CCT. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated and demonstrated through comparative case studies. Moreover, some practical issues are discussed to facilitate the real implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The allocation of fault current limiters (FCLs) is increasingly challenging in transmission systems these days. Specifically, the utilized deterministic expected short-circuit fault (SCF) scenarios are prone to cause over-configuration of FCLs. Moreover, the well-established local switching framework (LSF) renders inappropriate FCL switching and may further harm the system safe operation. Aiming at the above deficiencies, a novel 5G-based centralized switch FCL (CSF) framework as well as a method to allocate such flexible FCLs optimally is proposed in this paper. In the proposed CSF, the FCLs are switched by a FCL dispatching (FD) model considering system security constraints of both fault current and voltage sags. By exploiting the fast communication capability of 5G network as well as an off-line fault scanning strategy, the FD model is enabled to give online FCL switching schemes to meet the fast requirement of power system protection. Moreover, considering the probabilistic characteristic of SCFs, a bi-level FCL allocation model is established, in which the upper-level model sites and sizes FCLs considering the installation and expected switching costs while the lower-level model determines the optimal switched FCLs under each specific SCF scenario. Finally, numerical results are provided to verify the proposed allocation model, including its defending effect against SCFs in terms of fault current limiting, voltage sags relieving, as well as its cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of harmonics in electric power systems causes deviations in voltage and current waveforms from the ideal sinusoidal form and, consequently, the traditional power calculation is unsuitable. One of the power theories defined for non-sinusoidal conditions is the IEEE Standard 1459-2010, based on Fourier Transform (FT). However, when applied to non-stationary signals, the FT leads to miscalculation due to spectral leakage, being unsuitable for non-stationary waveforms. In this paper, a new approach for the IEEE Standard 1459-2010 definitions is proposed using Stockwell Transform (ST). The ST provides a time-frequency resolution which retains magnitude and phase information of signals over time. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated in three scenarios including stationary waveforms, a non-linear circuit, and real measured data. The results were compared to the IEEE Standard 1459-2010 using the FT and the Stationary Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform (SDWPT) approaches. In the three scenarios studied, the proposed method presented a good estimation for each quantity defined in IEEE Standard 1459-2010 and provided more accurate results than FT-based and SDWPT-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, there is no literature to evaluate the fault level of sensitive equipment (FLSE) caused by voltage sag from the perspective of the power grid. In practice, although the FLSE are dominated by the voltage sag of node, the voltage sag of the node is associated with whole power grid, including the voltage grade and location of the node, the distance between the concerned node and location of fault, and the weather and date at the time of fault, which are all named as voltage sag properties (VSP). In view of this gap, this paper evaluates the FLSE using the long-time monitoring data of VSP of some regional power grid by data mining method based on multidimensional matrix simplification and the improved gray target theory. The data mining process can be divided into three steps: 1) construct a database consisted of VSP and FLSE using long-time monitoring data, 2) mine the association rules between VSP and FLSE by multidimensional matrix simplification, and 3) match some actual scenario with the mined association rules by the improved gray target theory. Performance and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified through the simulation and field case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new multi-objective control strategy for inverter-interfaced distributed generation (IIDG) to ensure its safe and continuous operation under unbalanced voltage sags. The proposed control strategy can effectively improve the low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability, reduce active power oscillations, and limit overcurrent simultaneously, which are marked as the most important control objectives of IIDG during unbalanced voltage sags. The advanced voltage support scheme, which utilizes positive sequence component, is firstly proposed to maximize the LVRT capability of IIDG during unbalanced voltage sags. Then, to ensure the safety of IIDG, the active power oscillation suppression and current limitation algorithm are designed individually. Based on the control algorithms of such objectives, the multi-objective control method, including scenario classification and reference current determination, is then presented to achieve such three objectives under various system conditions simultaneously. Finally, case studies and evaluations based on MATLAB/Simulink are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decaying DC (DDC) current due to impact loads causes detrimental consequences in weak grids. In this paper, the active power filter (APF) is enhanced to simultaneously compensate for the undesired harmonics, negative sequence components and the DDC component in the event of a transient. To this end, first, a novel DDC component detection method is mathematically deduced for single-phase transient current, followed by its extension to the three-phase system. With respect to existing techniques, the proposed method has a significantly reduced detection time from 1 grid cycle to approximately 0.5 grid cycle. By further exploiting the transient signal properties in dq-frame, the three-phase fundamental-frequency current in positive sequence can be separated. Finally, the enhanced APF control scheme is developed based on the proposed detection algorithm. Experiments verified the effectiveness and advancement of the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the