1
IEEE 519 Update From a Utility Perspective
Reuben F. Burch IV, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—IEEE 519-1992 has been widely accepted and used
for many years now. During these years, utility engineers have
found the pros and cons of applying it on their systems. This
paper will describe one engineers experience in applying the
document and explain how some of the proposed changes in the
soon to be balloted update of this Recommended Practice will be
beneficial.
Index Terms—Harmonics, distortion, interharmonics.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HIS document will describe the pros and cons of using
IEEE 519-1992 in a utility environment. This will reveal
how the existing version of the Recommended Practice works
in the real world. It will also reveal some areas that are
lacking and show how proposed updates to the Recommended
Practice will address these issues. IEEE 519 is readily
recognized as providing harmonic distortion limits on the
utility system. Over time, these limits have been accepted by
both utilities and their customers as criteria. Though the
Recommended Practice is not uniformly applied, it is never
the less recognized as an authority on harmonic issues. The
harmonic current and voltage distortion limits are the most
recognized part of IEEE 519 as they are widely quoted in
books and papers. Voltage notching and the telephone
influence factor (TIF) are other areas for which recommended
limits are supplied but their usage isn’t as widely known or
applied. Furthermore, in the case of interharmonics and
harmonic bursts, previous versions of IEEE 519 had no limits
what so ever. In fact, these topics were not previously
covered. Therefore, the changes being considered will be
welcomed as they will make this Recommended Practice a
more well rounded and comprehensive document for the
utility engineer’s use. The updates also provide for a standard
metering method which will insure that field measurements
are uniformly collected and hopefully that they will be more
uniformly interpreted. As with any Recommended Practice or
Standard, as knowledge increases and as technology advances,
improvement will follow and if found to be true of the
proposed revisions.
II. TECHNICAL WORK PREPARATION
As with any Standard or Recommended Practice, it should
not be automatically assumed that it will be universally
Reuben Burch is a Principal Engineer with Alabama Power Company,
Birmingham, AL 35291 USA (e-mail: rfburch@southernco.com).
interpreted and/or applied. IEEE 519 is certainly no exception
here. However, work done by the IEEE 519 TF, and its
affiliated IEEE 519A TF, through TF meetings, conference
papers, panel sessions, and tutorials has gone a long way to
educate utility engineers on the intent of the Recommended
Practice and therefore its proper usage. By having an
application guide, which will soon appear as IEEE 519.1, the
TF has taken real world cases and used them to show how the
limits should be applied. This is very beneficial to the
engineer charged with insuring compliance to the limits of
customers connected to the utility grid.
The application of the current and voltage distortion tables
has often been cause for confusion to new users. The basic
premise is that the utility, since it controls the method of
serving the load and therefore the resulting system impedance,
should be responsible for meeting the harmonic voltage
distortion limits. Failure to do so basically implies that the
service method being considered lacks sufficient system
strength to support the planned harmonic load addition. The
customer, on the other hand, is responsible for meeting the
harmonic current distortion limits as he controls both the
amount and type harmonic load being added to the system.
These concepts are now fairly well understood after years of
usage.
One related area that the updated version will improve on
is in the provision of a standard harmonic metering method.
While the limits themselves seem to be understood, the ability
to consistently and uniformly monitor a given system is not a
given. There exist a number of instruments with which to
measure both harmonic voltage and current distortion levels.
At issue, however, is how to use these many varied
instruments to collect harmonic data so that adherence to the
limit tables in IEEE 519 can be accurately determined. The
use of existing meters requires the installer to have some
knowledge of the site to be metered, to know what harmonic
frequencies to meter, and to further know how often to take
harmonic snapshots. After the data has been collected, the
user must then know how to properly interpret the results such
that compliance with the Recommended Practice can be
determined. When the proper operation of equipment
connected to the utility system is at stake, or the potential for
disturbing other customers is possible, it is critical that field
data be collected correctly. The updated version of IEEE 519
will employ the harmonic measurement method currently
advocated by IEC 61000-4-7(2nd edition). By adopting this
measurement procedure, all the variations in meter
configuration that presently exist will be eliminated. The
resulting collected data will then be consistent from meter to

meter and from location to location providing more useable
results. Incorrectly metered data and/or improperly
interpreted data only tend to frustrate and alienate utilities and
their customers. The proposed metering method should be
more readily acceptable by both parties.
