Control of Three Phase Grid Connected Photo1

voltaic Power Systems

Ahmed S. Khalifa and Ehab F. El-Saadany, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractThis paper proposes a control methodology for interfacing medium and large photovoltaic (PV) arrays to the power system distribution grid. First, the structure of the PV system in grid-connected mode is introduced. It consists of a PV array in addition to a power conditioning system for grid interfacing purposes. The power conditioning system is composed of a DC-DC boost converter, followed by a current controlled Voltage Source Inverter (VSI). The system was controlled to inject a clean sinusoidal current into the grid. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and PV cell modeling will be discussed as well. After that, simulation results of the system using MATLAB SIMULINK are presented. Finally, a case study was conducted to examine the effect of the interfacing transformer topology on the system during fault conditions. Index TermsControl, Photovoltaic power systems, Pulse width modulated inverters, Maximum Power Point Tracking.

gram. The program provides investors with a steady income that justifies the high capital cost of PV systems. Under the FIT program, PV power is sold back to the power system grid following a predetermined price scheme. Roof mounted PV systems below 10 kW receive a contract price of 80.2 /kWh for a contract period of 20 years. Ground mounted PV systems with capacity between 10 kW and 10 MW receive a contract price of 44.3 /kWh for the same period.
16000

PV Power Installed (MW)

14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

I. INTRODUCTION

ISTRIBUTED Generation is one of the fastest growing areas of research in todays evolving power system. Although the concept of generating power from multiple dispersed locations is not new, the introduction of renewable energy sources and small capacity fossil fuel generators to the centralized power grid is a relatively new concept. Several reasons have caused the shift towards a more decentralized power system. Those reasons include but are not limited to: electricity market privatization and the increased environmental concerns regarding greenhouse gases [1]. Photovoltaic arrays are one of the DG sources that have been growing steadily in the last few years. This is primarily due to its increasing power conversion efficiency and the decreasing costs of installing new PV modules. A survey report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has indicated that approximately 5.68 GW of PV power was installed in year 2008 [2]. About 75% of that additional capacity was installed in Spain and Germany alone. The growth trend of PV power installations since 1992 is shown in figure 1 to get an understanding of that increase. Grid connected PV systems form the majority of the installed PV power capacity as compared to stand-alone systems. In order to encourage investments in PV systems, some governments provide contracts for buying power from the system owner for a specified period of time. For instance, the government of Ontario, Canada, has started the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program, enabled by the Green Energy and Green Economy Act passed in 2009 [3]. Ontario Power Authority (OPA) is the entity in charge of implementing the FIT proThe authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1, (email: akhalifa@uwaterloo.ca, ehab@hivolt.uwaterloo.ca)

Year

Fig. 1. Total installed PV power in IEA participating countries by year (including both grid connected and stand alone PV arrays). Source: International Energy Agency.

With the increase in the number of grid connected PV systems, comes the challenge of implementing an effective power conversion system (PCS). The DC output power from the array needs to be converted into AC power for it to be injected into the grid. IEEE Std. 929-2000 [4] requires current injected by PV systems into the distribution network to have a total harmonic current distortion below 5% at rated inverter output. From that, the power conversion system has to perform two important functions: 1) extract maximum power output from the PV array and 2) inject an almost harmonic free sinusoidal current into the grid. This paper focuses on the control of the PCS and presents a control methodology to address the previously mentioned issues. The PV cell equivalent circuit model is presented in section II to be used in simulating the system. Section III describes the structure of a grid connected PV system and its associated control blocks. Control of the PCS is divided into two parts: controlling the DC converter to extract maximum power from the array while boosting the terminal voltage, and controlling the VSI to inject 3 phase sinusoidal currents into the grid. Simulation results obtained using SIMULINK are presented in section IV. Section V discusses the effect of the interfacing transformer topology on the propagation of zero sequence currents between the PV system and the grid. Finally, a brief conclusion follows in section VI.

