Influence of Solid State Fault Current Limiter on Grid Connected Photovoltaic System Protection

Abstract

Distributed generation (DG) are connected to the grid via a power electronic interface that regulates the amount of power injection to the grid by regulating point of coupling (PCC) voltage or converter control circuit. The PCC parameters are used to decide the operational mode of DG. The power electronic interface badly affected by at current and voltage in the event of a fault. The focus of this paper is at describing how solid-state fault current limiter (SSFCL) may be considered for voltage sag mitigation and fault current control of a parallel distribution feeder connected to a 100 KW photovoltaic system. This 100 KW photovoltaic system is connected to above said feeder with a 100 KVA transformer. To avoid any damage to power electronic interface, it is required to determine prospective fault current and voltage sag mitigation at point of coupling (PCC). The performance of SSFCL is assessed with prospective fault current, voltage sag mitigation and suppression of fault current for unsymmetrical /symmetrical faults on a parallel distribution feeder connected to photovoltaic system. Index Terms-Voltage sag mitigation, solid-state fault current limiter, prospective fault current, grid connected photovoltaic. H. Ravishankar Kamath received the M.Tech. degree from the National Institute of Technology, Suratkal, Karnataka and the Ph.D.