Sci.Int.

(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

751

HARMONIC CONTRIBUTION DETERMINATION BY ELECTRICITY

TRACING METHODS
Mahmood Narimani1, Behrooz Vahidi1*, Seyed Hossein Hosseinian1
1-Department of Electrical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology
Tehran 1591634311, Iran
* Corresponding author email: vahidi@aut.ac.ir

ABSTRACT: In this paper, electricity tracing algorithms are applied to determine harmonic contribution.
The most popular electricity tracing methods are the Bialek's and the Kirschen's methods which are used in
this paper. The advantage of these methods for determining harmonic power contribution is their precision.
Also, the implementation of these methods is easier than the common harmonic contribution methods. The
common methods analyze current and voltage distortion, however in electricity tracing methods power
distortion is analyzed. To clarify the performance of the electricity tracing methods in determining
harmonic contribution, some numerical results of applying these algorithms to a sample 8-bus power
network are provided.
Key Words: Harmonic contribution, electricity tracing.
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, harmonic pollution in power networks has
increased due to the growth of nonlinear loads and has
become a significant issue and an important concern [1-3].
There are different harmonic sources whose contribution as
well as the main source in point of common coupling (PCC)
should be determined. Harmonic contribution determination
requires local measurements and harmonic impedances
which are unknown. This results in huge complexity in
solving harmonic contribution problems. A common method
used for identifying main source(s) of harmonic distortion is
based on harmonic power direction which does not provide
correct results in every situation [4,5].
In [6], for modeling harmonic sources, the Norton model
with harmonic current source and parallel impedance is
proposed. In [5] and [7], upstream and downstream networks
are modeled by Thevenin or Norton equal circuit and the
harmonic contributions of both sides are determined by
superposition in PCC. This method requires the exact value
of equal harmonic impedances for upstream and downstream
networks, which are not readily available. Therefore,
different methods were proposed to overcome this difficulty,
which are usually complex and expensive [6 12]. In recent
years, the smart methods are used for harmonic distortions
sources identification [13,15].
In [5] it is showed that comparison between corresponding
voltage (current) sources magnitude, in harmonic Thevenin
(Norton) model, is sufficient for determining the side with
larger contribution in current (voltage) distortion in PCC.
Based on this approach, different methods have been
proposed [16,19]. In [18,19] Critical Impedance method is
provided by using transmission and demand reactive power.
In [19] it is assumed that the harmonic impedance of
upstream network is almost known and maximum and
minimum values of consumer harmonic impedance are
available. The problem with this method is the dependency
of the comprised index on network and consumers
parameters and these parameters could not be readily
determined. Therefore, if consumer harmonic impedance
changes greatly or has large error in its data, the mentioned
index will vary in a very wide range. This would result in

possible to incorrect identification of the side which

contributes more in harmonic distortion.
In this paper, the contribution of harmonic sources in power
distortion is calculated exactly by electricity tracing
methods. Two main algorithms for electricity tracing have
been proposed so far: linear equations-based [20,21], and
graph-based which results in an iterative algorithm [22,23].
These two methods are recognized as the Bialeks tracing
method and the Kirschens tracing method respectively [24].
Tracing methods are generally based on the proportional
sharing principle.
The outline of his paper is as follows. In Section II Bialeks
and the Kirschens methods for electricity tracing are
presented. This is followed by a case study for harmonic
contribution in Section III. Section IV concludes the paper.
2. ELECTRICITY TRACING METHODS
To determine the harmonic contributions by electricity
tracing methods, the digraph of network in harmonic
conditions should be obtained. To determine the digraph,
there are two ways, Measurement and Simulation.
Measurement: The digraph of network in harmonic
conditions could be obtained by measuring the desired
variables, such as harmonic voltage and current, in case
study. If hth harmonic power in a network branches is
determinate, its digraph is obtained.
Simulation: in this approach, firstly, the harmonic sources
should be identified [3,25]. Secondly, one should perform
harmonic load flow [26 - 28] or state estimation.
2.1 Proportional Sharing Principle
Proportional sharing is the main principle used to trace the
power flow, see figure 1 for an illustration. This figure
shows four lines connected to node i, two with inflows and
two with outflows.

