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Power System Harmonic State Estimation using
WLS and SVD; A practical Approach
M. Moghadasian, H. Mokhtari and A. Baladi
Abstract--The harmonic state-estimation (HSE) method appears
to be effective but its applicability has yet been fully verified using
actual data in power systems. Particularly in Iran, there has been
no verification of the applicability of the method in actual power
systems. In this paper, the conventional weight least square method
and a new singular decomposition method have been applied on
132KV and 230KV networks of Khuzestan power system. Khuzestan
is one of the biggest and most industrial provinces in Iran. In the
proposed method, in order to improve the precision of HSE,
uncertain parameters R, X, and Y of the transmission lines are
determined from measured fundamental data,
Index Terms-- Power system harmonic state estimation, Least
mean square methods, Matrix decomposition
I. INTRODUCTION
W ITH the widespread use of power electronic
equipment, many inverters have been built into devices,
and harmonics arising from them are injected into the power
system and distributed over the entire system. Due to the
harmonics, their influence on power quality due to damage by
voltage distortion is of concern. Thus it is important to
determine harmonic distribution precisely. In a bulk power
system, a large-volume ac/dc conversion facility that utilizes
power electronics technology is introduced, so that it is
important to avoid unstable operation of the facility by the
overloading of an alternating current filter due to the
distribution of harmonics [1].
Harmonic state estimation (HSE) is a reverse process of
harmonic simulation, which analyzes the response of a power
system to the given injection current sources. The HSE uses
the harmonic measurements at selected busbars to identify the
location and magnitude of harmonic sources. In addition, HSE
is capable of providing information on harmonic at locations
not monitored.
The design of a measurement system to perform HSE is a
very complex problem. Among the reasons for its complexity
are the system size, conflicting requirements of estimator
curacy, reliability in the presence of transducer and data
communication failures, adaptability to changes in the
network topology and cost minimization. In particular, the
number of harmonic instruments available is always limited
due to cost, and 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
978-1-4244-7245-1/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
measurement placement [2].
Distribution state estimation techniques exist to estimate
the state of the distribution networks at fundamental frequency
[3]–[5]. They exploit all the available real-time measurements
and all the information and measurements retrieved from
historical and available data (a priori knowledge, called
pseudomeasurements) to obtain observability of the system
[3], [4]. These techniques are not suitable for HSE, because
the kind of pseudomeasurements required, as well as their
reliability, is definitely different in the two cases. In
fundamental frequency state estimation, pseudomeasurements
can be represented by information on the network topology,
network parameters, and load daily curves. All these data
could be obtained in a quite reliable way in modern
distribution networks. Instead, for HSE, some a priori
information is not easily available, because harmonic sources
are variable and difficult to foresee. Therefore, further
assumptions are required, and as a consequence, the accuracy
of these pseudomeasured data is poorer. In [6], a novel
methodology to solve the HSE problem in distribution
networks has been presented. The goal of the research work is
harmonic source estimation, which is the evaluation of the
forcing terms in the system (i.e., the harmonic currents
injected by the nonlinear loads). The proposed approach uses
all the possible information, both acquired in real time
(measurements) and known a priori (pseudomeasurements), to
solve the estimation problem and verifies a posteriori the
coherence between the obtained results and the initial
assumptions. For this purpose, the methodology requires
comprehensive knowledge of the system model and the loads
connected to the network, along with the uncertainty
associated with this information. The accuracy of such
knowledge has indeed a great impact on the approximation
degree of the solution. However, up to the present, in the
scientific literature, little attention has been given to the
problem of accuracy related to the solutions of the estimation
problem.
II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
For harmonic analysis in electric transmission systems, we
model harmonic sources modeled as current sources, and other
equipments as constant impedance. Given harmonic current
injections  (̇ ℎ) and harmonic nodal admittance matrix (ℎ),
nodal harmonic voltages ̇ (ℎ) can be obtained by solving
harmonic power flow equations based as follows:

