Effect of the Background Harmonics and the Network’s Impedance Characteristics on the Operation of Shunt Capacitors

Abstract

This paper deals with the possible adverse harmonic conditions associated with the connection of shunt compensating capacitors to certain network buses. It takes into account both the daily profile of the voltage background harmonics and the frequency dependence of the network's input impedance at these buses. These two factors will be incorporated in four established standards and recommendations used for assessing the severity of the harmonic pollution in the network. The presented approach is applied to a case study with available measurements for the variation of the different voltage harmonics during the day and a given impedance frequency spectrum. The results of several parameter studies are presented and discussed.

Keywords: capacitors, harmonics, harmonic resonance, harmonic pollution