1

Comparison of IEEE and IEC Harmonic

Standards
S. M. Halpin, Fellow, IEEE

harmonic limits of Table 1 while all customers are responsible

Abstract—IEEE Standard 519-1992 is a mature document at for meeting the (appropriate) current limits in Tables 2-4.
this time and contains widely-adopted recommendations for Customers connected at higher voltages and customers that
harmonic control in electric power systems. Similarly, IEC are larger with respect to the capacity of the system are more
Standard 61000-3-6 is also widely recognized. Both documents
strictly limited.
are presently in the final stages of a technical revision and it is
appropriate to evaluate the similarities and differences in the two Table 1. IEEE 519-1992 Voltage Harmonic Limits
system-level harmonic control standards. This paper is a
Individual Voltage Total Voltage
summary of the similarities and differences in the two standards Bus Voltage at PCC
Distortion (%) Distortion THD (%)
including recommended limits in each and the processes by which 69 kV and below 3.0 5.0
equitable allocation of harmonic emissions is achieved. In this 69.001 kV through 161 kV 1.5 2.5
paper, it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the various 161.001 kV and above 1.0 1.5

caveats that apply to the various limit tables and the tables given
here should not be used in lieu of the complete standard.
Table 2. IEEE 519-1992 Current Harmonic Limits (<69 kV)
Index Terms—power system harmonics, power quality ISC/IL < 11 11 ≤ h < 17 17 ≤ h < 23 23 ≤ h < 35 35 ≤ h TDD
< 20 4.0 2.0 1.5 0.6 0.3 5.0
20 < 50 7.0 3.5 2.5 1.0 0.5 8.0
I. INTRODUCTION 50 < 100 10.0 4.5 4.0 1.5 0.7 12.0

P
100 < 1000 12.0 5.5 5.0 2.0 1.0 15.0
ower system engineers have long been concerned with the
> 1000 15.0 7.0 6.0 2.5 1.4 20.0
need to control the quality of voltage supplied on the
public power system. Of the numerous types of voltage
quality degradations that can occur, harmonic distortion has Table 3. IEEE 519-1992 Current Harmonic Limits (69-161
probably received the most attention in the last 10-15 years. kV)
Fortunately, the proliferation of harmonic-producing ISC/IL < 11 11 ≤ h < 17 17 ≤ h < 23 23 ≤ h < 35 35 ≤ h TDD
equipment has been accompanied by a similar increase in < 20 2.0 1.0 0.75 0.3 0.15 2.5
20 < 50 3.5 1.75 1.25 0.5 0.25 4.0
research leading to improved understanding of the general 50 < 100 5.0 2.25 2.0 0.75 0.35 6.0
harmonic problem, methods and techniques for studying it, 100 < 1000 6.0 2.75 2.5 1.0 0.5 7.5
> 1000 7.5 3.5 3.0 1.25 0.7 10.0
and approaches for mitigating unacceptably high levels of
distortion. The increased understanding of the problem has
led to the development of standards that promote a shared Table 4. IEEE 519-1992 Current Harmonic Limits (>161 kV)
responsibility between utilities and customers such that
ISC/IL < 11 11 ≤ h < 17 17 ≤ h < 23 23 ≤ h < 35 35 ≤ h TDD
utilities are responsible for voltage quality and customers are <50 2.0 1.0 0.75 0.3 0.15 2.5
responsible for not producing excessive harmonic currents. ≥ 50 3.0 1.5 1.15 0.45 0.22 3.75

In both IEEE and IEC, the ultimate goal of harmonic

control is to insure voltage quality. However, IEEE and IEC
approach the issue of allocating customer harmonic current
production differently. A key question is whether or not the
results of each approach ultimately arrive at the same
conclusion.
II. IEEE 519-1992 HARMONIC LIMITS
IEEE 519-1992 provides separate harmonic voltage and
current limits. As a part of the shared responsibility concept,
the utility is generally concerned with meeting the voltage
S.M. Halpin is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
at Auburn University, Auburn University, AL 36830 USA
The 519-1992 current limits in Tables 2-4 can be related to
the voltage harmonic limits in Table 1 through a system
impedance which can be derived from the short-circuit to load
ratio assuming the load current is 1.0 per unit. If followed,
this derivation will show that multiple customers, each
injecting their allowable current harmonics, are required to
produce the voltage harmonic limit. IEEE 519-1992 accounts
for load diversity, harmonic cancellation, and network
resonance conditions by insuring that multiple customers are
always required to produce the limiting amount of voltage
harmonic distortion. The voltage quality management process
embedded in IEEE 519-1992 is achieved indirectly through
end-user current harmonic injection control. In the event that
 2