Y(h) ̇ (h) =  ̇ (h) (1)
where h stands for harmonic order. The branch harmonic
currents ̇ (ℎ) can be obtained subsequently.
Harmonic state estimation estimates network state variables
with available measurements. Since harmonic voltage phasors
can determine all other network variables uniquely, V(h) can
be used as state variables. We choose a subset of nodal
voltages ̇ (ℎ) and branch currents  (̇ ℎ) as measurements, with
all voltage phasors V̇(ℎ) as state variables. We assume that
network topology and parameters in all considered harmonic
orders are known.
After splitting complex variables into real and imaginary
components, the relationship between measurements and state
variables can be formulated as follows:
z(h) = H(h)x(h) + e(h) (2)
where

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gain matrix do not significantly change between fiat start
initialization and the converged solution.
Furthermore, as observed earlier for the power flow
problem [6], sensitivity of the real (reactive) power equations
to changes in the magnitude (phase angle) of bus voltages is
very low, especially for high voltage transmission systems.
These two observations lead to the fast decoupled formulation
of the state estimation problem (FDWLS) [7-8].
B. Singular value decomposition
Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) method is usually
performed for solving matrixes that either singular or close to
singular. SVD method is based on the following linear algebra
theorem: Any M x N matrix A with number of rows M greater
or equal to its number of column N can be rewritten as the
product of an M x N column-orthogonal matrix U , an N x N
diagonal matrix S with positive or zero element, and the


 −

 =    =  
= 
 transpose of an N x N orthogonal matrix V.
   