Figure 1 Proportional sharing principle

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

752

The total input power flow to the node i is Pi = 130 + 70 =

200MW of which 130/(130+70) = 65% is supplied by the
line a-i and 70/(130+70) = 35% by the line b-i. Since one
cannot differentiate between aggregated electricity flows,
and each of the outflows down the line from the node i
depends only on the voltage gradient and impedance of the
line, it may be assumed that each outgoing MW at a node
includes the same proportion of the inflows as the total nodal
flow Pi. Therefore the 50MW outgoing flow in the line i-c is
supplied (130/(130+70)) 50 = 32.5MW by the line a-i and
(70/(130+70)) 50 = 17.5MW by the line b-i. Likewise, the
150MW outgoing flow in the line i-d is supplied
(130/(130+70)) 150 = 97.5MW by the line a-i and
(70/(130+70)) 150 = 52.5MW by the line b-i.
In proportional sharing principle, it is basically assumed
that the nodes in network are perfect mixer of entering
flows. So, it is not possible to specify which particular
incoming electron goes into a particular outgoing line. It is
generally accepted that electricity is not distinguishable [20].
2.2 Bialeks Tracing Method
In this paper, the lossless version of the Bialeks method is
considered. The effect of transmission losses could be
regarded by using gross or net versions of the methodology.
This method originally presented in [20] using the
proportional principle to acquire the downstream and
upstream matrices Ad and Au [29].
In this section, upstream looking algorithm will be
explained. The dual algorithm, downstream looking, is
similar to the upstream approach.
The total inflows Pi to node i (i.e. the sum of inflows or
outflows) could be written as following

Pi = Pi j + PGi
j iu

for i = 1, 2 , ..., nbus (1)

Pi = c ji P j + PGi
j iu

for i = 1, 2 , ..., n

where iu is the set of upstream nodes supplying directly the

node i, Pi-j is the line flow in line j-i into node i and PGi is the
node is generation. By ignoring the losses, |Pi-j| = |Pj-i|.
Substituting |Pi-j| = cjiPj into (1), where cji = |Pi-j|/Pj, yields:
(2)

By equation (2) the line flow |Pi-j| = |Pj-i| relates to the

node js nodal flow, which by rearranging becomes:
Pi c ji P j = PGi
j iu

or

Au P = PG

(3)

where Au is the (nbusnbus) upstream distribution matrix, P

is the vector of nodal flows and PG is the vector of nodal
generation. The elements of Au are equal to:

[Au ]ij = c ji = P j i / P j

0
-1

for i = j
u
for j i

(4)

otherwise

If Au exists, equation (3) is employed to trace how power

flows in the network from individual generator using:

Sci.Int.(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

-1
P = Au PG

(5)

The ith element of P is:

nbus 1
Pi = [Au ]ik PGk
k =1

for i = 1, 2 , ..., nbus

(6)

It is concluded from (6) that the contribution of the kth

generator to ith nodal power is equal to [Au-1]ik PGk. Note that
the same Pi is equal to outgoing power from node i.
By using proportional sharing principle, the power flow of
line i-j can be calculated as following:
Pi j =

Pi j
Pi

Pi =

Pi j nbus
1
[Au ]ik PGk
k =1
Pi

d
for all j i

(7)

where id is the set of downstream nodes supplied directly

from the node i. This equation shows the contribution of
each generator to the power flow of line i-j, which for kth
generator is equal to |Pi-j|[Au-1]ikPGk / Pi [20].
2.3 Kirschens Tracing Method
The Kirschens method is based on a set of definitions for
Domains, Commons, and Links as following.
Domain of a Generator
The Domain of a generator is the set of buses that are
reached by the produced power of this generator.
Commons
Domain application is limited, because the Domains of the
different generators could be overlapped. So the concept
Common which is more profitable is defined. A Common is
a group of buses reached by the same generators.
The rank of Common is defined as the number of generator
supplying power to the Commons buses.
Links
A link is defined as a group of lines (branches) which
connect two Common directly. The flow in a link is always
from a Common of lower rank to a Common of higher rank.
State Graph
If the Commons and links are illustrated as nodes and
branches respectively, then the state of the system can be
represented by a directed, acyclic graph. This graph is
directed because the flow in a link particularly known, and is
acyclic because links can only go from a Common of lower
rank to a Common of higher rank.
The root nodes of a State Graph are Commons of rank one
and the leaves are Commons of highest rank.
Proportional sharing principle provides the basis of a
recursive method to calculate the contribution of each
generation to line flows.
Let
Cij: Contribution of generator i the load and the outflow of
Common j.
Cik: Contribution of generator i the load and the outflow of
Common k.
Fjk: Flow on the Link between Common j and k.
Fij: Flow on the Link between Common j and k due to
generator i.
I k:
Inflow of Common k.
Then
Fijk = Cij F jk
(8)

