Harmonic distortion in low voltage isolated distribution grids

Modern electric distribution systems require reinforcements to face the many challenges on the road towards the fulfillment of the “smart grid” paradigm. One of the most important issues is to provide adequate power quality levels, whose consistency could be compromised by the installation of more and more power electronic devices directly on low voltage networks. This paper is devoted to analyze the impact that the use of some typical distributed resources, such as renewable generation units (typically photovoltaics) and electric vehicles charging stations, has in a realistic isolated network in the presence of other harmonic distortion sources (nonlinear loads). Tests have been developed on a real isolated distribution grid which has been modeled for solving an unbalanced three-phase harmonic load flow.