Power converters in electricity distribution networks have become widespread thanks to recent technical advance in power electronics both in renewable energy generation plants and in industrial applications. However, this has led to greater network pollution in terms of harmonic distortion in a wide frequency spectrum. This issue is crucial when power lines and communication lines coexist, which are increasingly present in a smart grid aimed at managing the electricity network in a smart and efficient way. Indeed, it is known that conducted emissions generated by converters can significantly affect the operation of communication and data transmission devices.

Against this backdrop, the research activity presented in this report has focused on a literature review on modeling techniques for power converters in the frequency range 2 kHz ÷ 500 kHz. The results have highlighted that a behavioral modeling strategy ( black-box ) is the most appropriate for the study of disturbance propagation in networks. The chosen approach is based on an equivalent representation of the converter at the external ports by means of a Thevenin/Norton equivalent circuit, characterized by a passive network and equivalent noise sources, applicable to any converter topology. The parameters are extracted from measurements performed at the converter’s external ports. In order to develop an identification and validation procedure for the modeling specific for three-phase converters, a virtual measurement setup for the characterization of an inverter for PV applications has been implemented in a PSPICE simulation environment. In this way, the hypotheses underlying the model could be verified, and specific implementation aspects of the proposed measurement procedure investigated (and optimized) without resorting to a costly and time-consuming measurement setup. The results obtained confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed procedure, and act as a feasibility study for planning an experimental campaign to be carried out in the continuation of the research activity.