impacts of harmonic resonances in wind parks is to overload wind park components. The process of identifying a problematic component may be time-consuming due to the number of scenarios and different components (capacitors, transformers, cables and generators) that must be analyzed. In this context, this paper develops a first-screening approach to narrow down the number of scenarios that must be studied in detail. It first identifies that the capacitor bank is the most critical component. Then, it uses the operating limits of the capacitor bank and the harmonic distortions measured at the wind park entrance to obtain a chart that maps the problematic operating conditions of the park. Detailed investigations are needed only if the wind park condition is in specific regions of the chart. The proposed chart is attractive for practical applications as it is obtained with a simple equation, without the need to run any computer simulation, and can be consulted with few information from the wind park that is readily available to engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is proposed in this paper to determine the harmonic impedances in low-voltage networks in a stochastic way. The consequences of resonances for harmonic propagation and stability of power converters are summarized. By using Monte Carlo simulation, the method includes the uncertainties in customer impedances, specifically due to electronic loads and local generation. The uncertainty in customer impedance is included by considering probability distribution for the resistive, inductive, and capacitive parts of the impedance. The concept of transfer impedance is used for phase-to-neutral connections. A method is developed and applied to two existing low-voltage networks in Sweden. Results show that, for these two networks, the resonant frequencies decrease around 28% once photovoltaic panels are installed. This paper includes a discussion of some of the practical aspects of applying the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonic distortions at a point of common coupling (PCC) are caused by the harmonic sources in both supply system and customer facilities. In order to verify compliance with harmonic limits for an operating facility, it is essential to determine the contribution of a facility to the harmonic distortions measured at the PCC. Over the past many years, a significant amount of research work has been conducted in developing different harmonic analysis methods and especially harmonic contribution assessment methods. A common need of this line of research is consistent test systems that can be used to verify/validate a proposed method or to compare different approaches. To address this gap, a benchmark test system representing a typical medium-voltage/low-voltage network supplying industrial loads is proposed in this paper. This paper also includes examples on how to use the system to assess the performance of harmonic contribution determination methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel method for voltage dip classification using deep convolutional neural networks. The main contributions of this paper include: 1) to propose a new effective deep convolutional neural network architecture for automatically learning voltage dip features, rather than extracting hand-crafted features; 2) to employ the deep learning in an effective two-dimensional (2-D) transform domain, under space-phasor model (SPM), for efficient learning of dip features; 3) to characterize voltage dips by 2-D SPM-based deep learning, which leads to voltage dip features independent of the duration and sampling frequency of dip recordings; and 4) to develop robust automatically-extracted features that are insensitive to training and test datasets measured from different countries/regions. Experiments were conducted on datasets containing about 6000 measured voltage dips spread over seven classes measured from several different countries. Results have shown good performance of the proposed method: average classification rate is about 97% and false alarm rate is about 0.50%. The test results from the proposed method are compared with the results from two existing dip classification methods. The proposed method is shown to outperform these existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses signal processing aspects of dynamic power quality monitoring in ac energy systems. The widespread use of high-bandwidth sensors enables a characterization of both steady-state and transient operation. However, the volume of so generated data is such that it necessitates extensive preprocessing and extraction of events of interest in estimation and control. We review approaches based on single (vector) samples, and compare them with methods that require full-period information, such as standard dynamic phasors. In this paper, we propose a sparse alternative to the standard (fast Fourier transform based) evaluation of dynamic phasors, thus bridging the gap between the two classes of techniques. We also outline the computational cost tradeoffs among different variants of sparse Fourier transform customized for electric energy system data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routine inspection programs are procedures that utilities can use to improve their power quality standards and public perception. However, due to budget restrictions, it is usually not possible to inspect all elements in the whole concession area. In this scenario, strategies to efficiently allocate available teams at scheduled inspections are an interesting alternative. The challenge is to define which data are relevant and at hand to develop an strategy that is comprehensive, efficient and outperforms the current old fashioned way based on personal experience applied to automated spreadsheets. This paper proposes an approach that deals with a large amount of data from corporate systems as input to a proposed optimization engine based on Genetic Algorithm and heuristics. Primary feeders are split into segments among protection devices, referred to as metazones. The developed tool produces a set of prioritized metazones by maximizing the sum of merit indexes related to loss of energy, voltage and current violations, as well as outages, while satisfying teams’ inspections capacities. A case study with 56 primary feeders is