all end-users are within their permissible limits and voltage
quality is not acceptable (i.e., the voltage harmonic limits are
exceeded), the utility is responsible for whatever further
actions are required in order to meet the voltage quality
(harmonic) targets.
III. IEC 61000-3-6 HARMONIC LIMITS
The IEC has developed harmonic limits with a more direct
focus on voltage quality. Planning levels, which are system-
wide design targets at medium voltage (MV), high voltage
(HV), and extra-high voltage (EHV), for voltage harmonics
are established based on electromagnetic compatibility
requirements for end-use equipment. These planning levels
are shown in Table 6. In addition to the individual voltage
harmonic limits given in Table 6, the voltage THD limits are
6.5% and 3% for MV and HV/EHV, respectively. Based on
these planning levels, individual customer contributions to the
overall permissible voltage distortion are allocated based on
the size of the customer relative to the capacity of the system
and other factors.
In general, the IEC procedures take into account voltage
distortion from a higher-voltage (supplying) portion of the
system and a lower-voltage (load serving) portion of the
system when deriving the voltage distortion contributions to
be distributed among distorting installations. For example, a
MV system (supplied from an upstream HV system) might
take a base planning level of 5th harmonic distortion. Using
this base value, it is recommended to subtract the permissible
upstream HV planning level from the MV base level to
determine the actual 5th harmonic voltage distortion that can
be produced by MV disturbing installations.
Using values from Table 6, the base MV 5th harmonic
planning level is 5% and the permissible HV planning level is
2%. The amount of 5th harmonic distortion available for MV
installations would be (5α-2α)1/α where α is a coefficient
selected to account for harmonic cancellation that ranges from
1 (for lower-order harmonics) to 2 (for high-order harmonics).
This resultant value is called a global emission limit (at MV
5th harmonic in this example case) and this amount is
apportioned to each individual end-use installation based on
its size relative
to the capacity of the system. Taking a=1 at the 5th harmonic,
the global allowance for MV installations would be 3%. For
an end-user with a load that is 10% of the total MV load in the
system in question, this end-user would be allocated an
emission level of 0.1*3%=0.3% at the 5th harmonic.
For the general case, the IEC recommends that permissible
voltage harmonic emission levels be converted to current
harmonic emission levels using the actual system frequency-
dependent impedance. In this way, the true impact of network
resonance can be taken into account in a direct manner. This
procedure is applied at MV, HV, and EHV in exactly the
same way.
The IEC provides only a single conservative set of possible
current harmonic limits, repeated here in Table 5, and these
are only applicable at MV. In Table 5, Ih is the r.m.s. value of
the harmonic component and IL is the r.m.s. value of the
“agreed power.” Note that the IEC concept of “agreed
power” is analogous to the maximum demand current in IEEE
519-1992.
Table 5. Conservative Harmonic Current Limits for MV
Harmonic
5 7 11 13 >13
Number, h
Ih/IL 5 5 3 3 500/h2
Several caveats must be considered for Table 5:
1. The absolute size of the customer should be small—
less than 1 MVA.

Table 6. IEC 61000-3-6 Voltage Harmonic Planning Levels

Odd harmonics Odd harmonics

Even harmonics
non-multiple of 3 multiple of 3

Harmonic Voltage Harmonic Voltage Harmonic Voltage

Harmonic % Harmonic % Harmonic %
Order Order Order
h h HV- h
MV HV-EHV MV MV HV-EHV
EHV

5 5 2 3 4 2 2 1.8 1.4

7 4 2 9 1.2 1 4 1 0.8

11 3 1.5 15 0.3 0.3 6 0.5 0.4

13 2.5 1.5 21 0.2 0.2 8 0.5 0.4

17 17 10 10
17≤ h ≤ 49 1 .9 ⋅ − 0 .2 1.2 ⋅ 21< h ≤ 45 0.2 0.2 10 ≤ h ≤ 50 0.25 ⋅ + 0.22 0.19 ⋅ + 0.16
h h h h