Sci.Int.(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

I k = F jk

1
0.914
1.146
Fijk
j
(10)
0.232
Cik =
Ik

1.146
The inflow of the root nodes of the State Graph is
0
produced entirely by the generators embedded in these

Commons. The proportion of the outflow traceable to each

Au =
of these generators can be calculated and pervaded to
0
Commons of higher rank [22,24].

To determine the exact hth harmonic contributions by the

0
electricity tracing methods, the active power P should be

h
replaced by hth harmonic power P .

0
3. CASE STUDY
0
Consider a simple system shown in figure 2 with hth

(9)

harmonic power flows obtained from harmonic load flow or

measuring. The Bialeks tracing method will be now applied
to the system of figure 2.

Figure 2 Harmonic power flow in eight-node network

The vector of nodal generation PG is

(11)
PG = [1.146 0 1.553 0 0 0 0 1.526]
-1
In the case study, we see matrices Au and Au which is
attained by inverting Au at the top of the next page.
One can determine how the line hth harmonic flows are
supplied from individual hth harmonic sources by Equation
(7).
Table I in the two next pages, depicts the contribution of hth
harmonic sources to line hth harmonic flow in line i-j.
Now, the Kirschens tracing method will be applied to the
case study system.
The case study contains five Commons which are shown in
figure 3 and expressed in Table II.
T

753

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

1.172

1
1.785
0.486 0.613 0.440
0

1 0
0.914 1.785 1.172
0.732 1.722
0
0
1
1.172 1.722
0.428
0
0
0 0
0.914
0
0
0
0 0

0
0
1
0

0.183

1.526
0.248

1.526
1.095

1.526
1
0

(12)

0
0
0
1
0.798 1
0
0

0.202 0
1
0

0.133 0 0.657 1
Au-1 =
0.544 0.532 0.590 0.375

1
0.627 0.532 1
0.374 0.468 0
0

0
0
0
0

0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
1 0 0
1 1 0
0 0 1
0 0 0

0
0
0

0
0.120

0.282
0.718

(13)
TABLE I
HARMONIC CONTRIBUTION (THE BIALEKS METHOD)
The hth
The hth
harmonic
hth
harmonic
contribution
Line harmonic
contribution
of
source
of sources
sources
(%)
(MW)
GhA
0.914
100
1-2
GhB
0
0
0
0
GhC
0.232
100
GhA
GhB
0
0
1-3
0
0
GhC
0.486
100
GhA
GhB
0
0
2-5
0
0
GhC
0.428
100
GhA
GhB
0
0
2-7
0
0
GhC
0.152
12.964
GhA
GhB
1.020
87.031
3-4
0
0
GhC
0.080
13.051
3-5
GhA

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

754
h

GB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC
GhA
GhB
GhC

4-5

4-6

5-6

8-5

8-6

8-7

0.533
0
0.057
0.383
0
0.095
0.637
0
0.623
0.916
0.183
0
0
0.183
0
0
0.248
0
0
1.095

86.949
0
12.955
87.045
0
12.978
87.022
0
36.179
53.194
10.627
0
0
100
0
0
100
0
0
100

Sci.Int.(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

Relative contributions to the outflow of Common 2 (Links 4

and 5 whose lines are 8-7, 8-5 and 8-6):
Generator GhC: 1.526/1.526=1 p.u.
Absolute contributions to the inflow of Common 3:
Generator GhA: 0.2321=0.232 MW
Generator GhB: 1.553 MW
Relative contributions to the outflow of Common 3 (Link 6
whose lines are 3-5, 4-5 and 4-6):
Generator GhA: 0.232/1.785=0.12997 p.u.
Generator GhB: 1.553/1.785=0.87003 p.u.
In this stage, the contributions of harmonic generators to the
harmonic power flows of all Links have been computed.
As it can be seen, the Kirschens method cannot compute the
contributions of harmonic generators to the harmonic power
flows of internal branches in Commons such as branches 3-4
in Common 3.

