Assessment of higher harmonics influence to PMU measurement accuracy

This paper presents results of the study made to determine the correlation between the increased level of voltage and current harmonics in the transmission network and corresponding PMU measurement accuracy. This topic is relevant in the context of increasing level of power electronic based connections, e.g. wind and solar power plants, HVDC, etc., and due to the increasing development and use of PMU measurement based applications. For this study, several test cases were developed and assessments based on criteria defined in IEEE C37.118.1-2011 standard were made. In the study, three PMU units from different manufacturers were tested and respective results are presented in the paper. It is shown that in general the influence of higher harmonics to PMU measurement accuracy is modest or nonexistent but care should be taken as the exact characteristics of different PMUs is not always available or known.