THE CONCEPT OF SHORT-CIRCUIT POWER AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THE

FLICKER EMISSION LEVEL

M. Couvreur E. De Jaeger P. Goossens A. Robert

UCL Laborelec CPTE CPTE

- Belgium -

It appears that the Load Current approach yields less

Summary favourable results for EAF1 but more favourable results
for EAF2.
The paper starts with an overview of different concepts
Conclusions
of short-circuit power: the IEC standard, the effective
and the apparent short-circuit power. The short-circuit
The short-circuit power is a key concept in
power is a key concept in characterising the ability of a
characterising the ability of a power system to feed
power system to feed fluctuating loads without
fluctuating loads without excessive flicker levels. Its
excessive flicker levels. Its apparent value (from
apparent value (from measurements) is generally higher
measurements) is generally higher than its standard
than its standard value (from calculations in standard
value (from calculations in standard conditions).
conditions). Important is to make a clear choice for the
contractual reference short-circuit power.
The contractual reference short-circuit power is the
value which will be used as contractual reference in the
For assessing a flicker emission level, the simplified
flicker emission assessment and can be based on one of
approach (flicker measurements at the load side of the
the three above concepts. Important is to make a clear
step-down transformer) can be easily implemented with
choice for the contractual reference short-circuit power.
a standard flickermeter and leads to a good estimation
when:
Field experiences have demonstrated that the existing
1. the background flicker at the secondary side of the
flicker emission assessment approaches (the simplified
transformer is negligible
approach and the voltage drop approach) do not
2. the power variations are mainly reactive
always lead to good results. The existing approaches
3. the network resistance is negligible
suppose that the active power variations and the
resistive component of the power system impedance can
The voltage drop approach (voltage waveform
be neglected.
measurements at both sides of the step-down
transformer) can be used in the same conditions
The present paper demonstrates that neglecting the
(reactive power variations in purely inductive network),
network resistance can lead to an important
especially when the background flicker at the secondary
underestimation or overestimation of the voltage drop
side of the transformer is too important. A further
(or flicker emission) when the active power variations
advantage with respect to the "simplified approach is
are important and when the network impedance angle is
that it is based on a well-known impedance".
small (say smaller than 85).
The load current approach (current and voltage
A new assessment technique the load current
waveform measurements at the connection point) yields
approach, is proposed to overcome this problem.
the best results because it takes the network resistance
The three approaches have been applied on two DC
into account. When the active power variations are
electrical arc furnaces of different technologies, see
important (as compared to the reactive power
Table 1.
variations) and/or the network impedance angle is small
Table 1 : Flicker emission (Pst,99%) of the EAFs using the
(for instance < 85) it is recommended to use this
three different approaches method.

EAF 1 EAF 2 The influence of the network resistance on the flicker

(1) Simplified approach 0.89 1.41 emission level can be negative or positive, depending on
(2) Voltage Drop approach 0.86 1.53 the angle of the power variations. This should be taken
(3) Load Current approach 1.16 1.24 into account when choosing the technology and the
control strategy - for an arc furnace or a fluctuating load
in general.
LE CONCEPT DE PUISSANCE DE COURT-CIRCUIT ET LEVALUATION DU NIVEAU
DEMISSION DE FLICKER

