2012 International Conference and Exposition on Electrical and Power Engineering (EPE 2012), 25-27 October, Iasi, Romania
An Optimal Measurement Placement Method for
Power System Harmonic State Estimation
Marjan Shafiee Rad, Hossein Mokhtari, Member, IEEE, Houshang Karimi, Member, IEEE
Center of Excellence in Power System Management and Control (CEPSMC)
Sharif University of Technology
Tehran, Iran
marjan_shafiee@ee.sharif.edu, mokhtari@sharif.edu, houshang.karimi@sharif.edu
Abstract –Harmonic state estimation (HSE) method has been used
to locate harmonic sources and estimate harmonic distribution in
power systems with limited number of harmonic meters. This
paper focuses on a new technique for optimal placement of
measurement devices and observability analysis for power
systems harmonic state estimation. The proposed method
optimizes the number of measurements and minimizes the error
of estimation at the same time. The method is tested on the IEEE
14-bus power system to show its precision.
Keywords–Harmonic state estimation (HSE); optimal
placemen; observability; power system.
I. INTRODUCTION
Harmonic current/voltage level in power networks has been
increased due to the widespread use of power electronic
equipment. This increase may, in turn, result in damage to
power system equipment in addition to extra power losses in
the network. In order to assess the level of harmonics, it is
required to monitor power networks using power quality
analyzers. However, due to the high costs, only limited number
of measurements can be done in practice [1], [2].
The task of harmonic state estimation is to identify the
locations and magnitudes of harmonic sources and to estimate
the harmonic voltage and current by partial measurements. Due
to the high expense of measurement instruments and
installation of communication channels, only a limited number
of harmonic meters may be available [3], [4]. In other words,
the number of measurements can be only slightly greater or
even fewer than the number of unknown state variables. The
quality of the estimates is a function of the number and location
of the measurement points. Therefore, a systematic procedure
is needed to design the optimal measurement placements [4],
[5].
A measurement placement algorithm for harmonic
component identification is presented in [6] based on a
(ℎ ) (ℎ ) + (ℎ)
sequential solution and minimum variance criteria. But line
current measurements and observability of power network are
not considered. In this paper, a new order sequential algorithm
harmonic state estimation problem is presented in section IV.
Section V gives the results of a numerical experiment using the
IEEE 14-bus harmonic test system. Conclusions are given in
the final section.
II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
In this paper, transmission lines are modeled as equivalent
 -circuit; rotation machines as constant impedances;
aggregated loads as impedances determined by their active and
reactive powers at the fundamental frequency and harmonic
filters as shunt impedances.
Harmonic power flow equation between harmonic current
injection matrix (ℎ), harmonic nodal admittance matrix (ℎ)
and nodal harmonic voltages (ℎ) can be expressed as:
(ℎ )(ℎ ) = (ℎ) (1)
where ℎ stands for the harmonic order.
By solving this equation, the branch harmonic current can
be obtained subsequently.
Harmonic state estimation is an inverse problem of
harmonic power flow. It estimates network state variables with
harmonic measurements. In this paper,  (ℎ ) is used as state
variables, since they can determine all other network variables.
A subset of nodal voltages (ℎ) and branch currents  (ℎ) are
selected as measurements. In other words, at any measurement
location, nodal voltage and branch current are measured and
used for estimation of the state variables. Network topology
and parameters at the fundamental frequency is known. This
topology is calculated for harmonics by programming. A
general mathematical model relating the measurement vector 
to the state variable vector (to be estimated) can be
formulated as follows.
(ℎ ) =
where
ℎ harmonic order;
is presented. The proposed algorithm identifies observable (ℎ)  × 1 measurement vector;
buses in each step and excludes them from the buses at which a
(ℎ)  ×
measurement matrix;
meter can be installed at other steps. Therefore, this technique (ℎ)
× 1 state variable vector;
optimizes the number of measurements and minimizes the error (ℎ)  × 1 measurement error vector.
of estimation at the same time.
III. OPTIMAL MEASUREMENT PLACEMENT ALGORITHM
This paper is organized as follows. The problem statement
is presented in section II. The optimal placement algorithm of The main problem is optimal placement of measurement
measurement devices is given in section III. Solving the instruments that can give accurate estimation of unknown state
variables with minimum number of measurements. The more
978-1-4673-1172-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 271
sensors connected to the system, the more accurate the (not measured) buses and observed (measured) buses,
parameter estimation, but the higher the cost [4]. respectively.
In this section, a proper method is described for selecting It is also assumed that harmonic sources at distinct busses
optimal locations for the measuring devices. This technique are independent.
provides minimum number of measurements and their best
locations in order to estimate nodal harmonic voltages Using (5)-(7) to assess the covariance matrices and cross-
covariance matrices, (8) is obtained [6].
accurately. The branch harmonic currents and nodal harmonic
current injections can then be obtained.
! &!! &! &!! &! 6
Our objective is to select the measurement locations (from ! "
23 4, -5 = ,  0 - '/! 0
*,  0 - 

the set of all possible locations) that can minimize the expected  &! & 0 /" &! &
value of the sum of squares of differences between the
 0  0 
estimated and true parameter variables. Applying minimum
variance criterion to the estimation of current harmonic Rewriting (8) in terms of the variables needed for the
sources, one can write the problem as follows [6].
minimization problem, in other words, by omitting variable !
yields [6]:


