A New Medium Voltage DC Collection Grid for Large

Scale PV Power Plants with SiC Devices

Fahad Alhuwaishel, Member, IEEE, Ahmad Allehyani. Member, IEEE, Sinan Al-Obaidi, Member,
IEEE, and Prasad Enjeti, Fellow, IEEE
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
alhuwaishel@tamu.edu

Abstract— In this paper, a new medium voltage DC 1000V DC (a)

collection grid method for large-scale PV plants is proposed. DC
AC

An Interleaved Modular Multilevel (IMMC) DC-DC boost PV Plant 1

converter is proposed in order to enable medium voltage 1000V DC 400V AC 11kV AC 132kV AC
DC power collection grid followed by a central medium DC
AC

voltage class DC-AC inverter for utility interface. The PV Plant 2

MV Substation Power Grid
proposed IMMC converter is synthesized with lower 1000V DC
Transformer
DC
voltage half-bridge SiC inverter blocks connected in series AC

Inverters with droop

to support medium voltage DC conversion. The half-bridge PV Plant n
control (b)
blocks of the IMMC employ SiC switches, along with high
frequency PWM operation enable compact size/weight
1500V DC
along with high efficiency conversion. Simulation results DC
AC
11kV AC 132kV AC

are shown for 1500V (DC) to 16kV (DC) conversion with PV Plant 1
four series connected IMMC inverter blocks powered from 1500V DC Substation Power Grid
two PV plants. A power sharing stage is an integral part of DC
AC

the proposed converter. This enable two series connected PV Plant 2 DC/DC Converter Inverter Transformer

PV plants to supply unequal power under partial shading (c)

PV Plant 1
conditions. Control of the power sharing stage for varying
insolation from PV (1000-500W/m2) due to shading effect is 1500V DC

shown. A design example for 1MW PV power plant block 16kV DC 11 kV AC 132kV AC
based on the specifications derived from Kuwait Shagaya
60MW solar power plant is discussed. Experimental results GND
1500V DC
Substation Power Grid
on scale down laboratory prototype is included in the paper. IMMC (DC/DC) Converter MV NPC with SiC
PV Plant 2
Power-Sharing Stage

Index Terms— DCDC IMMC Converter, DC Collection grids,
MPPT, Large PV Plant, SiC Devices, Power Sharing, Passive
elements size reduction, shaqaya power plant, power harvesting
I. INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1 Large Scale PV Power collection grid evolution: (a) Conventional low voltage
3-phase AC-Collection grid [7], (b) Conventional low voltage DC-Collection grid [8-
9], and (c) Proposed new medium DC collection grid with SiC converters employing
the integrated modular multilevel (IMMC) DC-DC converter.
(Fig. 1a) requires large line filters, boost converters, and step-
up-transformers. Further, AC collection grid also employs
multiple distributed DC-AC inverters and suffers from
relatively higher losses [3-7]. A DC Collection grid is another