M. Couvreur E. De Jaeger P. Goossens A. Robert

UCL Laborelec CPTE CPTE

- Belgique -

Ceci dmontre que lapproche courant de charge

Rsum donne des rsultats moins favorables pour le four 1,
mais plus favorable pour le four 2.
Le rapport dbute en donnant un aperu des diffrents
Conclusions
concepts de puissance de court-circuit : la valeur
normalise CEI, la valeur effective et la valeur
La puissance de court-circuit permet de caractriser
apparente. La puissance de court-circuit permet de
laptitude dun rseau alimenter des charges
caractriser laptitude dun rseau dalimenter des
fluctuantes sans produire des niveaux de flicker
charges fluctuantes sans produire des niveaux de flicker
excessifs. La valeur apparente (mesure) est
excessifs. La valeur apparente (mesure) est
gnralement plus leve que la valeur normalise
gnralement plus leve que la valeur normalise.
(calcul en condition normalise). Il est important de
faire un choix univoque de la puissance de court-circuit
La puissance de court-circuit contractuelle de rfrence
contractuelle.
est la valeur qui sera utilise lors de lvaluation du
niveau dmission. Elle peut tre base sur un des trois
Pour lvaluation des niveaux dmission de flicker,
concepts mentionns ci-dessus. Il est important de faire
lapproche simplifie (mesures flicker a cot charge du
un choix univoque de la puissance de court-circuit
transformateur) peut tre applique avec un flickermtre
contractuelle.
standard et peut mener une bonne estimation quand :
1. le flicker de fond au secondaire du transformateur
Des expriences de terrain ont dmontr que les
est ngligeable
mthodes dvaluation existantes ( lapproche
2. les variations de puissance sont essentiellement
simplifie et lapproche chute de tension ) ne
ractives
mnent pas toujours des rsultats satisfaisants. Les
3. la rsistance du rseau est ngligeable
approches existantes supposent que les variations de
puissance active et la composante rsistive du rseau
Lapproche chute de tension (mesure de formes
sont ngligeables.
dondes de chaque ct du transformateur ) peut tre
utilise dans les mmes conditions ( variations de
Le rapport dmontre que le fait de ngliger la rsistance
puissance ractives dans un rseau purement inductif),
du rseau peut induire une sous- ou surestimation de la
en particulier quand le flicker de fond est trop
chute de tension (ou de lmission flicker) quand les
important. Le fait que cette mthode est base sur une
variations de puissance active sont importantes et quand
impdance connue, est un avantage supplmentaire.
la phase de limpdance du rseau est faible (e.g. plus
petite que 85).
Lapproche courant de charge (mesure de formes
dondes de courant et de tension au point de couplage
Une nouvelle technique dvaluation, lapproche
commun) donne les meilleures rsultats car elle tient
courant de charge , est propose afin de surmonter ce
compte de la rsistance du rseau. Quand les variations
problme.
de puissance sont importantes (par comparaison avec les
variations de puissance ractive) et/ou quand langle de
Les trois approches ont t appliques sur deux fours
limpdance du rseau est faible (e.g. plus petite que
arcs DC de technologie diffrentes, elles mnent au
85) il est recommand dutiliser cette mthode.
rsultats du tableau 1.
Linfluence de la rsistance du rseau sur le niveau
Tableau 1 : Emission Flicker (Pst,99%) des fours arcs,
utilisant les trois approches diffrentes. dmission flicker peut tre ngative ou positive, selon
EAF 1 EAF 2 langle des variations de puissance. Ceci devrait tre
(1) Approche simplifie 0.89 1.41 pris en considration lors du choix de la technologie et
(2) Approche chute de tension 0.86 1.53 de la stratgie de commande dun four arc ou dune
(3) Approche courant de charge 1.16 1.24 charge fluctuante en gnral.
 THE CONCEPT OF SHORT-CIRCUIT POWER AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THE
FLICKER EMISSION LEVEL

