1

Revisions to IEEE Standard 519-1992

S. M. Halpin, Fellow, IEEE

IEC Standard 61000-4-7 (2nd edition) is widely accepted for

Abstract—IEEE Standard 519-1992 is nearing the final stages of
a revision. The major goals of this revision are to incorporate
experience gained since 1992 and to further harmonize with other
standards in this field, notably IEC Std. 61000-3-6. The major
areas of revision which have been identified, drafted, and
reviewed are summarized in this paper. These include the
addition of harmonic voltage limits for point-of-common coupling
locations with a rated voltage of less than 1.0 kV, the adoption of
the harmonic measurement protocols of IEC Standard 61000-4-7,
the inclusion of interharmonic limits, and the incorporation of
statistical methods to capture time-varying aspects of harmonics
in a way consistent with IEC Standard 61000-3-6. Additional
topics which have been proposed as a result of the initial review
process are also presented.
Index Terms—power system harmonics, power quality
harmonic measurements. This standard specifies in detail the
criteria and capabilities for any instrument used to measure
harmonics. The major aspects of the instrument outputs that
are appropriate to limit compliance are
1. The instrument produces frequency domain outputs
at 5 Hz intervals. This is a direct result from
specifying the width of the measurement window to
be 10/12 cycles for 50/60 Hz power systems.
2. Major “aggregations” of these 10/12 cycle individual
window measurements are provided over 3 s (called
“very short (vs) time”) and 10 min (called “short (sh)
time”) intervals. These aggregations are all based on
arithmetic averages as shown in (1) and (2) as
described in IEC Standard 61000-4-30.

1 15 2
I. INTRODUCTION
Fn , vs = 2 ∑ Fn,i
15 i =1
(1)

S ignificant experience has been gained since IEEE

Standard 519-1992 was published. At that time, power
system harmonics were a poorly-understood power quality
1 200 2
problem and a limits were necessary that could serve to
minimize undesirable effects of harmonics on utility
Fn ,sh = 2 ∑ F(n, vs ),i
200 i =1
(2)

customers and systems. Since 1992, the field has advanced

significantly but, at the same time, harmonic producing loads Each of the outputs of the instrument are used to specify limit
have proliferated and new harmonic-producing technologies compliance, but statistical processing is used on these outputs
have been introduced. The revisions to IEEE Standard 519- over daily and weekly recording periods to account of time
1992 are designed to recognize what has been learned by varying harmonic conditions.
removing much of the tutorial material while at the same time
capturing the new issues that have arisen. In the following
sections, the major revision areas are summarized. III. STATISTICAL INDICES
For each harmonic quantity of interest, including individual
II. HARMONIC MEASUREMENT
harmonic quantities and total harmonic distortion, the very-
Experience with applying the limits in IEEE Standard 519- short and short time outputs are evaluated using a histogram
1992 has shown that a significant issue exists regarding the to determine the cumulative probability function as shown in
assessment of limit compliance based on measured data. Figs. 1 and 2 for a sample THD measurement over a period of
Because no measurement standard exists, even though the time. (Note that the example of Figs. 1 and 2 does not
measurement technology is well understood and widely
correspond to the very-short or short time definitions—it is
available, harmonic measurements made with different
used for example purposes only.)
instrumentation leads to different assessment outcomes. This
is clearly an undesirable situation and leads to confrontations
between utility companies and those parties producing
harmonics. For this reason, it is necessary to adopt a
measurement procedure that is standardized so all
measurement campaigns have the maximal chance of yielding
consistent results.

S.M. Halpin is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

at Auburn University, Auburn University, AL 36830 USA
 2

18
For current,
16
1. Daily 99th percentile very short time (3 second)
14 harmonic currents should be less than 2.0 times the
12 values given in the appropriate harmonic current
TDD (% )

10
limit table,
8
6
2. Weekly 99th percentile short time (10 minute)
4 harmonic currents should be less than 1.5 times the
2 values given in the appropriate harmonic current
0 limit table, and
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69
3. Weekly 95th percentile short time (10 minute)
Time (h )
harmonic currents should be less than the values
Fig 1. Sample Time Variation of Total Demand Distortion given in the appropriate harmonic current limit table.

