IEC TR 62510:2008

Standardising the characteristics of electricity

This technical report IEC/TR 62510:2008(E) outlines the way in which electricity is now described as a product. Particularly, in Europe and several other areas, for example Brazil and Argentina, as well as in some states in the United States of America. It is, however, rather a unique product because of its intangible and transient nature. Strictly, it is a product that exists only for an instant at a given point of delivery, comes into existence at the same instant at which it is being used and is replaced immediately by a new product with rather different characteristics. Its characteristics are different at each separate point of delivery. Moreover, it is a product whose quality depends not only on the elements that go into its production, but also in the way in which it is being used at any instant by the equipment of multiple users.

General Information

• Status: Withdrawn
• Publication Date: 10-Jun-2008
• Withdrawal Date: 30-Dec-2019
• ICS: 29.020 - Electrical engineering in general
• Technical Committee: TC 8 - System aspects of electrical energy supply
• Drafting Committee: MT 1 - TC 8/MT 1
• Current Stage: WPUB - Publication withdrawn
• Start Date: 31-Dec-2019
• Completion Date: 02-Jan-2020

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC/TR 62510
Edition 1.0 2008-06
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Standardising the characteristics of electricity

IEC/TR 62510:2008(E)
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IEC/TR 62510
Edition 1.0 2008-06
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Standardising the characteristics of electricity

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
K
ICS 29.020 ISBN 2-8318-9847-1
– 2 – TR 62510 © IEC:2008(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
STANDARDISING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRICITY

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote

international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To

this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
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with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
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9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC 62510, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 8:
Systems aspects for electrical energy supply.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
8/1226/DTR 8/1248/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the report
on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

TR 62510 © IEC:2008(E) – 3 –
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until the

maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data

related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or

• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

– 4 – TR 62510 © IEC:2008(E)
INTRODUCTION
While standards exist in various countries for some of the characteristics of electricity supplied

from public networks, IEC 61000-2-1, 1990, EN 50160 and IEEE 1159 are attempts to cover all

of the characteristics more or less comprehensively. EN 50160 was a response to a formal

declaration that electricity is a product – according to European Directive 85/374/EEC

concerning liability for defective products.

The network operators have the responsibility of designing and operating the network with the

required level of quality which may be defined by national laws, national or international

standards.
The following text describes the nature of electricity and the relation between quality of supply
nd
and EMC. It is taken very largely from the EURELECTRIC PQ Report, 2 Edition.
Quality of supply
Of all the basic services on which modern society relies for support, electricity supply is one of
the most essential. In order to provide that support, several qualitative aspects are significant.
a) Constant availability is an important requirement, involving
• for continuity of supply in day-to-day terms, an operating regime whereby the inevitable
supply interruptions are prevented from being either unduly prolonged or unduly
frequent;
• for more long-term security of supply, a stable balance between user demand and the
availability of generation, transmission and distribution assets as well as energy
sources.
b) The utilisation of electricity requires both voltage and frequency to be standardised in order
that the supply as delivered to the user is co-ordinated with the equipment by which it is
utilised. It is very important to maintain the supply within reasonable range of the standard
values that are adopted for voltage and frequency.
c) Notwithstanding acceptably stable levels of voltage and frequency, there are several quite
short-term, low-amplitude or occasional irregularities superimposed on the voltage that can
hinder the proper functioning of electrical equipment within manufacturers installations or
on the electricity network itself.
NOTE There have been many different approaches to classifying the qualitative aspects of electricity supply,
complicated further by the current practice of separating the functions of generation, supply, network operation, etc.
For example, a recent report by the Council of European Electricity Regulators uses the following terms:
– commercial quality: concerning the business relationships between suppliers and users with respect to
how well the various services are delivered (The services concerned are not confined to network
operation);
– continuity of supply: concerning the extent to which customers find that their electricity supply is
interrupted for various reasons – see a) above;
– voltage quality: concerning the technical characteristics of the supply with respect to the voltage
delivered to customers, i.e. its magnitude and frequency, as in b) above, together with the potentially
disturbing aspects referred to in c) above.

TR 62510 © IEC:2008(E) – 5 –
STANDARDISING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRICITY

1 Scope
This technical report outlines the way in which electricity is now described as a product.
Particularly, in Europe and several other areas, for example Brazil and Argentina, as well as in
some states in the United States of America.

It is, however, rather a unique product because of its intangible and transient nature. Strictly, it
is a product that exists only for an instant at a given point of delivery, comes into existence at
the same instant at which it is being used and is replaced immediately by a new product with
rather different characteristics. Its characteristics are different at each separate point of
delivery. Moreover, it is a product whose quality depends not only on the elements that go into
its production, but also in the way in which it is being used at any instant by the equipment of
multiple users.
Therefore, the quality control that is possible for more tangible and concrete products is not
applicable in the case of electricity. All that can be attempted is some control of the conditions
under which it is produced, transmitted and distributed and those under which it is used. In
particular, the capacity of utilisation equipment to impinge on the quality of electricity, including
that delivered to other equipment, must be recognized.
Electrical equipment has become increasingly complex in terms of the functions it fulfils and
the way in which it interacts with other electrical equipment. Frequently, that interaction takes
place through the medium of the electricity network, which is the common energy source for all
the equipment. It arises because the network, intended to be a common energy source, also
provides a conducting path interlinking all equipment.
In effect, the electromagnetic phenomena arising from the behaviour of utilisation equipment
are superimposed on the other characteristics of the electricity supply, and become part of the
product that is delivered to the system user. They are joined also by phenomena arising from
atmospheric and other external events and from the intrinsic response of a large electricity
system to such events.
2 The power quality phenomena
Observation of normalized network impedance characteristics, such as proposed in IEC 60725
for 16 A and 75 A supplies, is essential so that electricity suppliers, distributors and system

users can share the power quality responsibility.
NOTE Normalized network impedances are not always applicable in many countries, because the particular
network configuration makes the power quality management easier and more reasonable by using other methods
rather than normalized network impedances.
The degree of economic development has a great influence on the importance attached to the
different elements of supply quality. At an earlier stage of development, the primary concerns
are likely to be that electricity is actually available and, when available, that the voltage and
frequency are within reasonable range of their nominal values for most of the time. When these
are the primary concerns, such matters as voltage dips, transients, etc. are seen as having
minor relevance. With more advanced economic development, however, continuity, voltage and
frequency, while remaining important, begin to be taken for granted, and the emphasis shifts to
the set of phenomena encompassed by the modern term, “power quality”. These phenomena
are briefly described below.
– 6 – TR 62510 © IEC:2008(E)
Harmonics, interharmonics and frequencies in the range of 2 kHz to 9 kHz: these arise

mainly from system users’ equipment that draws a current not linearly related to the voltage,

thereby injecting currents at unwanted frequencies into the supply network.

Flicker, as a main effect of voltage fluctuations, which are caused by system users’

equipment drawing current of fluctuating magnitude, resulting in corresponding fluctuation of

the voltage on the network.
Short duration RMS variation (instantaneous, momentary, and temporarily): these are

caused by the sudden occurrence and termination of short circuits, motor starts or other

current increase on the supply system or installatio
...