M. Couvreur E. De Jaeger P. Goossens A. Robert

UCL Laborelec CPTE CPTE

- Belgium -

1 Introduction
2.2 Effective short-circuit power in operating
Field experiences have demonstrated that the existing
conditions
flicker emission assessment approaches do not always
lead to good results. The existing approaches (the For voltage fluctuations problems that are critical in
simplified approach and the voltage drop approach) terms of acceptability, there is room for a second
suppose that the active power variations and the approximation of short-circuit power, either aiming at a
resistive component of the power system impedance can reliable assessment of power system ability to supply a
be neglected. The present paper demonstrates that this big industrial plant at the stage of design or site
hypothesis may lead in some cases to important errors selection, or in order to check field measurements
and proposes a new assessment method the load against pre-assessed calculations.
current approach, which takes the network resistance This second approximation enables to make further
and the active power fluctuations into account, to calculations following the theoretical definition of
overcome this problem. physical short-circuit power, based on the actual
voltage and taking the shunt elements into account.
2 Standard, effective, apparent and
In normal operating conditions (see Figure 1), the
contractual short-circuit power network is loaded. We consider a supply substation to a
The concept of short-circuit power has been extensively major industrial site (STo), the substation voltage is at
discussed in [1]. We only reproduce here a brief least equal to the nominal value. To get Un at the
summary of this analysis. substation, the setting of the source emf needs to be put
at Un/ ( < 11). Because of the increase in voltage, the
2.1 IEC standard short-circuit power physical short-circuit current also increases by the same
The basic definitions of short-circuit conditions are factor. Then, the physical short-circuit power increases
given in the IEC Standard 909 [2]. This standard is pro-rata to 1/, in compliance with theory. Moreover, if
based on the calculation of symmetrical initial short- the voltage at the industrial substation is higher than Un,
circuit current (I"sc), for unloaded networks, i.e., in the which is common practice in operating conditions, the
absence of passive loads and any shunt capacitance. In increase is still more important.
order to calculate Isc, the Thvenins Theorem is
applied to the unloaded network with a source voltage
equal to cUn (Un being the nominal voltage).
Iload
IEC specifies two standard values for the factor c. The
maximum value is to be used for apparatus rating
Un/ ~ ZSTo
Un
a
purposes and it is fixed at 1.1 for HV systems. The
minimum value is to be used for other purposes such
as the control of motor starting conditions [2], which is
typical of fast voltage fluctuations problems such as Isc"/
flicker, and it is fixed at 1.0 for HV systems. The (IEC Un/ ~ ZSTo
standard) short-circuit power is then defined as: b

Ssc = 3 Un Isc
" "
Figure 1 : Increase in short-circuit current in a loaded
network operated at Un at the load side ( < 1)
a: initial situation with loaded network
The IEC approach perfectly suits, either for equipment b: short-circuit situation
rating purposes (Isc alone is derived from the above
Standard, because it is used in conjunction with the These considerations lead to propose the concept of ef-
highest voltage for equipment as defined in other IEC fective short-circuit power in operating conditions, defi-
Standards), or for non-critical voltage fluctuations
problems. 1
The load is usually mainly inductive
ning it as the physical short-circuit power on the loaded In this chapter three different assessment techniques are
network and at the actual voltage at the substation. described to overcome this problem.

2.3 Apparent short-circuit power 3.2 The effect of the commonly neglected network
In the preceding analysis, the loads are taken into resistance on the flicker emission level
account as linear elements, i.e. assumed to be The network resistance is often neglected in flicker
represented by constant impedances. However, it has emission assessments.
been established in the past that the loads do usually not
behave as constant impedances. They may exhibit The voltage drop provoked by a load switching can be
voltage dependent characteristics, leading for instance described by the equation:
to reactive power-voltage functions very different from
the classical second degree relationship. The general U R I cos + X I sin
form is as follows:
When the resistive component is neglected, the voltage

Q U drop becomes:
=
Qo U o
U = X I sin

Exponents between 0,5 and 18 are found in the Leading to the underneath relative error:
literature, depending on the type of loads.
In the presence of reactive power fluctuations, this non- cos
linear behaviour may influence significantly the voltage =
fluctuations. The usually measured effect is a cos + sin tg
supplementary decrease of the variations, which can be
interpreted as the consequence of an apparent short- : network impedance angle
circuit power, being increased with respect to the : load current angle
standard or even the effective short-circuit power.
which is represented in
This approach yields information to be used Figure 2.
complementarily to the IEC Standard in special
discussions and measurements, e.g. as in the context of
flicker emission level assessment.

2.4 Contractual reference short-circuit power

The contractual reference short-circuit power is the
value which will be used as contractual reference in the
flicker emission assessment. It can be one of the three
above mentioned short-circuit powers.

Whatever the choice, it is a fact that the actual value

will vary with the time. Even at the commissioning
time, it is generally different from the contractual value.