The decomposition can always be done, no matter how
h harmonic order,
m number of measurements,
n number of suspicious buses, and m < n,
z(h) m× 1 measurement vector,
H(h) m× n measurement matrix,
x(h) n × 1 state variable vector with excluding nonsource
buses,
e(h) m× 1 measurement error vector.
subscript R,I denote real and imaginary part respectively.
Generally, the problem for solving this state estimation
equation can be classified as over-determined, completely
determined or under-determined, depending on whether the
number of independent measurement equations are greater,
equal or less than the number of state-variables respectively.
A. unique solution can only be obtained for the over or
completely determined condition. For Harmonic State
Estimation, the number of measurement will be very limited
due to the cost of measurement equipment. Therefore, most
likely the state equation to be solved will be underdetermined.
For this condition instead of a unique solution there is an
infinite number of solutions.
III. SOLVING THE STATE ESTIMATION EQUATION
There are many algorithms for solving (2), either classic
methods or new Artificial Intelligence (AI) ones. Two most
famous and effective classic methods are presented here.
A. Weighted least square algorithm
Weighted Least Square (WLS) State Estimation method
involves the iterative solution of (2). An initial guess has to be
made for the state vector x0. As in the case of the power flow
solution, this guess typically corresponds to the flat voltage
profile, where all bus voltages are assumed to be 1.0 per unit
and in phase with each other.
The main computational burden associated with the WLS
state estimation solution algorithm is the calculation and
triangular decomposition of the gain matrix. One way to
reduce this burden is to maintain a constant but approximate
gain matrix. This approximation is that the elements of the
singular is the original matrix. Once the decomposition is
performed, there are different ways for obtaining a particular
solution for an under-determined state equation condition such
as this HSE. The pseudo-inverse method together with the
SVD has been used for this HSE model [9,10] .
As usually for HSE, the number of equations is less than
the number of state variable to be estimated, the gain matrix
(H) size is M x N where M < N.
From the general state equation if the matrixes are real,
multiplying with HT will give a square system matrix.
To make the multiplication conformable, the decomposed
matrixes are modified according to the rank. If r is the rank of
matrix (H) then matrix S is modified to take only the r nonzero
singular values or S became an r x r matrix. For matrix V, only
the first r columns of V is taken and for matrix U only the first
r rows. Then solving the above equation will give a particular
solution of the state variable.
IV. NUMERICAL EXPRIMENTS
Two case studies have been studied in this work: The 220
KV and the main part of 132 KV network of Khuzestan power
system.
A. 132 KV system
The system topology and measurement configuration of the
main part of 132 KV network of Khuzestan power system are
shown in Fig. 1. The resistance, reactance and susceptance of
transmission lines are presented in table I. There are two types
of meters: P-Q Flow meters and P-Q injection meters. The
first one measures the active and reactive power through the
transmission lines and the second one calculates the active and
reactive power injected to the buses.
This system has 48 buses, so we have N=2*48-1=95 state
variables as x T [ T 2 , , T 48 ,V1 , ,V48 ] and 1 = 0. We
