Reactive power measurement in the presence of distorted waveforms

The authors present a comparison of reactive power measurement techniques. The voltage and current waveforms used in testing these techniques are actual recorded waveforms taken at local substations and simulated using a harmonic generator. Both odd and even harmonics were present. An extensive comparison between the calculated and measured values for reactive power is performed. Many cases are studied involving single harmonic and multiple harmonic content. These cases are related as percent error between the calculated value and the measured value where patterns are observed depending on the harmonic, its power factor angle, and the fundamental power factor angle