TABLE II
THE COMMONS OF CASE STUDY

Common
1
2
3
4
5

Buses
1, 2
8
3, 4
7
5, 6

Generators Rank
GhA
1
GhC
1
2
GhA, GhB
2
GhA, GhC
GhA, GhB,
3
GhC
In the case study there are six Links that are depicted in
Table III.
TABLE III
THE LINKS OF CASE STUDY

Lin
k
1
2
3
4
5
6

Lines

From
Common
1
1
1
2
2
3

To
Common
3
4
5
4
5
5

Power
Flow
0.232
0.428
0.486
1.095
0.431
1.785

1-3
2-7
2-5
8-7
8-5, 8-6
3-5, 4-5, 46
Figure 4 shows the State Graph of case study and figure 5
shows additional data about generations, loads in Commons
and flows on Links.
To determine harmonic contributions, we first compute the
inflows of each Common:
Common 1: 1.146 MW
Common 2: 1.526 MW
Common 3: 1.553+0.232=1.785 MW
Common 4: 0.428+1.095=1.523 MW
Common 5: 0.486+0.431+1.785=2.702 MW
Then, the contributions starting from the root node of the
State Graph will be computed:
Relative contributions to the outflow of Common 1 (Links 1,
2 and 3 whose lines are 1-3, 2-7 and 2-5):
Generator GhA: 1.146/1.146=1 p.u.

Figure 3 The commons of case study network

Figure 4 The state graph of case study network

Figure 5 Additional load, generation and flow data for the case
study

Sci.Int.(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

To compare the methods of Bialek and Kirschen, their

results for branches which are not internal in Commons are
depicted in Table IV.
According to Table IV it is seen both the Bialek's and the
Kirschen's methods have approximately yields similar
results in external branches.

755

harmonic power contribution in PCC. The advantages of

these algorithms are their precisions and effortless
implementation.
As it can be seen in previous section, of the Bialeks method
is more efficient than the Kirschens method, because the
Kirschens method cannot determine about internal branches
in Commons and these lines are neglected.

4. CONCLUSION
This paper used electricity tracing algorithms to determine

Branch
(Line)
1-3
2-5
2-7
3-5
4-5
4-6
8-5
8-6
8-7

TABLE IV
HARMONIC CONTRIBUTION IN EXTERNAL BRANCHES
GhBs contribution
GhCs contribution
GhAs contribution
Bialeks
Kirschens
Bialeks
Kirschens
Bialeks
Kirschens
method
method
method
method
method
method
100
100
0
0
0
0
100
100
0
0
0
0
100
100
0
0
0
0
13.051
12.997
86.949
87.003
0
0
12.955
12.997
87.045
87.003
0
0
12.978
12.997
87.022
87.003
0
0
0
0
0
0
100
100
0
0
0
0
100
100
0
0
0
0
100
100

REFERENCES
[1] Balci, M. E. and Hocaoglu, M. H. "On the validity of
harmonic source detection methods and indices", in 14th
International Conference on Harmonics and Quality of
Power (ICHQP), 26-29 September 2010.
[2] Cataliotti, A. Cosentino, V. and Nuccio, S. "A virtual
instrument for the measurement of IEEE Std 1459-2000
power quantities," in Instrumentation and Measurement
Technology Conference (IMTC), Ottawa, Canada,
1513-1518, 2005.
[3] Cataliotti, A. and Cosentino, V. "A new measurement
method for the detection of harmonic sources in power
systems based on the approach of the IEEE Std. 1459
2000", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 25(1):
332-340 (2010).
[4] Xu, W. Power direction method cannot be used for
harmonic source detection, IEEE Power Engineering
Society Summer Meeting, 2: 873- 876, 2000.
[5] Xu, W. Liu, X. and Liu, Y. An investigation on the
validity of power-direction method for harmonic
sources determination, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, 18(1): 214-219 (2003).
[6] Thunberg, E. and Soder, L. A norton approach to
distribution network modeling for harmonic studies,
IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 14(1): 272-277
(1999).
[7] Xu, W. and Liu, Y. A method for determining
customer and utility harmonic contributions at the point
of common coupling, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, 15(2): 804-811 (2000).
[8] Yang, H. Pirotte, P. De Jaeager, E. and Robert, A.
Harmonic emission levels of industrial loads
statistical assessments, in CIGRE, paper 36-306, 1996.
[9] Chazottes, B. Deflandre, T. and Gorgette, F.
Estimation the true customers contribution to the

power system harmonic disturbances, in Proc. Conf.