3 Approaches for the assessment of the

flicker emission level [3]
Figure 2 : Relative error when neglecting the network
3.1 Introduction resistance ( Z = j X )
The technical report IEC 61000-3-7 [4] outlines the
principles to assess emission limits for the connection of It is shown that neglecting the network resistance can
fluctuating loads to the public network power system lead to an important underestimation or overestimation
and gives the definition of the flicker emission level: of the voltage drop (or flicker emission) when the active
The flicker emission level from a fluctuating load is the power variations are important and when the network
flicker level which would be produced in the network if impedance angle is for instance smaller than 85.
no other fluctuating load was present.
The above mentioned report does however not explain 3.3 Method 1 : simplified approach
how to measure and assess the flicker emission level.
When other fluctuating loads are operating in the
Because of the background flicker, the flicker emission
electrical vicinity, the background flicker on the PCC
level cannot be determined from a simple voltage
(B) cannot be neglected (Figure 3). At the secondary
measurement at the PCC (point of common coupling).
side of the transformer (A) however, the dominance of
the investigated installation in the global flicker level divided by the RMS voltage over a 10 min interval (=
increases and the influence of other sources can often reference period for calculating the Pst value):
be neglected, especially when the 99th percentile of Pst
is considered (IEC 61000-3-7). u A,m ( t ) u B,m ( t )
u A (t) = u B (t) =
U ARMSSH UBRMSSH
SSC,B Other
installations
B
Z1 Z2 SSC,A
A B
Other installations
Consumer
i TOT ( t ) i LOAD ( t ) Z1 = R1 + j L1 Z2 = R2 + j L2 A
uB ( t ) u A (t ) Consumer
i TOT ( t ) i LOAD ( t )
Figure 3 : uN (t) uB ( t ) u A (t )
Network configuration for the "simplified approach"

The method consists in measuring the flicker level at the

secondary side of the transformer and to transpose it to Figure 4 : configuration for assessment of the emission with
the primary side : the voltage drop approach

X1 The voltage fluctuations over the impedance Z2, caused

Pste (B) Pste ( A ) by the load current i LOAD(t), are described by the
X1 + X 2 underneath equation:
Z1 S SC,A
Pste (B) Pste ( A ) = Pste ( A ) u AB ( t ) = u A ( t ) u B ( t )
Z1 + Z 2 S SC,B
di LOAD ( t ) di (t)
= R 2 i LOAD ( t ) + L 2 L 2 LOAD
with : dt dt

X1 = network reactance The voltage fluctuations u AB ( t ) are subtracted from a

X2 = transformer reactance sinusoidal voltage source of 1 p.u., with the same
Z1 = network impedance electrical angle as the measured voltage uB(t), to obtain
Z2 = transformer impedance the input signal for the digital flickermeter:
Ssc,A = short-circuit power in point A
Ssc,B = short-circuit power in point B (PCC) 2 sin ( t + ) u AB ( t )

The transposition is, strictly speaking, only valid in the The accordingly calculated Pst value is the emission
case of reactive power fluctuations in a purely inductive level of the installation related to the chosen reference
network. impedance Z2.
3.4 Method 2 : voltage drop approach2 To determine the emission level at the PCC, the
obtained emission level has to be transposed to the
3.4.1 Description contractual short-circuit level at the PCC.