978-1-4244-7245-1/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

II. PV CELL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL The equivalent circuit model of a PV cell is needed in order to simulate its real behavior. One of the models proposed in literature is the double exponential model [5] depicted in figure 2. Using the physics of p-n junctions, a PV cell can be modeled as a DC current source in parallel with two diodes that represent currents escaping due to diffusion and charge recombination mechanisms. Two resistances, Rs and Rp, are included to model the contact resistances and the internal PV cell resistance respectively.

2 Fig. 3. Simplified PV cell circuit model.

The PV cell output current varies with solar irradiation and temperature through: G I = ( I n + K I T ) (3) Gn Where In is the nominal PV cell output current (at 25 C and 1000 W/m2), KI is the current/temperature variation coefficient (A/K), T is the variation from the nominal temperature (25 C) and Gn is the nominal solar irradiation (1000 W/m2). The current/temperature variation coefficient, KI, has a relatively small value. Therefore, changes in the cell operating temperature have a slight impact on the short circuit current as opposed to solar irradiation. The PV cell reverse saturation current, I0 in (2), is strongly dependent on temperature. The following relation can be used to model that effect [7]:

Fig. 2. Double exponential PV cell circuit model.

The relationship between the PV cell output current and terminal voltage is governed by:

I = I ph I D1 I D 2

V + IRs Rp
(1)

q(V + IRs ) I D1 = I 01 exp 1 akT q(V + IRs ) I D 2 = I 02 exp 1 akT

I0 =

I sc , n + K I T
exp(q (Voc , n + KV T ) / akT ) 1

(4)

PV cell current (A)

Where Iph is the PV cell internal generated photocurrent, ID1 and ID2 are the currents passing through diodes D1 and D2, a is the diode ideality factor, k is the Boltzmann constant (1.3806503 1023 J/K), T is the PV cell temperature in Kelvin, q is the electron charge (1.60217646 1019 C), I01 and I02 are the reverse saturation currents of each diode respectively. Assuming that the current passing in diode D2 due to charge recombination is small enough to be neglected, a simplified PV cell model can be reached as shown in figure 3. That model provides a good compromise between accuracy and model complexity and has been used in several previous works [7], [8]. In that case, equation (1) can be simplified to:
q (V + IRs ) V + IRs I = I ph I 0 exp 1 R akT p
(2)

Where Isc,n is the nominal short circuit current of the PV cell, Voc,n is the nominal open circuit voltage, KI and KV are the current and voltage temperature variation coefficients respectively. Figure 4 shows the I-V characteristic of a PV cell under different solar irradiance levels and at different temperatures. The short circuit current varies linearly with solar irradiance while temperature variations have more effect on the cell open circuit voltage.
10 1000 W/m2 8 6 500 W/m2 4 2 0 800 W/m2 T = 50 C T = 75 C

The PV cell characteristics vary with external factors including temperature and solar irradiation level. To incorporate these effects into the model, two additional relations are used.

0.1

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 PV cell terminal voltage (V)

0.6

Fig. 4. PV cell I-V characteristic for different solar irradiation levels (continuous lines) and different temperatures (dashed lines).

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of the grid connected PV system showing its main control blocks.

III. STRUCTURE OF THE GRID CONNECTED PV SYSTEM Figure 5 shows the structure of a grid connected PV system. It is composed of a 100 kW (maximum output power) PV array connected to a DC-DC boost converter. A DC link capacitor was connected to the converter and served as a relatively constant voltage DC bus for the three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI). Its voltage was regulated at a constant value by using a DC link controller. The grid was modeled as a Y connected voltage source followed by a resistance, Rg, and inductance Lg. An RL load and an adjustable speed drive were connected to the system to model some of the typical loads connected to a distribution network. The current controlled voltage source inverter was used to convert the DC power stored in the DC link capacitor and injected sinusoidal currents into the grid. Lf and Cf formed an LC filter to get rid of undesirable harmonics in the injected current. If the leakage inductance, Lt, of the interfacing transformer, T1, was referred to the low voltage side (the PV array side), an LCL filter was formed and a much cleaner current waveform could be obtained. Total harmonic current distortion (THDI) is an important measure that defines how clean a current waveform is. The system had multiple control blocks that worked together to ensure that maximum power was extracted from the PV array and then converted it to AC power to be injected into the grid. The details of each control block in the system are discussed in the next few subsections.

