This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/61139/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the AbstractDecarbonisation of the European electricity system can become dauntingly costly due to transmission and distribution network issues arising from the integration of intermittent renewable generation sources. It is expected that wind energy will be the principal renewable source by 2050 and, as such, a number of initiatives in the academia and in the industry are being carried out to propose solutions to best accommodate the wind resource. This paper presents work carried out by DEMO 1 partners within the EU FP7 project BEST PATHS. A MATLAB/Simulink toolbox consisting of the necessary building blocks for the simulation and integration of offshore wind farms using enabling technologies such as multiterminal high-voltage direct-current grids is presented. To illustrate the toolbox capabilities, a number of system topologies is studied. System performance is assessed and measured against a set of key performance indicators. To ensure knowledge dissemination, the toolbox has been made available as open access in the BEST PATHS project website.

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The number of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system installations is increasing as different new and specific solar cells and modules are developed. The great advantages of BIPV systems should be enough to achieve their massive implantation, but the difficult working conditions of the urban environment reduce the energy yield and increase the payback period of investment.In order to boost the energy yield of BIPV systems distributed PV system architectures seem to be the solution. In this sense, TECNALIA developed a new distributed DC-DC converter PV system architecture. These electronic devices, commonly called power optimizers, eliminate almost all the mismatching losses between modules and increase the system energy output.The performance of these distributed architectures is much better than centralized ones for high mismatched PV systems. However, for no mismatched cases centralized architectures present higher overall system efficiencies and energy yields. This makes the decision of which architecture is the most suitable one not so easy.In order to quantify the advantages and disadvantages in the performance of these types of architectures, the present abstract summarizes the experimental results of both architectures in real and identical working conditions. The tests have been performed in two independent PV fields, one with distributed architecture and the other one with the typical centralized one.The work carried out has consisted in generating different type of mismatching situations common in an urban environment. The tested working conditions are related to different irradiation levels, type of irradiation, orientation and inclination, shadows, dirtiness and reflexions conditions. Other aspects related to the double operation of MPPT systems (inverter and power optimizers) have also been tested.The energetic test result are presented and analyzed, showing the strengths and weaknesses of each PV system architecture.The work carried out is comprised under the Government of Bizkaia funded research project EMAITEK-FOTO. BACKGROUND

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In the coming years, distribution grids will be progressively flooded by renewable energy sources (RES) that will be interconnected with the main grid through power electronic converters. Photovoltaics (PVs) are one of the most promising renewable technologies even for densely built‐up areas where space problems are inevitable. The high penetration prospect of PV facilities on low‐voltage distribution networks raises questions regarding the necessity of advanced functions that will enable electronically coupled RES to support the operation of distribution grids and to enhance their reliability. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of various islanding prevention measures installed in commercial PV inverters, when multiple inverters are operating in parallel with a low‐voltage distribution network (LVDN). Extensive experiments were performed under various PV penetration levels, linear/non‐linear load and over/under voltage and over/under frequency conditions, as well as for various values of total harmonic distortion of the mains voltage. Further to the primary statistical analysis, the results were analysed in depth by advanced mathematical methods such as box plot and cluster analysis. The findings of this study indicate that commercial anti‐islanding techniques present a high probability of failure in the case of multiple PV units at the same point of common coupling, calling for new and more advanced algorithms.