Evaluating the Whale Optimization Algorithm for Harmonic Source Localization and Identification Under Varying Sampling Rates

Abstract

Harmonic monitoring in radial distribution feeders is essential for maintaining power quality, yet it typically requires costly measurement infrastructure. This paper proposes an approach based on a single power quality meter located at the point of common coupling of a microgrid. From the acquired three-phase voltage and current signals, a metaheuristic was employed to determine both the localization and identification of harmonic sources located in the utility side. The method aims to assess the minimum hardware requirements for power quality monitoring and was validated on the IEEE 34-bus test feeder. The localization stage achieved mean absolute errors ranging from 6.8 to 24.2 km, considering noisy measurement scenarios. Despite the imprecision observed in the localization stage, the identification stage (i.e., the most important process) yielded mean absolute errors ranging from 0.010 to 0.081 p.u. Thus, as the main objective is to understand the harmonic contribution from the utility side, the results demonstrate the practical feasibility of low-cost harmonic source monitoring, even under noisy measurement conditions.