presented, and results show that the yielded prioritized metazones are compatible with and improve current power utilities practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage sag is one of the most prominent power quality problems in the electric power system. Accurate estimation of voltage sag parameters is an important reference for electric utilities and users to evaluate power quality. In this paper, a novel algorithm based on modified S transform with digital prolate spheroidal window (DPSW) is proposed to achieve accurate detection of voltage sag. The DPSW and its time-frequency characteristics are firstly detailed. Then, the construction and performance of modified S transform with DPSW are given. Since DPSW has superior time-frequency distribution, characteristics of voltage sag signal, such as sag depth, duration, and phase jump, can be obtained by analyzing the two-dimensional complex matrix after the modified S transform with DPSW. Simulation and experimental results verify the accuracy and validity of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distribution network monitoring has the potential to improve service levels by reporting the origin of fault events and informing the nature of remedial action. To achieve this practically, intelligent systems to automatically recognize the cause of network faults could provide a data driven solution, however, these usually require a large amount of examples to learn from, making their implementation burdensome. Furthermore, the choice of input to such a system in order to make accurate classifications is not always clear. In response to this challenge, this paper contributes a means of using minimal amounts of historical fault data to infer fault cause from substation current data through a novel structural similarity metric applied to the associated power quality waveform. This approach is demonstrated along with disturbance context similarity assessment on an industrially relevant benchmark data set where it is shown to provide an improvement in classification accuracy over comparable techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an innovative method for fault location in distribution networks based on classical circuit analyses. Two synchronized and few nonsynchronized pre- and during-fault voltages are required at few buses along with the impedancematrix. A new impedance matrix manipulation procedure is proposed so that the distribution system is investigated in partitions across multiple subsystems. This procedure allows the fault location process to be performed by solving systems of determined equations, making the method more technically accessible. The fault is located by analyzing the voltage sag at the terminal-bus of each subsystem separately. The proposed method is validated on the IEEE 33-bus, 12.66 kV distribution system with/without distributed generation (DG). Simulation results show the robustness and accuracy of the method under several pre- and during-fault scenarios and measurements errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents research results on a novel algorithm that allows estimation of parameters associated with the specific voltage fluctuation sources in the power grid, which change their operating state with a frequency of up to 150 Hz. The proposed algorithm allows estimating the rate of changes of the disturbing load state, the amplitude, and shape of voltage changes caused by specific sources of disturbances. The decomposition of the estimated AM modulation voltage signal in the power grid is used to implement the algorithm. The algorithm uses a carrier function estimator, which allows research on disturbing loads that change their operating state with a frequency greater than the power frequency. The enhanced empirical wavelet transform is used for the decomposition, which allows recreating the selected parameters, considering random operation of disturbing loads. Accurate recreation of selected parameters will allow selective location of disturbing loads by assessing the propagation of voltage fluctuations caused by specific sources of disturbances. An alternative algorithm has been proposed with coding of voltage changes to voltage fluctuation indices determined from the estimated AM modulation signal of voltage, allowing reducing the necessary memory of the measuring device. Experimental studies have been conducted for the proposed algorithms, considering rapid voltage changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel islanding detection method (IDM) for grid-connected photovoltaic systems (GCPVSs) through a disturbance injection in the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. When an absolute deviation of the output voltage exceeds a threshold, the applied disturbance shifts system operating point from its maximum power point (MPP) condition. This leads to a sharp active power output reduction and consequently, a significant voltage drop in islanded mode beyond the standard voltage limit. The proposed algorithm is defined in a way that the distributed generator (DG) can be restored to MPP after islanding classification. It is thereby effective in microgrid in where the power injection at maximum level to cater the critical loads and maintain the stability of the isolated area are pursued. An intentional time delay has also been considered to avoid nuisance tripping in short-circuit faults which do not require tripping. The assessment of the proposed technique has been conducted for a sample network containing two GCPVSs in a real-time platform including actual relays in hardware-in-the-loop (HiL). The provided results under extensive islanding scenarios defined in islanding standards endorse timely and accurately detection with negligible non-detection zone (NDZ) as well as no false tripping in non-islanding disturbances. The comparative analysis of the presented scheme with a few recent IDMs for GCPVS highlights its overall superiorities, including very small NDZ, fast detection, thresholds self-standing determination, no adverse effect on power quality, and simple and inexpensive integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the challenges that the power converters with $dq$ -frame-based control confront when subjected to ferroresonance. This is mainly due to two main properties of the widely used $dq$-frame control systems. It is demonstrated in this paper that regardless of the phase-to-ground or phase-to-phase voltage measurement, the $dq$-frame control only responds to phase-to-phase voltage variations. Furthermore, the PI controllers, which are employed in conjunction with the $dq$ reference frame, can inherently only track dc references and reject dc disturbances. Consequently, a $dq$ -based PI controller can only respond to the positive-sequence phase-to-phase voltage variations, effectively. This, in turn, limits the disturbance mitigation capability of the power converter. This study investigates the impacts of the ferroresonance phenomenon on the control system response and the operating conditions of the power converters. Based on a droop-based $dq$ frame controller, the behavior of an electronically interfaced distribution generation system is studied, under various transient conditions. In spite of a promising performance under the load change and islanding scenarios, the $dq$-frame-based controller of the power converter fails to detect and respond to the voltage fluctuation and excessive overvoltages as a result of ferroresonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the concept of provision of differentiated quality of electricity supply based on customers' requirements in distribution networks. To fulfill this concept, five new gap indices are proposed to reflect the satisfaction of the received power-quality (PQ) performance compared to the thresholds which are set based on customers' requirements regarding the performance of individual PQ phenomenon or the aggregated PQ performance. Using these new indices as objective functions, an optimization-based mitigation strategy is proposed to carry out the strategic placement of different flexible ac transmission systems devices based on the analysis of PQ performance and sensitivity analysis. In this methodology, a greedy algorithm is applied to search the optimal mitigation scheme in order to enable the provision of differentiated PQ levels. The feasibility of the proposed mitigation methodology is demonstrated using a large-scale generic distribution network. The advantages and disadvantages of using the proposed indices as the optimization objective functions are also analyzed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing methods estimating utility harmonic impedance usually require some assumptions such as the utility side is the dominant harmonic source and the harmonic impedance of customer side is much larger than that of the utility side, etc. However, these assumptions may not always hold in modern power grid. This paper proposes a novel method without any assumption, the estimation process only uses the correlation of the harmonic data measured at a point of common coupling (PCC). Through analysis of various field harmonic data, we find that measured data have short correlation characteristics, and there always exists a common weak correlation interval for the self-correlation and cross-correlation of the measured data. According to Norton equivalent circuit modal, it is easy to deduce that the utility harmonic current source is weak self-correlated in this interval. By selecting the self-correlation of the utility harmonic current source less than a small threshold, the utility harmonic impedance can be estimated accurately, whether the traditional assumptions are valid or not. In addition, the proposed method only requires a small sample size. Performance and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified through the simulation and field cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point-on-wave (POW) is a single-event characteristic of voltage dips, influencing the performance of sensitive equipment, such as AC contactor and wind turbines. However, definition and calculation of POW are unsolved issues. The existing definition of POW is for single-phase dips; it does not consider three-phase dips. Moreover, existing POW calculation methods are inaccurate. This paper proposes a definition of POW as a single-event characteristic for three-phase voltage dips. Then, it proposes a POW calculation method based on space vector, including POW detection and angle calculation. The proposed method is based on the ellipse characteristics during the dip-stage and non-dip stage. The proposed method does not depend on zero crossing for angle reference. To verify the performance of the proposed method, a power-system simulation model is built to generate voltage dips with different origin. Furthermore, the accuracy of the proposed method is verified by 425 sets measured voltage dips, and compared with the published methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage sags mitigation has become a significant concern for utilities due to the pressure from both customers and regulators recently. This paper proposes a novel multi-objective optimization formulation for STATCOM allocation problem to mitigate voltage sags. The allocation of STATCOM is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP) with two conflicting objectives including the voltage sag performance and annual investment costs of STATCOM. To analytically evaluate the voltage sag performance in the optimization process, a mathematical voltage sag profile calculation model of power system with multiple STATCOMs is proposed and solved by nonlinear programming method. System Average RMS Variation Frequency index-X index is chosen to quantify the voltage sag performance for optimization. Sensitivity-based candidate bus selection is also performed as an essential step to reduce problem size. An improved multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) called SPEA2+SDE (Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm with shifting density estimation) is utilized to solve the proposed MOP model, so a set of Pareto optimal STATCOM allocations for voltage sag mitigation can be derived demonstrating the trade-off between two objectives and better supporting the decision-making. IEEE 30-bus system and IEEE 118-bus system are tested to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage imbalances are one of the most severe challenges in electrical networks, which negatively affect their loads and other connected equipment. This paper proposes a voltage support control strategy to