EMC of Linear and Non-Linear Loads in Different EM Environments; An Issue of Power Quality

Renewable energy sources (RES) are being widely implemented in electricity systems to decarbonize energy supplies, including those in the most remote areas. In the context of the rural electrification effort in Indonesia, the impact of several common household appliances on grid voltages was determined. Modifications to the supply impedance have emulated the contextual issues that were discussed in previous literature, like extremely long distribution cables or ad-hoc modifications of the RES. The voltage rms fluctuation and voltage total harmonic distortion were examined. The results show that voltage deviation, noise, and harmonic were highly affected in the case of nonlinear loads. In the case of linear loads, as expected, the voltage quality will depend on the supply. Therefore, understanding the source impedance characteristics can be used to help maintain the EMC while using power-efficient nonlinear loads.