A known impedance, in most cases the transformer Z1

Pste (PCC) = Pste ( Z 2 )
impedance feeding the particular load, between points A Z2
(=consumer) and B (=point of common coupling) is with:
used to assess the emission of the fluctuating load. Z1 = network impedance
Simultaneous voltage waveform measurements in points
Z2 = known impedance ( transformer reactance)
A and B have to be made to calculate the emission level
(Figure 4).
This equation is, strictly speaking only valid when the
impedances Z1 and Z2 are purely reactive.
All quantities are first expressed in p.u. (Figure 4). To
Approximations are done when applying this method,
obtain the voltage waveforms in p.u., the measured
the two most important are mentioned in the paragraphs
waveform signals ( u A ,m ( t ) and u B,m ( t ) ) have to be below.
2
The first development to measure the flicker emission level
of a fluctuating load, related to the transformer impedance was
made by M. Sakulin [5],[6]
3.4.2 First Approximation : the impedance angle of When the current variations are purely reactive, no error
the transformer is supposed to be the same as will occur, because the voltage UN and UA will be in
the impedance angle of the network phase.
The flicker emission obtained with the voltage drop
approach is related to the chosen reference impedance. 3.5 Method 3 : load current approach
In most cases the reference impedance is a transformer, This approach requires waveform measurements of the
thus almost purely inductive. The consequence is that load current [iLOAD(t)] and the voltage [um(t)] at the
only the reactive power variations are visible. The PCC. The calculation of the emission level of the
active power variations remain invisible, although they fluctuating load is done in two steps
will cause a voltage drop over the network resistance
and influence the emission level at the PCC. 3.5.1 Step 1:simulation of voltage ue(t) (elimination
When relating the emission level to the network of background fluctuations)
impedance at the PCC, the assumption has to be made The measured load current iLOAD(t) is injected in the
that the resistance of the network can be neglected. ideal grid model of figure 6 b, to determine the emission
Depending on the phase angle of the current variations voltage ue(t), the voltage which would be obtained at the
and the network impedance angle this will result in an PCC, if the load was the only fluctuating load in the
error, as illustrated in grid.
Figure 2.

3.4.3 Second Approximation : the phase shift over PCC

Other
the network is considered to be negligible
Z1 = R1 + j L1 installations
In the network of Figure 5 (the resistances are
neglected), the voltage drop can be calculated with the i LOAD ( t )
underneath equation: i TOT ( t )
uN (t)
u m (t)
UNB X 1 I sin

This formula shows that the angle between the load

current and the voltage source UN is very critical in the
determination of the voltage drop and the flicker
Z1 = R1 + j L1 PCC
emission.

j X2 uN (t) i LOAD ( t )
UN u e (t)
j X1
UNB
B UB
UAB Figure 6: configuration for assessing the emission level with
UA the load current approach
I measurement configuration - simulation configuration
Figure 5 : phase shift over network and transformer
The phase angle of the simulated voltage ue(t) has, at
impedance
every moment, to be the same as for the measured
In the voltage drop approach the sinusoidal voltage voltage um(t), to preserve the correct phase angle with
source has the same angle as the primary voltage of the the load current iLOAD(t), i.e. to respect the reactive and
transformer (UB), the voltage drop over the transformer active power demand of the load at the PCC.
is in this case:
The voltage source should as a result have:
U AB X 2 I sin
B
the same electrical angle as the fundamental of the
X
voltage3: u(t ) = u m (t ) + R 1 i m ( t ) + L 1 m
UNB = 1 U AB X 1 I sin B di ( t )
X2 dt
The voltage drop (or the current) exhibits thus no longer
the correct phase shift, due to the phase shift over the
sin( )
network impedance. A relative error = 1 3
In contrast to the voltage drop approach, the phase shift
sin
over the network impedance is taken into account. In this way
is made.
the correct phase angle is preserved between the calculated
voltage (emission voltage UE) and the measured load current
at the PCC.
 the amplitude of the voltage source should be EAF 2 is a classical DC EAF with a thyristor Graetz
2 bridge in 12-pulses arrangement, causing a current with
constant and equal to Un , Un being the an important inductive component and compensated
3 with a big SVC of 110 MVAr.
nominal or reference voltage of the grid.
The contractual reference short-circuit powers for the
The voltage source should be an ideal source without flicker emission assessments are considered to be the
any disturbance and fluctuation, the flicker and IEC standard short-circuit powers, without considering
disturbances on the voltage source should be completely hereafter the effective and apparent short-circuit
eliminated to obtain a perfect sinusoidal source: powers.

u n (t ) = U n sin ( t + )
2
4.2 Power fluctuations
3
The fundamental power fluctuations on a 20 ms time
Knowing the instantaneous voltage of the voltage base are given for a 2 s time interval for EAF 1 & 2,
source un(t) and the instantaneous current im(t), the SVC and filter installations included in Figure 7 and
Figure 8.
emission voltage ue(t) can be calculated using the
underneath equation.

u e (t ) = u n (t ) R 1 im ( t ) L 1
di m ( t )
dt

3.5.2 Step 2 : digital flicker meter

A digital flicker algorithm [7] is used to deduce the
instantaneous flicker Pf and the statistical values Pst
and Plt out of the voltage waveform ue(t).