The PV array was connected at the input side of the converter while the DC link capacitor was connected at the output. The switching control law, u, applied at the gate of transistor Q is defined as:

1 u= 0

VPV Vmp > 0 VPV Vmp < 0

(5)

Where Vpv is the terminal voltage of the PV array and Vmp is the voltage of the array at maximum power point in volts. A switching position equals to 1 meant that the switch was closed; while a value of 0 meant that the switch was open. By implementing that control law, maximum power output from the array could be obtained assuming that both solar irradiation and temperature did not change during the control interval. Several techniques for maximum power point tracking in PV arrays were covered in good detail in [9]. Of those techniques, perturb and observe (P&O) and incremental conductance are widely used due to their good performance and ease of implementation.

A. DC-DC boost converter control The DC-DC boost converter was used to extract maximum power output from the PV array and also increased the terminal voltage to a level suitable for interfacing with the grid. A schematic diagram of the converter is shown in figure 6.

Fig. 6. DC-DC boost converter schematic diagram.

The value of Vmp can be found by either using an algorithm like perturb and observe, or by assuming it is a constant fraction of the open circuit voltage of the PV array at certain irradiation and temperature.

B. Voltage source inverter (VSI) The voltage source inverter was used to convert the DC output of the PV array to AC power. Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of a two-level, three phase VSI. The voltage source inverter derives its name from the fact that it uses a relatively constant DC voltage source to generate three phase voltages and currents. Pulse width modulation techniques are an effective and efficient way of generating the switching pulses at the gate terminals of each transistor. The aim of the control strategy in this paper is to regulate the current output from the inverter to follow a specified reference signal. A possible way of doing so is to convert the three phase output current of the inverter to a rotating reference frame (dq0) and then shape the output current as desired.

calculations of real and reactive powers were decoupled and simplified to: P = Vd I d
Q = Vd I q
(8)

Which means that if the grid voltage is relatively constant, Id and Iq can control real and reactive power injections from the PV array. The block diagram representing the PLL is shown in figure 8.

Fig. 8. Phase locked loop (PLL) block diagram.

Fig. 7. Two level, three phase voltage source inverter.

C. Current control in the rotating reference frame (dq0) Assuming the system is balanced; the dq transformation can be used to convert the three phase currents injected by the inverter, into three constant DC components defined as the direct, quadrature and zero components: Id, Iq and I0 respectively. The relation between the natural (abc) and the rotating frames (dq0) is:
Id Ia I = 2 T I q b 3 I0 Ic cos ( t ) T = sin ( t ) 1 2
cos ( t 2 / 3) sin ( t 2 / 3) 1 2

In order to inject real power from the inverter, Id was controlled to follow a specified reference signal Id*. Reactive power injection was set to zero and thus Iq* = 0. The reference current Id* was extracted from the dynamics of the DC link capacitor. A constant DC voltage across the capacitor meant that the power that went into it from the PV array matched the power going out to the inverter. The relationship is depicted as: d 2 2 (9) VDC = ( Pin Pout ) dt C
Where VDC is the DC link capacitor voltage. The input power Pin to the capacitor was controlled to be the maximum PV array output power by the DC-DC converter. It was the task of the inverter, however, to control the output power Pout from the capacitor to keep its voltage constant. A proportionalintegral (PI) controller was used to extract the reference current Id* from the error mismatch between Pin and Pout:
* Id =

sin ( t + 2 / 3) 1 2
cos ( t + 2 / 3)

