EMC Issues in the Interaction Between Smart Meters and Power-Electronic Interfaces

TLDR

Electronic‑smart meters are increasingly installed worldwide, yet their operation alongside photovoltaic inverters and other power‑electronic devices can cause measurement errors up to 45 %, a problem that current standards cannot address because of a gap in electromagnetic immunity and emissions regulation for the 2–150 kHz range. This paper reviews international and national standards, guidelines, technical reports, and papers on this electromagnetic‑compatibility issue, emphasizing the 2–150 kHz gap. It details ongoing standardization efforts to establish emission and immunity levels and testing procedures, and describes laboratory setups for evaluating smart‑meter immunity and grid‑tie inverter emissions. Experimental results from these setups validate the suitability of the proposed approaches.

Abstract

Electronic-smart meters are increasingly installed in electricity networks of many countries. In several cases, their operation in parallel with photovoltaic inverters and other power-electronic devices can result in measurement errors reaching up to 45%. In practice, this problem cannot be tackled by current standards due to the gap in standardization of electromagnetic immunity and emissions in the 2-150 kHz range. This paper provides a comprehensive review of international and national standards, guidelines, technical reports, and papers on this challenging electromagnetic-compatibility issue highlighting the gap in the 2-150 kHz range. The ongoing standardization activity to establish both emission and immunity levels and suitable testing procedures is described in detail. Laboratory setups for testing the immunity of smart meters and the emissions of grid-tie inverters are described and experimental results to validate the suitability of the proposed approaches are presented.