4 Assessment of the flicker emission level

of two DC EAF

4.1 Introduction Figure 7 : 20 ms 50 Hz Power variations over time interval

of 2 s EAF 1
The flicker emission of two Direct Current Electrical
Arc Furnaces (DC EAF) have been assessed using the
three described assessment techniques. Both arc
furnaces have a nominal power of 140 MVA.

EAF 1 is a DC EAF with free-wheeling diodes plus

shifting control [8]. The particular technology of this arc
furnace enables to smooth the inductive current
fluctuations and to reduce the flicker emission in a
purely inductive network, thus allowing a smaller SVC
(60 MVAr).

Table 1 :
IEC 909 standard short-circuit powers (c = 1,0)
= contractual reference short-circuit powers
Transformer short-circuit powers
corresponding impedances (base 220 kV) Figure 8 : 20 ms 50 Hz Power variations over time interval
of 5 s EAF 2
Ssc (GVA) Z () The arc furnaces seems to have a different behaviour.
EAF 1
PCC 5.00 279 1.51 + j 9.56
In the case of EAF 1, the active power variations seems
HV-MV transfo 1.00 272 1.29 + j 48.4
to have the same sign as the reactive power variations.
MV-busbar 0.753 273 3.70 + j 64.2
In the case of EAF 2 the active and reactive power
EAF 2 variations seems to be opposite. A statistical analysis of
PCC 5.00 279 1.51 + j 9.56
the angle of the most important reactive power
HV-MV transfo 1.00 271 0.97 + j 48.4
variations over an observation period of a complete day
MV-busbar 0.761 273 3.28 + j 63.5
confirms these impressions : the angle is mainly the PCC can be estimated, using the underneath
between 0 and 90 for EAF 1 and between 90 and equation:
180 for EAF 2.
X HV
The voltage variations can be calculated with the Pste (PCC) = Pst (MV )
X MV
underneath equation:
Table 3 : Flicker emission (Pst,99%) of the EAFs using the
U R P+ X Q
simplified approach
U U2
EAF 1 EAF 2
We see that the voltage variations will increase for EAF (1) MV busbar 6.00 9.39
1 (decrease for EAF 2) when taking the active power (2) Simplified approach 0.89 1.41
variations into account. The flicker emission should be
influenced in the same way.
4.3.2 Voltage drop approach
Another difference between both furnaces is the
amplitude of the power variations. The cumulated
The 99th percentiles of the emission related to the
probability functions for the active and reactive power
transformer impedance are calculated. The emission at
variations for both arc furnaces are represented in Figure
the PCC can be obtained with:
9.