The existence of interharmonics, also called non-integer
harmonics, has long been known but there has always been a
question as to how to handle them. The existing
Recommended Practice didn’t address them at all, it only
provided a definition. This left their handling up to the
imagination of the utility engineer. They are commonly found
with loads such as cycloconverters, arc furnaces, and certain
types of converter technologies. The appropriate limit levels
have been a question needing attention for many years now.
In many cases, due to lack of guidance for a limit, utilities
would simply say that “no problems due to interharmonics are
allowed”. This is a rather nebulous statement; confusing both
to the utility as well as to their customer. However, with
experience gained by the IEC, some limits for the updated
Recommended Practice will be provided. This will be a
welcome addition.
Another specific area of interest to utilities relating to
interharmonics is Sub Synchronous Resonance (SSR). Low
interharmonic levels can potentially cause damage to turbine
generators if any interharmonic frequencies coincide with a
modal frequency of the turbine generator. A modal frequency
is one of the natural resonant frequencies of the turbine
generator and they are below the synchronous frequency. This
type event is a low probability event but one that can have a
tremendous impacts should it occur. Therefore, the close
electrical proximity of interharmonic producing loads near
generation plants should trigger a prudent review of this
phenomenon to insure that no damage will occur to a turbine
generator. In the past, engineers did not know what level of
interharmonics could potentially damage turbine generators.
The revised version of IEEE 519 will offer some guidance to
those performing SSR studies.
An area receiving attention in recent years is that of time
varying harmonics. The current and voltage harmonic
distortion limits provide in the IEEE 519 tables are generally
thought of as being constant harmonic levels. However, it is
often noted that the harmonic levels indeed vary over time.
Because of this time variation, limitations in the stated criteria
may be needed. Following the publication of IEEE 519-1992,
this phenomenon was observed with the operation of certain
process equipment and the beginnings of limits were
proposed. In the intervening years, the application of
statistical methods has been applied to this area. These
concepts have been recognized by the IEC and included in
their standards for some years. This is a long needed area of
inclusion in the Recommended Practice as it has been difficult
for utility engineers to determine how to handle these events.
The proposed changes to the IEEE 519 will incorporate
methods by which the utility engineer can properly handle
time varying loads of various durations, which are a common
occurrence these days.
2
One other point of confusion is the customer demand
which should be used in determining the total harmonic
current demand distortion, Itdd. This should be the average
integrated demand level at which the customer consistently
operates their facility. Using this method, demand levels that
are inconsistent with normal operation would be factored out
and not used. The use of artificially high demand levels will
allow potentially harmful levels of harmonics to appear to
meet the Recommended Practice. Conversely, an artificially
low demand level will indicate that a load would violate the
criteria when in fact it would be serviceable. This discrepancy
has been incorrectly used customers as a means of reaching
compliance with IEEE 519. The misunderstanding of this
concept has also caused utility engineers to incorrectly
evaluate compliance of a customer. The proposed revision
provides language that will insure the proper demand is used
when determining compliance of harmonic current levels.
III. THINGS STILL TO BE DONE
A problem arose such that a malfunctioning converter
injected levels of the 75th harmonic onto the utility grid. This
harmonic interacted with components in the tank circuit of
CCVT’s and caused them to fail. This also caused damage to
components of the carrier relaying system. At this point, there
are no recommendations in either the current or the proposed
revision of IEEE 519 as to limits for this harmonic level
which would prevent damage. This is due to two reasons.
First, IEEE 519 has traditionally only addressed harmonics up
to the 25th. Other IEEE documents are charged with
specifying limits above that frequency. However, these other
documents do not normally relate to the type issues covered in
IEEE 519. The second reason is that if IEEE 519 did cover
higher frequencies, then the issue would be in how to
determine a limit such that problems of this type would be
eliminated. This is one item for consideration in a future
revision of IEEE 519.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The actual application of IEEE 519 has taken many varied
paths. With some understanding of the underlying principals it
can be properly and more uniformly applied to the eventual
benefit of all concerned. Improvements proposed in the
revised IEEE 519 will aid the end-user in this task.
V. BIOGRAPHIES
Reuben F. Burch IV (M’70, SM’97) was born in Eastman, Georgia on August
5, 1948. He graduated from Auburn University.
His is employed by Alabama Power Company in Birmingham, AL. and
conducts harmonic and transient studies for industrial loads served from the
transmission system.
He is a member of the IEEE, PES, and IAS and is involved with numerous
TF’s and WG’s relating to harmonics and flicker. He is the current Chair of
IEEE 1453.