Relevant Factors for Evaluation of the Harmonic Responsibility of Utility and Customer

This paper yields a systematic scientific foundation for the evaluation of responsibility of utility and customer to the harmonic distortions at the point of common coupling (PCC). In this regard, this paper proposes a technical process for the evaluation of harmonic distortions. This technical process provides a way to answer some technical questions related to harmonic issues based on the following aim: identifying the dominant side, determining the responsibility of each side to harmonic distortions, determining the influence of the utility on harmonic current distortions at the PCC, and determining the influence of the customer on harmonic voltage distortions at the PCC. This paper deciphers these technical questions in the concrete “relevant factors” for the evaluation of harmonic distortions. These “relevant factors” are systematically classified based on the equivalent circuits of utility and customer side for harmonic studies. In this regard, six well-defined “relevant factors” for the Thevenin equivalent circuit and six analogue “relevant factors” for the Norton equivalent circuit are formulated. Some of these “relevant factors” are proposed, for the first time, in this paper. Furthermore, this paper explains the relations between the “relevant factors” to ascertain their interdependence. In addition, the usefulness of the “relevant factors” to answer the technical questions related to the harmonic issues is illustrated using a calculation example.