X HV
Pste (PCC) = Pste ( transfo )
X Transfo

Table 4 : Flicker emission (Pst,99%) of the EAFs using the

voltage drop approach

EAF 1 EAF 2
(3) HV-MV transformer 4.34 7.75
(4) Voltage Drop Approach 0.86 1.53

4.3.3 Load Current Approach

The flicker emission is assessed with the load current

Figure 9 : EAF 1 EAF 2
approach. The flicker emission obtained with this
CPF most important reactive and active power variations
method and related to the contractual reference short-
circuit power can be found in table 5.
The 99th percentiles for the power fluctuations are given
in table 2.
Table 5 : Flicker emission (Pst,99%) of the EAFs using the
th load current approach
Table 2 : 99 percentiles power variations
EAF 1 EAF 2
95th percentile
(5) Load Current Approach 1.16 1.24
P (MW) Q (MVAr)
EAF 1 81 31
EAF 2 63 42
4.3.4 Assessment results
The reactive power variations are more important for
EAF 2 than EAF 1. The opposite is valid for the active In the case of the arc furnaces, the simplified
power variations. approach and the voltage drop approach do not give
good results, the main reason is that the angle of the
4.3 Flicker emission assessment reference impedance is not representative for the
impedance angle at the PCC:
4.3.1 Simplified approach transformer : 89 HV busbar : 81
The flicker level4 at the MV busbar of both EAF is MV busbar : 87 HV busbar : 81
given in the table 3. The emission of the installation at
In the voltage drop approach the reference impedance is
almost purely inductive, the effect of active current
fluctuations remain for that reason invisible. When a
4
99th percentile of Pst pure reactance is used in the load current approach
similar results are obtained as with the voltage drop into account. When the active power variations are
approach. important (as compared to the reactive power
variations) and/or the network impedance angle is small
When taking the network resistance into account the (for instance < 85) it is recommended to use this
flicker emission (99th percentile) will: method.
increase with 35 % in the case of EAF 1
decrease with 15 % in the case of EAF 2 The influence of the network resistance on the flicker
The network resistance has an amplifying impact on the emission level can be negative or positive, depending on
emission level for EAF 1 and an attenuating impact on the angle of the power variations. This should be taken
the emission level for EAF 2. This effect can be into account when choosing the technology and the
explained when analysing the angle of the power control strategy - for an arc furnace or a fluctuating load
variations ( 4.2) and is a result of the difference in in general.
technology. It seems that the technology with free-
wheeling diodes and shifting control (EAF 1) looses a
part of its advantages when taking the effect of the
network resistance into account in the case of non- References
negligible network resistance.
[1] M. Couvreur, E. De Jaeger, A. Robert, 2000, Voltage
5 Conclusion Fluctuations and the Concept of Short-Circuit Power,
CIGRE 2000, report 13/14/36-08
The short-circuit power is a key concept in
characterising the ability of a power system to feed [2] International Electrotechnical Commission, 1988,
fluctuating loads without excessive flicker levels. Its Short-circuit current calculation in three-phase a.c.
apparent value (from measurements) is generally higher systems, IEC Standard 909, 1st edition
than its standard value (from calculations in standard
conditions). Important is to make a clear choice for the [3] P. Goossens, A. Robert, E. De Jaeger, Assessment of
contractual reference short-circuit power. the flicker emission of fluctuating loads, ERA
Conference, Quality and security of electric supply
For assessing a flicker emission level, the simplified 2001
approach (flicker measurements at the load side of the [4] Technical Report IEC 61000-3-7, Electromagnetic
step-down transformer) can be easily implemented with Compatibility (EMC), Part 3 :Limits, Section 7:
a standard flickermeter and leads to a good estimation Assessment of emission limits for fluctuating loads in
when: MV and HV power systems Basic EMC publication
1. the background flicker at the secondary side of the
transformer is negligible [5] M. Sakulin, T. Key, UIE/IEC Flicker Standard for Use
2. the power variations are mainly reactive in North America, Measuring Techniques and Practical
3. the network resistance is negligible Applications (Proceedings of the PQA 97 North
America Conference, Columbus OH, USA, March 1997)
The voltage drop approach (voltage waveform [6] M. Sakulin, H. Renner, Field Experience with the
measurements at both sides of the step-down Austrian UIE / IEC Flicker Analysis System
transformer) can be used in the same conditions (Proceedings of the XIIth UIE Congress, Electrotech 92,
(reactive power variations in purely inductive network), Montral Canada, 1992, pp. 842 85)
especially when the background flicker at the secondary
side of the transformer is too important. A further [7] W. Mombauer, Flicker Simulation and Minimisation,
advantage with respect to the "simplified approach is CIRED 1989
that it is based on a well-known impedance".
[8] J. Du Parc, M. Wursteisen, C. Glinski, Harmonics and
Flicker from DC EAF, PQA94, Amsterdam, October
The load current approach (current and voltage 24-27, 1994
waveform measurements at the connection point) yields
the best results because it takes the network resistance