A Practical Case of Harmonic Voltage Mitigation at a Baking Facility in Norway

─ An industrial baking oven was installed at a baking facility in Norway. After some time, a neighboring network user connected to the same low-voltage transformer complained to the distribution company about the problem of the occasional but persistent LED lights flickering. Problem occurrence coincided with the installation of a new baking oven at the bakery. There was a serious threat to the bakery that it would be disconnected from the distribution network if solution to this problem was not found. Problems of elevated noise at the low-voltage supply point due to harmonics and some gas-tube lighting equipment failure at the bakery were also clear indicators of power quality problems. Therefore, troubleshooting power quality measurements of all disturbance-significant loads at the bakery were made. Using the measurement results, the source of harmonic current has been identified. After that most appropriate solution for mitigation of harmonic current was identified. After the application of mitigation, power quality problems in the low-voltage network were not present any more. Even more, power quality in this low-voltage industrial network is now compliant even with the strict Norwegian power quality legislation.