have also 48 meters in the system which measure active and
reactive power throgh the lines and injected to the buses as
determined in Fig. 1. These meters are placed in such a way to
maintain a spanning tree.
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In this system, to perform harmonic state estimation buses are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. We applied FDWLS in 7
algorithm, we used Fast Decoupled Weighted Least Algorithm harmonic orders (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13).
(FDWLS). The FDWLS Uses active power measurements for The measured active and reactive power are shown in Figs.
phase estimation and reactive power measurements for 4 and 5. Applying FDWLS to the system, we obtain the
amplitude estimation of bus voltage phasor, thus, harmonic voltage phasor (amplitude and phase) of all buses
measurements of active and reactive power have no influence (Figs. 6 and 7). Then we compare FDWLS results and
on each other. measured values (Figs. 8 and 9) in Figs 10 and 11.
TABLE I
THE RESISTANCE, REACTANCE AND SUSCEPTANCE OF 132KV TRANSMISSION
LINES
From Bus To Bus Line# R X B
1 2 1 0.00788 0.04038 0.00835
2 3 2 0.00537 0.02751 0.00569
3 46 3 0.0128 0.06555 0.01355
4 3 4 0.00548 0.02804 0.00581
4 6 5 0.00279 0.01428 0.00295
5 6 6 0.01415 0.07234 0.01496
5 4 7 0.01691 0.08144 0.01909
5 47 8 0.02371 0.07545 0.01441
5 7 9 0.00541 0.01256 0.00224
9 5 10 0.01085 0.02518 0.00449
9 8 11 0.04557 0.10576 0.01886 Fig. 1. The system topology and measurement configuration of the main part
38 9 12 0.05577 0.1295 0.02308 of 132 KV network of Khuzestan power system
38 12 13 0.00442 0.01727 0.00041
12 11 14 0.00005 0.00013 0.00002 TABLE II
12 37 15 0.0096 0.00462 0.00108 THE NUMBER OF THE POLLUTED BUSES IN 132KV GRID
12 21 16 0.00201 0.00968 0.00227 Bus #
12 19 17 0.00064 0.00308 0.00072
19 20 18 0.00215 0.01034 0.00243
3 10 12 18 29
21 22 19 0.00055 0.00264 0.00062 37 38 42 45 46
18 20 20 0.00736 0.03536 0.00831
18 22 21 0.00914 0.04402 0.01032
17 16 22 0.00308 0.0138 0.00527
17 15 23 0.00169 0.00755 0.00288
18 15 24 0.00609 0.02727 0.01041
18 13 25 0.0108 0.04921 0.0181
18 23 26 0.01836 0.05503 0.01186
18 24 27 0.0122 0.05877 0.01378
23 26 28 0.00622 0.02993 0.00702
24 25 29 0.00251 0.0121 0.00284
26 27 30 0.00099 0.00296 0.00065
25 28 31 0.00252 0.0121 0.00284
28 29 32 0.02767 0.06013 0.01227
31 29 33 0.01361 0.07054 0.01424
31 30 34 0.00137 0.0071 0.00143
31 30 35 0.00137 0.0071 0.00143
31 32 36 0.00777 0.0398 0.00823 `
33 28 37 0.0022 0.01056 0.00248
42 33 38 0.00448 0.02157 0.00506 Fig. 2. Active power harmonics of polluted buses in 7 harmonics orders
35 36 39 0.00115 0.00476 0.00212
42 36 40 0.0064 0.02751 0.0114
42 35 41 0.00667 0.02855 0.01192
42 39 42 0.00818 0.0394 0.00924
38 40 43 0.0023 0.00897 0.00202
40 41 44 0.00201 0.00785 0.00177
38 39 45 0.00951 0.04578 0.01073
42 44 46 0.01438 0.04625 0.00865
42 44 47 0.01438 0.04625 0.00865
44 45 48 0.01633 0.0525 0.00982
44 43 49 0.01296 0.04167 0.00779
45 43 50 0.0144 0.0463 0.00866
48 1 51 0.02696 0.13812 0.02856
34 42 52 0.00167 0.014 0.0501
10 12 53 0.00345 0.01782 0.03358
14 18 54 0.00128 0.01176 0.03828
43 42 55 0.02146 0.069 0.0129 Fig. 3. Reactive power harmonics of polluted buses in 7 harmonics orders
Our Limited measurements in the system show that there
are 10 buses which inject major harmonic currents in the
network. The numbers of these polluted buses has been listed
in table II. The active and reactive harmonic power of these
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Fig. 4. Measured active power harmonics of transmission lines