mitigate the voltage imbalance in inverter-based low voltage distribution networks. The control scheme is derived taking in mind the following control objectives: a) to increase the positive sequence voltage as much as possible, b) to decrease the negative sequence voltage as much as possible, c) to inject the power generated by the primary source, and d) to minimize the output current of the inverter. The innovative contribution of the proposed solution is based on the design of a control algorithm that meets the aforementioned objectives without resorting to communications with other grid components. The theoretical results are experimentally validated by selected tests on a laboratory setup with X/R ratio close to one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parameters of a harmonic source change with the fluctuating background voltage and current in electric power system, which makes it difficult to establish accurate harmonic models. To solve this problem, a dynamic parameter model (DPM) for harmonic source networks is proposed in this paper. By equating the parameters of a harmonic source as a polynomial of voltage and current, the proposed model can adjust parameters accordingly. The model is not only suitable for a single harmonic source but also for complex harmonic source networks. The process of modeling need no internal information of the harmonic source. The performance of the model is, for different configurations of the harmonic source, compared to the performance of other harmonic models. The results show that the proposed model has higher accuracy and is more suitable for practical power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely existing circuit topologies and inverter control strategies for photovoltaic (PV) systems allow customer flexibility but also introduce different kinds of interharmonics into the grid. A complete understanding of interharmonics from PV systems, with reasons behind their origin, remains needed. In addition, the time-varying nature of interharmonics and the potential impacts on other equipment are yet to be understood. In this paper, laboratory and field measurements of seven different inverter types at multiple locations are presented. A comprehensive analysis is performed to understand the existence, persistence, and propagation of interharmonics in PV systems on the dc side as well as grid side for different power levels. The origins of the interharmonics are established with experimental evidence and through a comparative analysis. A rural low voltage six customer network, with two different impedance profiles caused by the installation of PV, is considered to show the potential impact on customer voltage. To address the time-varying nature of interharmonics, a sliding window ESPRIT method is preferred over fast fourier transform (FFT)-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medium power distributed energy resources (DERs) are commonly connected to medium voltage distribution systems via voltage source converters (VSCs). Several guidelines and standards have been developed to establish the needed criteria and requirements for DERs interconnections. In this respect, it is preferred to reinforce the VSC fault ride through (FRT) capability, which considerably minimizes the DG outage period and reconnection time and results in a resilient system against short circuits. Considering the significant number of asymmetrical faults in distribution systems, the VSC response in such conditions must be investigated, and consequently, its FRT capability must be reinforced. In this paper, first, a comprehensive review on the existing FRT methods has been presented and discussed. Accordingly, an adaptive virtual impedance-based voltage reference generation method is proposed, which enhances the VSC behavior under short circuits and increases the VSC FRT capability. Also, a fast sinusoidal current reference limiter is proposed to improve the performance. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, state-space analysis is presented, and a complete set of simulations is performed in PSCAD/EMTDC environment. Also, a comparison with the conventional method is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage sags are often manifested as the permanent or incipient faults occurred in the power system because of equipment malfunctions or failures. The incipient faults that are originally self-cleaning faults may repeatedly occur and gradually develop to a permanent fault after its first occurrence. The incipient fault detection is considered as a crucial task in predictive maintenance for power equipment, such as transformers, circuit breakers, and underground cables. This paper proposes a hybrid method for incipient faults detection and classification. The proposed method firstladopts two extraction methods and two feature measures to obtain seven peculiar features from voltage waveforms of abnormal phases recorded by power quality monitors at substations in a transmission network. Then, a feature selection method and the support vector machine combined with particle swarm optimization are applied to classify various types of incipient faults. Test results show that the proposed method contributes relatively accurate classification of incipient faults and can be employed as a useful tool for condition monitoring of major power equipment in the transmission network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a systematic method for determining an area of vulnerability (AOV) to fault induced voltage sags. The concept of an AOV is very useful for evaluating vulnerability and the relationship between sensitive loads and system voltage sag performance. In general, a system performance assessment pertaining to voltage sags requires a determination of AOVs for system buses. Because voltage sags can be caused by remote faults in a transmission system, to completely identify an AOV, a large part of the power system including adjacent circuits and remote supply systems should be considered. Therefore, accurately calculating critical points and identifying AOVs are challenging tasks. In this paper, we present an effective numerical method to determine an accurate AOV in a large scale power system and to overcome limitations of other well-known methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]