 ℎ   ℎ G = (! − ! )" #$  (3)
! /!" /!"&!
6
0

  
 
23 78 9: = ;&! /!" &! /! &! + & /"&
" 6 6
& /" < (9)
where ! is the actual current and ! is an estimation of ! .  0 " 6
/ & /"
Equation (3) is solved in two steps. First, predictor ! is The covariance of the estimation error is given by (10) [6].
chosen to minimize %. Then optimal measurement locations,
represented by  and  , that can minimize the error due to 23>! − ! ? =
the best linear predictor ! , are found [6].
>! ? − 23(! ,   ). (  )AB . 23(  , ! ) (10)
The following relation holds between the nodal voltages
and currents of a power network.
Using (9) and (10) to solve for the conditional error
covariance matrix yields [6]:
 = &
23 =
If  is the nodal currents injections matrix of the network,
then & must be the harmonic nodal impedance matrix. But, if  23>! − ! ? = /!" − /!"&!
6
(&! /!"&!
6 AB
) &! /!" . (11)
is the branches currents matrix, & must be obtained from the
network topology and its parameters. In this paper, branch The trace of the magnitude of the covariance matrix is the
currents are measured and used for the estimation, thus matrix proper scalar of error for this minimization problem [6]. By
& is obtained by programming using the network parameters. proper selection of &! , this error can be minimized. In fact
Let  and  denote vectors of observed (measured) &! determines the optimal placement of instruments. Since,
quantities and ! and ! denote vectors of unknown voltages &! is dependent on harmonic order, and has a different value
and currents, therefore: at each harmonic, the trace of the covariance matrix must be
evaluated, summed and minimized for all the harmonics exist
 & &! ! in the network as follows.
' ! * = ' !! * ' *.
 &! & 


Equation (5) can be rewritten as (6). ℎ   % = ∑D >23 (ℎ )?
ℎ &!
! &!! &!
! 0 - '! * where ℎ is harmonic order.
, - = , 
 &! &  Now, (12) can be used to specify the optimal location of
 0  any instrument. This method uses a sequential fashion as
described in [6]. This sequential method supposes that the
A priori information about the possibility of occurrence of placement of the (E + 1)th sensor does not change the optimal
harmonics at each bus can be easily expressed by a matrix [6], locations of meters 1 to E identified at pervious steps. In this
i.e.: procedure, in the first step, the best location for the first
measurement is obtained. This placement must minimize (12).
"
/! 0 The case that results in minimum error is the best location for
/ " = ' *. 
0 /" this device (e.g. bus number 2, the line between bus 1 and bus
2). After placing the first measurement device at bus 2, the line
where /! and / are diagonal submatrices modeling a priori between bus 1 and bus 2, bus number 1 becomes observable.
probability of existence of harmonic sources for the unknown When the nodal voltage of bus number 2 and the branch
current of line between bus 1 and 2 are known, then the voltage

272
of bus number 1 can be obtained, making bus number 1 (VB: V", V]: V^) is a submatrix containing rows VB to V" and
observable. This can also be verified by singular value columns V] to V^ from matrix .
decomposition of the measurement matrix by checking the
entries and independence of nullspace vectors as described in B
[7] and [8]. Now, in the second step, the observable buses ⎡ ⎤
number 1 and 2 are omitted from the placement algorithm, and ⎢ "⎥
⋮ B
the optimal location for the second measurement device is ⎢ ⎥
 "
obtained as described in the first step. This algorithm will be   = ⎢ _ ⎥ =, -  
repeated until all buses become observable. This occurs when ⎢ B ⎥ ⋮
the characteristics of almost half of the buses are measured. ⎢ " ⎥ `
Harmonic state estimation has a unique solution if the power ⎢⋮⎥
network becomes fully observable. The proposed method ⎣ _ ⎦
provides optimal number and the best locations to place
harmonic instruments and make the system fully observable. B
⎡ ⎤
⎢ ⋮" ⎥ B
IV. SOLVING THE HARMONIC STATE ESTIMATION ⎢ ⎥
  a
0 
There are several algorithms for solving (2) including ⎢ _⎥ = ' _×_
* , " - (18)
classic methods and new Artificial Intelligence (AI) schemes ⎢ B ⎥ bc (1: V, 1: V) bc (1: V, V + 1: ) ⋮
[9]-[12]. After a suitable placement of measurement devices, ⎢ " ⎥ `
any of these methods can be used for solving HSE. A fast, ⎢⋮⎥
simple and effective classic method is Weighted Least Square ⎣ _ ⎦
(WLS) algorithm. This method is also used in this paper.
bc = &cb AB
The main idea in WLS state estimation method is to
minimize the sum of the squares of the errors between the
actual and the estimated values for unknown state variables .  1
0 ! ! ! ! 0