2. The relative (to the strength of the system) size of
the customer should be small—SL/SSC<1% where SL
is the customer’s load power (in MVA) and SSC is the
available fault MVA.
3. The customer should not have power factor
correction capacitors or filters.
These caveats insure that the only current harmonic limits
suggested by IEC are conservative—The customer is small
and therefore unlikely to significantly affect the system or
other customers and the customer does not have capacitors (or
filters) to appreciable alter the impedance characteristic of the
system.
IV. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: IEEE VS. IEC LIMITS
Necessarily simple overviews of the IEEE and IEC
harmonic limits have been presented in the previous sections.
It is important to summarize their similarities and differences
in major areas.
A. Driving principle
The basic premise of the IEEE harmonic limits is a shared
responsibility between utility and customer. All customers are
granted some (thought to be) reasonable share of the system’s
ability to absorb harmonics. If voltage distortion problems
exist with all customers within their current limits, the utility
is responsible for taking action to restore voltage quality. The
IEC approach is based on assigning current limits that are
more rigorously derived from voltage quality targets and is
designed to insure (to the most reasonable extent possible)
that if all customers are within their individual limits, then
system-level voltage quality problems will not exist.
B. Voltage harmonic limits
Both standards provide voltage harmonic limits. The IEEE
voltage harmonic limits are constant across all frequencies
whereas the permissible voltage harmonic magnitudes
decrease with frequency in the IEC.
C. Current harmonic limits
Current harmonic limits are the centerpiece of IEEE 519-
1992, but the limit values are only loosely correlated with
system voltage targets. The IEC avoids giving current
harmonic limits in a general sense, preferring that these limits
be more rigorously derived based on voltage limits and system
impedance characteristics.
D. Even-order harmonics
IEEE 519-1992 does not specifically address even-order
harmonics for voltage (all voltage harmonics are treated
equally), but does recommend that even-order current
harmonics be limited to 25% of the values for corresponding
odd-order harmonics. The IEC specifically addresses even-
order voltage harmonics and appears to allow greater even-
order current harmonic emission (depending on system
impedance characteristics) than IEEE.
3
E. Non-characteristic harmonics
Both IEEE and IEC consider harmonics in a general sense,
without regard to characteristic harmonics generated by
certain types of equipment (e.g., six-pulse rectifiers
generating characteristic harmonics at the 5, 7, 11, 13, etc.,
frequencies). IEEE does, however, offer a “credit” for higher-
pulse order equipment provided that non-characteristic
harmonics (for the equipment in question) remain low.
F. Time-varying harmonics
IEEE suggests that the current harmonic limits may be
exceeded by 50% for short periods of time. IEC rigorously
addresses time-varying aspects of harmonics by utilizing
percentiles (e.g., 95th and 99th) for very short time (3 second)
and short time (10 minute) aggregated measurements. In
addition, IEC provides a multiplying factor by which
harmonic limits may be increased when considering very short
time emissions.
G. Interharmonics
IEEE 519-1992 does not address interharmonics. IEC 61000-
3-6 addresses interharmonic voltage limits by recommending
a frequency-independent limit of 0.2% so as to avoid
problems with lamp flicker and ripple control, signaling, and
communications equipment.
V. REFERENCES
1. IEEE Standard 519-1992, “Recommended Practice for
Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems,” 1992.
2. IEC Standard 61000-3-6, “Assessment of Emission
Limits for Distorting Loads in MV and HV Power
Systems,” 1st edition, 1996.
VI. BIOGRAPHY
S. Mark Halpin (M 93, SM 02, F 05) received his BEE, MS, and
PhD degrees from Auburn University in 1988, 1989, and 1993, respectively. He
is currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at Auburn University. His teaching interests include power
systems, control systems, and network analysis. His research interests are in the
areas of modeling and simulation techniques for large-scale power systems,
power system transients, and computer algorithms. He is active in the IEEE
Power Engineering Society, where he serves as Chair of the Task Force to revise
IEEE 519-1992, and Industry Application Society, where he serves as Chairman
of the IAS Working Group on Harmonics.