Fig. 9. Measured voltage phase of system buses in p.u.

Fig. 5. Measured reactive power harmonics of transmission lines Fig. 10. Error of Estimated and measured voltage amplitude

Fig. 11. Error of Estimated and measured voltage phase

Fig. 6. Estimated voltage amplitude of system buses in p.u.
B. 230 KV system
Like the previous case, the system topology and
measurement configuration of the main part of 230 KV
network of Khuzestan power system are shown in Fig. 12. The
resistance, reactance and susceptance of transmission lines are
presented in table IV. The measured active and reactive power
are shown in Figs. 13 and 14. Applying SVD method to the
system, we obtain the harmonic voltage phasor (amplitude and
phase) of all buses. We computed the mean percent error of
buses voltage phasor in different harmonic orders and in
Fig. 7. Estimated voltage phase of system buses in deg. different meter placement configurations as shown in Table V.
1
2 4
3 8
1 2 3
25 6 7 9 10 11
22 5
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
13 14 24 15
12 21 16
12 13 21 14 15 17
11 19 18 20 22 23

16 17 18 19 20
Fig. 12. The single line diagram of 230KV grid of Khuzestan

TABLE III
THE NUMBER OF THE POLLUTED BUSES IN 230KV GRID
Fig. 8. Measured voltage amplitude of system buses in p.u. Bus #
1 7 9 11 12 17 18
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TABLE V
TABLE IV DIFFERENT CONFIGURATION OF METER PLACEMENT SYSTEM
THE RESISTANCE, REACTANCE AND SUSCEPTANCE OF 230KV TRANSMISSION
LINES Bus and line numbers where the Mean percent Number
meters should be installed error of buses of
From Bus To Bus Line# R X B voltage phasor meters
Ahvaz 2 S. Foulad 1 0.00109 0.00957 0.03402 in different
Ahvaz J S. Foulad 2 0.00167 0.014 0.0501 harmonic orders
Ahvaz J Ramin 3 0.00482 0.04022 0.14448
Ahvaz 2 Zergan 4 0.00135 0.00699 0.0131 L: 1, 20 B: 7, 12 38.21 4
Shomalgharb Sous. A 5 0.00825 0.04273 0.08008 L: 1, 8, 20 B: 7, 12 18.54 5
Shomalgharb Ramin 6 0.00134 0.01182 0.04202
Ahvaz 2 Ramin 7 0.00128 0.0128 0.0351 L: 1, 8, 18, 20 B: 7, 12 7.31 6
Ahvaz 2 Omidieh 1 8 0.0165 0.08525 0.1606 L: 1, 8, 18, 20, 21 B: 7, 12 1.86 7
Ahvaz 2 Maroun 9 0.0075 0.03875 0.073 L: 1, 8, 16, 18, 20, 21 0.68 8
Maroun Omidieh 1 10 0.009 0.0465 0.0876
Omidieh 1 Pazanan 11 0.01215 0.06277 0.11826
B: 7, 12
Ahvaz 1 Shomalgharb 12 0.00225 0.01163 0.0219 L: 1, 8, 16, 18, 20, 21 0.43 9
Navard Shekareh 2 13 0.0015 0.00775 0.0146 B: 7, 12, 22
Ahvaz 3 Shekareh 2 14 0.00075 0.00387 0.00734 L: 1, 8, 16, 18, 20, 21, 25 0.33 10
Behbahan Dogonbadan 15 0.00945 0.04883 0.09198
Behbahan Omidieh 1 16 0.00945 0.04882 0.09198
B: 7, 12, 22
Chehel mail Omidieh 1 17 0.00885 0.04572 0.08614
Ahvaz 1 Ahvaz 2 18 0.00345 0.01782 0.03358
Koreit Pet. Maroun 19 0.00028 0.00144 0.00272
Ahvaz 2 Pet. Maroun 20 0.00242 0.01251 0.02356
Abadan Ahvaz 2 21 0.018 0.09288 0.17556
Abadan Niro. Aba. 22 0.0012 0.00622 0.01164
Chehel mail Niro. Aba. 23 0.012 0.06224 0.1164
Ahvaz 2 Ahvaz 3 24 0.00255 0.01317 0.02482
Niro. Dez Shomalgharb 25 0.0033 0.01705 0.03212

Fig. 15. Best error diagram in 4 meters configuration

Fig. 13. Active power harmonics of polluted buses in 7 harmonics orders

Fig. 16. Best error diagram in 4 meters configuration

Fig. 14. Reactive power harmonics of polluted buses in 7 harmonics orders

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Fig. 17. Best error diagram in 6 meters configuration Fig. 20. Best error diagram in 9 meters configuration

Fig. 18. Best error diagram in 7 meters configuration Fig. 21. Best error diagram in 10 meters configuration

V. CONCLUSIONS
The development of a new algorithm for Harmonic State
Estimation (HSE) based on the Singular Value Decomposition
(SVD) method has been described. The method and
conventional FDWLS method have been applied for 230KV
and 132KV grid of Khuzestan, Iran, respectively. This model
can be used for fully or partially observable conditions.
Depending on the network topology, measurements at
Distribution Level can be used for harmonic assessment. The
HSE model is an economical and effective way for remote
harmonic assessment in a deregulated utility network.

VI. REFERENCES

Fig. 19. Best error diagram in 8 meters configuration Papers from Conference Proceedings (Published):
[1] N. Kanao, M. Yamashita, H. Yanagida, M. Mizukami, Y. Hayashi, and
J. Matsuki, “Power System Harmonic Analysis Using State-Estimation
Method for Japanese Field Data”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER
DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005.
[2] C. Madtharad, S. Premrudeepreechacharn,N. R. Watson, and R. Saeng-
Udom, “An Optimal Measurement Placement Method for Power System
Harmonic State Estimation”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER
DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005.
[3] C. N. Lu, J. H. Teng, and W. E. Liu, “Distribution system state
estimation,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 229–240, Feb.
1995.
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[4] M. E. Baran and A. W. Kelley, “A branch-current-based state estimation

method for distribution systems,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 10, no.
1, pp. 483–491, Feb. 1995.
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VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Mahmood Moghadasian was born in Behbahan, Iran, in 1983.
He received the B.Sc. in electrical engineering from
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2005,
the M.Sc. in electrical power engineering from Shahid
Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran, in 2008. His current
research interests include power system planning and control,
application of computational intelligence and wavelet
transform in power systems.