Whenever I heard about harmonics, I thought they were only related to large substations, transmission systems, and industrial facilities. I assumed harmonics were something utility engineers dealt with and not something connected to everyday devices.
Phone chargers can create harmonics. Laptop chargers can create harmonics. LED lights can create harmonics. Even a UPS sitting under a desk can create harmonics.
Today, modern power systems use many power electronic devices such as EV chargers, solar inverters, battery energy storage systems (BESS), UPS systems, data centers, and Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs). While these technologies bring many benefits, they can also introduce harmonic distortion.
The more power electronic devices we connect to the grid, the more important harmonic analysis becomes.
In this article, I will explain what harmonics are, what causes them, how they affect power quality, how they can be analyzed using PSCAD, and why they are becoming more important in modern power systems.