(6)

1 K P ( Pin Pout ) + K I ( Pin Pout ) dt Vd

(10)

Having this information, the command voltages vd* and vq* for the inverter gates PWM can be obtained from:
vd = K P I d I d + K I I d I d dt L f I q + Vd
* * *

Where T is the transformation matrix and is the frequency of rotation of the reference frame in rad/sec. Real and reactive powers injected by the inverter can be calculated in dq frame by using: P = Vd I d + Vq I q Q = Vd I q + Vq I d
(7)

vq = K P

( (I

* q

Iq

) ( ) + K (I
I

* q

Iq

) ) dt + L I
f

+ Vq

(11)

Where Vd, Vq are the dq voltages at the point of common coupling, Id and Iq are the dq components of the injected current. A phase locked loop was used to lock on the grid frequency in such a way that Vq was set to zero [12]. In that case,

Where KP and KI are the PI controller constants. The command voltages are transformed back to the natural abc frame where they will be used as the SPWM modulating signals for the inverter. These signals are normalized with respect to the DC link voltage to have maximum amplitude of 1 V for comparison with a high frequency carrier signal.


5 (a) (b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Fig. 9. Simulation results of the PV grid connected system: (a) 3 phase current injected into the grid, (b) dq components of the injected current, (c) Total harmonic distortion of the injected current (THDI), (d) real and reactive powers transferred from the PV system to the grid, (e) DC link capacitor voltage and (f) modulating signals used for generating the sinusoidal PWM gating pulses for the 3 phase VSI.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS The PV grid connected system in figure 5 was simulated using MATLAB Simulink to verify the control methodology discussed earlier. A 100 kW PV array was interfaced to the grid and the control was set to inject maximum active power to the grid. The adjustable speed drive was controlled using direct field oriented control (FOC) to reach a constant speed of 2000 rpm. A 500/6600 VLL delta-Wye grounded transformer was used to step up the output voltage of the inverter. Figure 9 shows some of the waveforms obtained during the simulation. The PV system was operating in constant current control mode. Figure 9(a) shows the 3 phase currents injected to the grid, which reached a stable value following some initial transients caused by changes in the DC link voltage. This is confirmed by the dq components of the injected current shown in figure 9(b) which follow closely the references Id* and Iq*.

Total harmonic distortion was also recorded as shown in figure 9(c), to make sure that it is below the limits set by the IEEE Std. 929-2000. The effect of the motor acceleration caused some distortion in the injected current as it was accelerating. However, the THDI level was still below 5%. Real and reactive powers injected from the PV system are shown in figure 9(d). The injected real power was about 92 kW while reactive power was set to zero. The DC link capacitor voltage was controlled at a steady state value of about 1.05 kV as shown in figure 9(e). Finally, the modulating signals used to generate the sinusoidal PWM pulses for the inverter switches are shown in figure 9(f). The switching frequency was set to 99 60 Hz = 5940 Hz to eliminate even harmonics. The performance of the proposed control methodology was confirmed by simulation in terms of injected power quality and the speed of finding the approximate maximum power point.

V. BEHAVIOR OF THE SYSTEM DURING FAULT CONDITIONS The operation of the distribution system protection devices can be disrupted when distributed generation (DG) sources are connected. Protection relays in radial distribution systems are set to respond to a certain magnitude of fault current, which is determined by the short circuit level at the fault location. If a DG source happens to be located between a distribution substation and a fault, it can contribute to the fault current. If the fault current contribution from the grid decreases, the protection relay may not be able to detect the fault and a relay under-reach situation occurs. The situation is depicted in figure 10. Most utilities require DG sources to disconnect within a few cycles of detecting a fault in the system. That could be difficult to implement especially when DG sources comprise a major part of the generated power. In Denmark for example, about 20% of the countrys total electricity supply in 2007 was generated from renewable energy sources like wind turbines [6]. Thats why it is important to study how fault conditions affect the system when renewable energy sources are installed.

the grid during the fault. On the other hand, the delta-Y grounded topology allowed zero sequence current to pass from the PV system to the fault. That is a case during which the DG could disrupt the ground relays correct operation. The results for that case are shown in figure 13.