 2
 1
The objective function is given by (13), and the cost function is

shown in (14).  0 0
1
0 ! ! !
  22
 F( ) =  ∑H H" =  (
−  W(
− ) (13)
)6 
 # 0 % ! # # #
(20)
1
W  # # " 0 " 0
  k2

F( ) = (
−  )6 W(
−  )  # # " 0
1
" 0
  12
where  # # " # # % #
I covariance matrix of measurement devices or
 1
 0 0 " 0 0 "
weighting factor matrix   k2 
where
1M " 0 ⋯ 0 ⎤ number of buses;
⎡ /B
⎢ 1M " ⎥ V number of measurement devices;
0 ⋯ 0 ⎥ H branch current of the th measurement location;
I = ⎢ /" 
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⎥ H nodal voltage of bus number ;
⎢ ⎥ &cb
0 0 ⋯ 1M " matrix relating nodal voltages to branch currents that
⎣ / ⎦ Q described in section ш.
/H covariance of measurement device ; V. APPLICATION EXAMPLE
U matrix operator of complex conjugate transpose; The IEEE 14-bus test system is used to test the proposed
V number of measurements. algorithm [13]. This is a balanced system, hence a single phase
The best estimate value ∗,YZ[ which minimizes F( ) is representation is shown in Fig. 1. All nodes except node 7 (it is
obtained as follows. a nonsource bus) can inject harmonics to the system. There are
13 suspicious nodes. By applying the proposed method, only 7
harmonic meters at 7 locations are required to make the system
 ∗,YZ[ = (
6 I
)AB
6 I
fully observable, hence the proposed method optimizes the
number of measurements [14]. They all take the measurements
This equation is the Weighted Lest Square (WLS)
of the branch harmonic currents and nodal harmonic voltages.
Harmonic State Estimation.
The proposed algorithm for the optimal placement and HSE is
In this paper, the unknown state vector and the written using MATLAB.
measurement vector are given in (17). The measurement matrix
The measurement data (nodal harmonic voltages de[ and
relating the measurement vector to the state vector is given in
(18). The covariance matrix is given in (20). It is assumed that harmonic branch currents ,de[ ) are generated by solving the
the measurement placements are at bus numbers 1 to V, and harmonic power flow given in (1) with the calculated harmonic

273
admittance matrices and assumed harmonic current injections Nodal Harmonic Voltage Magnitude (p.u.)
de[ using MATLAB.

Actual (p.u.)
0.2
0.1
0
15
10 20 25
5 10 15
0 0 5

Estimated (p.u.)
0.2
0.1
0
15
10 20 25
5 10 15
0 0 5

Difference (p.u.)
0.2
0
-0.2
15 25
10 15 20
5 5 10
0 0
Busbar Number Harmonic Order

Figure 2. Comparison of actual and estimated magnitude of nodal harmonic

voltages in each harmonic order.
Figure 1. IEEE 14-bus test system with seven meters.

Nodal Harmonic Voltage Phase (Radian)

After finding the optimal placements, the HSE algorithm is
repeated for each harmonic order to obtain the nodal harmonic 5
voltages YZ[ . Then, the estimated harmonic injected currents
Actual

0
YZ[ and estimated harmonic branch currents ,YZ[ can be -5
calculated using power flow equation (1) and the matrix bc 15
10
5 10 15 20 25
0 0 5
respectively [14].
5
Estimated

The actual and estimated nodal voltage magnitude, nodal

voltage angle and injection current magnitude are compared in 0

Fig. 2-4. -5
15
10 20 25
5 10 15
The RMS errors of voltage magnitude f (%) , voltage 0 0 5

angle h () , injection current magnitude f (%) , and 5

Difference

injection current angle h () at each harmonic order are 0

calculated by (21)-(24) and listed in Table  . From this table, -5
15 25
the estimation errors are almost zero for the voltages and 10
5
0 5 10 15 20
0
injection currents. In other words, both location and magnitude Busbar Number Harmonic Order
of unknown harmonic sources are identified correctly.
Figure 3. Comparison of actual and estimated angle of nodal harmonic
ij   f (%) = voltages in each harmonic order.

v lmn,o,pqr lAlmn,o,str l
k∑`HuB( lmn,o,pqr l
)" × 100 (21) Nodal Harmonic Current Injection (p.u.)
Actual (p.u.)

0.1
ij   h () = 0.05

v 0
w∑`HuB( x(H,D,de[ ) −  x(H,D,YZ[ ))" (22) 15
10 15 20 25
5 5 10
0 0
ij   f (%) =
Estimated (p.u.)

0.1
v lyn,o,pqr lAlyn,o,str l
k∑`HuB( lyn,o,pqr l
)" × 100 (23) 0.05

0
15 25
10 20
ij   h () = 5
0 0 5 10 15
Difference (p.u.)

v
w∑`HuB( x(H,D,de[ ) −  x(H,D,YZ[ ))" (24) 0.1
0
where -0.1
15 25
number of buses; 10
5
0 0 5 10 15 20

 bus number; Busbar Number Harmonic Order

ℎ harmonic order.
Figure 4. Comparison of actual and estimated magnitude of nodal harmonic
currents in each harmonic order.
274
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VI. CONCLUSION
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