Abstract
To predict the background level of harmonics produced by household appliances, information on the site, capacity, and usage pattern of these loads arenecessary. However, as household appliances are distributed widely and various in type, it is difficult to know these kinds of information accurately. This paper presents a method for estimation of background level of harmonics produced by distributed harmonic sources with readily available data. Large industrial customers are excluded from this study. In this paper, customers are grouped into three classes, i.e. residential, commercial, and industrial. Typical customers for each class are assumed and characteristics of their equipments are modeled. As the proposed method does not require harmonic measurement, it can be employed to forecast voltage total harmonic distribution (VTHD) in the future. An illustrative example is described.