Note that the various tables of limit values are not repeated
100 100.0% here. The facts that these limits apply only at the identified
80 80.0%
PCC and that rated voltage, available short-circuit current,
and maximum load demand current are used to identify the
Frequency

60 60.0% appropriate limits to apply continue to be in force in the

40 40.0% revised document.
20 20.0%
V. INTERHARMONICS
0 .0%
Limits for voltage interharmonics have been developed
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

TDD (%) based on lamp flicker concerns. The interharmonic limits up

to 120 Hz are shown graphically in Fig 3.
Fig 2. Histogram and Cumulative Probability Function
6
V≤1kV V≤1kV
Using the probability function in Fig. 2, it is straightforward
to calculate numerical values of TDD which are not exceed 5
Voltage (% of Nominal)

for X% of the measurement duration time. The revised IEEE

4
Standard 519 recommends that 95th and 99th percentiles be 1 kV<V≤69 kV 1 kV<V≤69 kV

calculated over daily and weekly measurement periods. These 3

percentiles will be compared to the harmonic limit values
69 kV<V≤161 kV 69 kV<V≤161 kV
given in the limit tables. 2
V>161 kV V>161 kV

1 all all
IV. HARMONIC LIMITS voltages voltages

The harmonic limits for voltage and current will remain 0

0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
essential unchanged from the existing IEEE Standard 519-
1992 except for the addition of a new set of voltage harmonic Frequency (Hz)
limits that is applicable for points-of-common-coupling
(PCCs) that are rated at less than 1.0 kV. These new voltage Fig 3. Interharmonic Voltage Limits up to 120 Hz
limits specify 5% and 8% for individual harmonic levels and
total harmonic distortion, respectively. The major change, Note that the existing individual voltage harmonic limits
however, is that the statistical 95th and 99th percentiles are continue to apply and that at certain frequencies these existing
compared against the values given in the limit tables as limits may be more restrictive than those derived from lamp
follows: flicker considerations. These situations are indicated in Fig 3
by the horizontal lines labeled with the appropriate voltage
For voltage, breakpoints.
1. Daily 99th percentile very short time (3 second) Interharmonic current limits are not specifically provided in
values should be less than 1.5 times the values given the revised IEEE Standard 519. Because it is voltage
in the appropriate voltage harmonic limit table and distortion that creates a quantifiable problem in the frequency
2. Weekly 95th percentile short time (10 minute) values range up to 120 Hz, interharmonic current limits will have to
should be less than the values given in the be derived from the voltage limits using a frequency-
appropriate voltage harmonic limit table. dependent system impedance that could vary widely on a
case-by-case basis. For interharmonic currents above 120 Hz,
the appropriate adjacent even-order harmonic limit will apply.
 3

VI. ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS UNDER CONSIDERATION

As a result of the review process, two significant additional
areas of considerations have been revealed. These are

1. The possibility of modifying the existing individual

harmonic voltage limits, which are constant for all
frequency in IEEE Standard 519-1992, to include a
gradual reduction in allowable levels from
frequencies above the 15th harmonic.
2. The possibility of adding a third row to the current
limit table for the highest-voltage PCCs (above 161
kV). This third row would apply for ISC/IL ratios
below 25 and would recommend limit values that are
½ of the values presently specified for ISC/IL ratios
less than 50. The other two rows would remain the
same (25≤ISC/IL<50 and ISL/IL≥50).

These changes, if accepted, and those described in the

previous sections, represent the significant changes to be
made to IEEE Standard 519-1992.

VII. BIOGRAPHY
S. Mark Halpin (M 93, SM 02, F 05) received his BEE, MS, and
PhD degrees from Auburn University in 1988, 1989, and 1993, respectively. He
is currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at Auburn University. His teaching interests include power
systems, control systems, and network analysis. His research interests are in the
areas of modeling and simulation techniques for large-scale power systems,
power system transients, and computer algorithms. He is active in the IEEE
Power Engineering Society, where he serves as Chair of the Task Force to revise
IEEE 519-1992, and Industry Application Society, where he serves as Chairman
of the IAS Working Group on Harmonics.