Power quality improvement utilizing photovoltaic generation connected to a weak grid

Abstract

Abstract--Microgrid research and development in the past decades have been one of the most popular topics. Similarly, the photovoltaic generation has been surging among renewable generation in the past few years, thanks to the availability, affordability, technology maturity of the PV panels and the PV inverter in the general market. Unfortunately, quite often, the PV installations are connected to weak grids and may have been considered as the culprit of poor power quality affecting other loads in particular sensitive loads connected to the same point of common coupling (PCC). This paper is intended to demystify the renewable generation, and turns the negative perception into positive revelation of the superiority of PV generation to the power quality improvement in a microgrid system. The main objective of this work is to develop a control method for the PV inverter so that the power quality at the PCC will be improved under various disturbances. The method is to control the reactive current based on utilizing the grid current to counteract the negative impact of the disturbances. The proposed control method is verified in PSIM platform. Promising results have been obtained.

Analysis of Some Power Quality Parameters at the Points of Common Coupling of Photovoltaic Plants Based on Data Measured by Inverters

“…In addition, some authors maintain that not all grid problems are a consequence of the presence of distributed generation sources, and it is even contemplated that the presence of PV installations in the distribution grid can be used to compensate for some of the supply quality problems present in the grid for other reasons [37,38]. For example, Miller et al [39] have been able to verify in a study carried out in Australia that the imbalances they have detected in the grid are not a consequence of the presence of the PV installations analysed.…”