Identification of Harmonic Sources in Microgrids: An Approach Based on Metaheuristic

• Grant number: 24/05257-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Electrical, Magnetic and Electronic Measurements, Instrumentation
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Augusto Souza Fernandes
• Grantee: Diego Crnkowise
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Due to the constant expansion of power distribution systems, there has been an increase in nonlinear loads (mainly those present in industrial environments) and a greater penetration of inverter-based distributed generators, being the most responsible for increasing the levels of harmonic distortions in medium voltage feeders. In this sense, monitoring and identifying the harmonic sources with the greatest contribution are crucial tasks to guarantee the power quality on both utility and microgrid sides. Considering this context, the present research project proposes a metaheuristic-based approach, specifically using the Gray Wolf Optimization algorithm, which will make use of signals from three-phase meters allocated only at the substation and at the microgrid's point of common coupling. As it is a metaheuristic, the algorithm must estimate the harmonic signature of the source with the greatest contribution (located in the microgrid) to the distortions measured at the point of common coupling, enabling the implementation of a low-cost solution in terms of investment in measurement infrastructure. The analyzes will be carried out by modeling the IEEE 34-bus test feeder in the ATP software (Alternative Transients Program), where different scenarios can be simulated to obtain three-phase measurements. Thus, the metaheuristic, starting from a base case, must estimate the composition of the harmonic source in order to minimize the square error of the three-phase measurements between the simulated scenario and the base case. The results will be evaluated in terms of the mean absolute error, the mean square error and the root mean square error calculated between the real signature of the harmonic source and the signature estimated by the metaheuristic.