Open AccessPower control flexibilities for grid‐connected multi‐functional photovoltaic inverters
Author(s) -
Yang Yongheng,
Blaabjerg Frede,
Wang Huai,
Simões Marcelo Godoy
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
iet renewable power generation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.005
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1752-1424
pISSN - 1752-1416
DOI - 10.1049/iet-rpg.2015.0133
Subject(s) - photovoltaic system , grid connected photovoltaic power system , grid , inverter , maximum power point tracking , computer science , controller (irrigation) , control engineering , distributed generation , engineering , renewable energy , reliability engineering , electrical engineering , voltage , agronomy , geometry , mathematics , biology
This study explores the integration issues of next‐generation high‐penetration photovoltaic (PV) systems, where the grid is becoming more decentralised and vulnerable. In that case, the PV systems are expected to be more controllable with higher efficiency and reliability. Provision of ancillary and intelligent services, such as fault ride‐through and reactive power compensation, is the key to attain higher utilisation of solar PV energy. Such functionalities for the future PV inverters can contribute to reduced cost of energy, and thus enable more cost‐effective PV installations. To implement the advanced features, a flexible power controller is developed in this study, which can be configured in the PV inverter and flexibly change from one to another mode during operation. Based on the single‐phase PQ theory, the control strategy offers the possibilities to generate appropriate references for the inner current control loop. The references depend on system conditions and also specific demands from both system operators and prosumers. Besides, this power control strategy can be implemented in commercial PV inverters as a standardised function, and also the operation modes can be achieved online in predesigned PV inverters. Case studies have verified the effectiveness and flexibilities of the proposal to realise the advanced features.