Power Quality Applicat., Sweden, June 1997.
[10] Gonbeau, O. Berthet, L. Javerzac J. and Beudou, D.
Method to determine contribution of the customer and
the power systems to the harmonic disturbances, 17th
International Conference on electrically distribution,
Session 2, Paper no. 32, Barcelona, May 2003.
[11] Staroszczyc, Z. A metohd for real-time, wide-band
identification of the source impedance in power
systems, IEEE Transaction on Instrumentation and
Measurement, 54(1): 377-385 (2005).
[12] Ortega, J. Expozito, A. Garcia, A. and Payan, M. A
state estimation method approach to harmonic polluting
load
characterization
in
distribution,
IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, 20(2):765-772 (2005).
[13] Mazumdar, J. Harley, R. G. Lambert, F and
Venayagamoorthy, G. K. A novel method for
predicting harmonic current injection from non-linear
loads using neural networks, IECON 2005. 31th
Annual Conference of IEEE, IECON 2005.
[14] Mazumdar, j. Harley, R. G. and Lambert, F. System
and method for determining harmonic contributions
from non-linear loads using recurrent nural networks,
Proceedings of Internationals Joint Conference on
Neural Networks, Montral, Canada. July 31- August 4.
2005.
[15] Srinivasan, D. Ng, W. S. and A. C. Liew., Neural
networkbased signature recognition for harmonic
source identification, IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, 21(1): 398-405 (2006).
[16] Pyzalski, R. Lukomski, R. and Wilkosz, K. Utilization
of the voltage rate to localization of harmonic source in
a power systems, IEEE Melecon. Electrotechnical
Conference, 3: 1091-1094, May 2004.
[17] Hamzah, H. Mohamed A. and Hussain, A. Harmonic
source location at the point of common coupling based

756

ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8

on voltage magnitude, TENCON 2004. 2004 IEEE

Region 10 Conference, vol. C: 220-223, 2004.
[18] Chen, C, Liu, X. Koval D. and Xu, W. Critical
impedance method- a new detecting harmonic sources
method in distributions systems, IEEE Transactions
on Power Delivery, 19(1): 286-297 (2004).
[19] Liu, C. and Xu, W. A critical impedance-based
method for identifying harmonic sources, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, 19(2): 671-678
(2004).
[20] Bialek, J. Tracing the flow of electricity, Proc. Inst.
Elect. Eng., Gen., Transm., Distrib., 143(4): 313320
(1996).
[21] Pantos, M. Verbiec, G. and Gubina, F. Modified
topological generation and load distribution factors,
IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 20(4): 1998
2005 (2005).
[22] Kirschen, D. Allan, R. and Strbac, G. Contributions of
individual generators to loads and flows, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, 12(1): 5260 (1997).
[23] Wu, F. F. Ni Y. X. and Wei P. Power transfer
allocation for open access using graph theory
fundamentals and applications in systems without
loopflow, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 15(3):
923929 (2000)..

Sci.Int.(Lahore),25(4),751-756,2013

[24] Shahidehpour, M. Yamin, H. and Li, Z. Market

Operations in Electric Power Systems: Forecasting,
Scheduling, and Risk Management. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 2002, ch. 10.
[25] Herraiz, S. Sainz, L. and Clua, J. "Review of harmonic
load flow formulations", IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, 18(3): 1079-1087 (2003).
[26] Teng, J. H. and Chang, C. Y. "A fast harmonic load
flow method for industrial distribution systems", in
International Conference on Power System Technology,
Kaohsiung, pp. 1149-1154, 2000.
[27] Hui, J. Yang, H. Lin, S. and Ye, M. "Assessing utility
harmonic impedance based on the covariance
characteristic of random vectors," IEEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, 25(3): 1778-1786 (2010).
[28] Chang, C. Y. and Teng, J. H. "Three-phase harmonic
load fow method", in International Conference on
Industrial Technology, Kaohsiung,, pp. 839-844, 2002.
[29] Achayuthakan, C. Dent, C. J. Bialek, J. W. and
Ongsakul, W. "Electricity tracing in systems with and
without circulating flows: physical insights and
mathematical proofs," IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, 25(2): 1078-1087, 2010.