Fig. 11. DG zero sequence current contribution for a SLG grid fault when using (a) delta-delta and (b) delta-wye grounded transformers.
3000 2000 Fault current (A) 1000 0 -1000 -2000 -3000 0.4

Fig. 10. Effect of DG fault current contribution on the protection system.

Single line to ground faults (SLG) are the most probable type of faults to occur. Ground protection relays are used to detect this type of faults by continuously monitoring zero sequence currents in the system. The contribution of zero sequence currents (ZSC) from the DG to the grid is affected by the topology of the interfacing transformer. In this paper, two different transformer topologies were considered, namely: Delta-Delta (-) and Delta (DG side)-Wye grounded (grid side). Delta-Delta transformers offer good isolation of ZSC between the DG and the grid, but there is a risk of phase overvoltages when the grid circuit breaker trips for a permanent fault [18]. Delta-Y grounded transformers, on the other hand, could allow the DG to contribute zero sequence currents to the grid. The zero sequence circuit equivalent of both transformer topologies is shown in figure 11. A simulation was conducted for a single line to ground fault F1 at the grid side in figure 5. The fault was a temporary fault that lasted for 0.2 seconds. The zero sequence current contribution of the PV array system was monitored for each transformer topology used. The fault current magnitude and the zero sequence current contribution of the PV array for the delta-delta transformer are shown in figure 12. It is clear that no zero sequence current was detected from the PV system to

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6 Time (s)

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

(a)
10

Zero sequence current (A)

-5

-10 0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6 Time (s)

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

(b) Fig. 12. (a) Single line to ground fault current F1 for phase A and (b) zero sequence current injected by the PV system to feed the fault for the delta-delta transformer.

3000 2000 Fault current (A) 1000 0 -1000 -2000 -3000 0.4

[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 Time (s) 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6 Time (s)

0.65

0.7

0.75

0.8

(a)
800 600 Zero sequence current (A) 400 200 0 -200 -400 -600 -800 0.4

[15]

(b) Fig. 13. (a) Single line to ground fault current F1 for phase A and (b) zero sequence current injected by the PV system to feed the fault for the delta-Y grounded transformer.

[16] [17] [18]

VI. CONCLUSION This paper presented a control technique for grid connected PV array systems. The main objectives were to achieve maximum power output from the PV array and to inject a high quality AC current into the grid to transfer that power. To that aim, the PV cell equivalent circuit model was obtained to construct the system and then focus was directed towards the power conditioning system (PCS) and its controls. The first stage of the PCS was a DC-DC boost converter responsible for extracting maximum power from the PV array and increasing its output voltage. The second stage of the PCS was a current controlled voltage source inverter (VSI) that converted the DC power of the array into AC power and injected it into the grid. The control technique relied on transforming the three phase currents and voltages into a rotating reference frame and then regulated the resulting dq current components. After that, simulation results obtained using MATLAB Simulink were presented to confirm the system operation. Finally, the system behavior under fault conditions was illustrated through a case study on two interfacing transformer topologies: delta - delta and delta (PV) Y grounded (grid). VII. REFERENCES
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Ahmed S. Khalifa was born in Giza, Egypt, in 1985. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). He is currently pursuing the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo since August 2008. His current research interests include renewable energy sources and control of PWM drives. Ehab F. El-Saadany (M01--SM05) was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1964. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, in 1986 and 1990, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 1998. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo. His current research interests include distribution system control and operation, power quality, power electronics, digital signal processing applications to power systems, and mechatronics.