T HE global solar market is expected to have cumulative
500GW power production in the end of 2018 [1]. The
Kuwait Institute Scientific Research (KISR) has initiated and
developed the master plan of a 2,000 MW multi-technology
renewable energy park over 100 km2 that has been allocated for
the initiative. Based on a preliminary resources assessment
study conducted by KISR in 2010 [2], Concentrated solar
power (CSP) and Photovoltaic (PV) technologies were selected
as the most promising renewable technologies with high
potential of utilization. Therefore, the current industry trends
head toward high efficiency PV modules as well as enhanced
PV plants architecture [3]. Generally, power is harvested from
a large-scale solar energy power system through AC or DC
collection grid [3-7] as shown in Fig. 1. The AC collection grid
978-1-5386-5541-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
viable option for large-scale PV [8-9].
The DC Collection grid (Fig. 1b) employs a single large-
scale DC-AC inverter followed by transformer to interface with
the grid. It has been shown that increasing the PV system
voltage from 1000V to 1500V has the benefit of increased
efficiency, reduced system losses and maximum power point
tracking range [10]. Further, increasing the DC collection grid
to medium voltage levels has been shown to be beneficial in
large-scale off-shore wind power systems in terms of reduction
size/weight, complexity and efficiency [11].
Several effective higher gain dc-dc converters have been
proposed in the literature for medium voltage applications [12-
14]. In reference [12], Rainstick converter with a cascaded half
bridge inverter submodule that operates in step down mode is
Power-Sharing Converter with Interleaved Modular Multilevel MV Class DC-AC Power Grid
two 1.5kV Plants DC/DC Converter Inverter with SiC’s
IO
SM4+ +
VC4
IL4 -
+ SM3
VC3
1.5 kV PV Plant 1 - IL3
IPV1 SM2 +
+ VC2 VIMMC1
IL2
- (8 kV)
+ SM1
Vpv1 VC1
IS - IL1
+
-
VA
Ls - -
ISHARE + + VBUS
GND VB
+ (`16 kV)
SM9 -
IS + IL5
Vpv2 VC5
IL6
- SM5
+
- VC6 VIMMC2
SM6 - IL7 (8 kV)
IPV2
+
1.5 kV PV Plant 2
VC7
IL8 - SM7
+
VC8
SM8 - a b c
- -

Fig. 2 Circuit topology of the proposed interleaved modular multilevel (IMMC) DC-DC converter for the medium voltage dc collection grid architecture for
large scale pv power plants with the capability to adjust MPPT for PV-Plant 1 and 2 independently.

proposed. However, this converter suffers from unbalanced
capacitor voltages that eventually limits its modularity. Another
version of this converter is proposed in [13] and titled as
triangular modular multilevel converter (TMMC). TMMC
facilitate step up and step-down operation while achieving a
higher gain ratio. TMMC is designed and controlled to balance
its capacitors voltages. However, TMMC configuration
involves a significant large passive elements sizing. TMMC
submodule voltages across the capacitors suffers from ripple
voltage that enforce a large capacitance design. This voltage
ripple is doubled with each extra boosting stage added in case
of 50% duty cycle operation. Consequently, the capacitors need
to be over sized to ensure that the total voltage ripple
summation is not exceeding 5% DC output standards. On the
other hand, TMMC inductors current also suffers from high
current stress that increase with increasing the submodules
stages. This problem has been addressed by [13] by adding a
parallel submodule to achieve the current modularity. These
extra modules will add to the converter losses, size and cost.
In view of this, this paper proposes a new medium voltage
DC-Collection grid for large scale PV power plants as shown in
Fig 2. The approach consists of a collection of two 1500V solar
panels connected in series with a center point ground followed
by power sharing stage (Fig. 2). The power sharing stage
facilitates the adjustment of maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) of PV-Plant-1 and PV-Plant-2 independently. The
power sharing stage is followed by two sets (a positive set and
a negative set) of the proposed interleaved modular multilevel
DC-DC converter (IMMC) to achieve 16kV DC. Each set of
DC-DC IMMC boost the PV plant voltage of 1500V DC to 8kV
with the help of lower voltage half-bridge modules to achieve a
total of 16kV.
Each DC-DC IMMC consists of four interleaved half-bridge
submodules that employs 6.5 kV SiC switches [16-17] and high
frequency operation enables compact size/weight of L-C
components along with high conversion efficiency. The IMMC
stage is followed by medium voltage class inverter with SiC
devices directly coupled to the substation to achieve high
voltage power grid tie requirement. The technical focus of this
paper is limited to the DC-DC converter stage. The proposed
IMMC based MVDC architecture has the following
advantages:
The output voltage ܸூெெ஼ଵ is a function of the duty cycles Ɂଵ
to Ɂ୬ . By choosing a proper duty cycle, the incoming voltage of
the PV plant 1 can be suitably boosted.
Further, from Fig. 3 node voltage/current loops equations can
be written to express inductor and capacitor values in terms of
current/voltage ripple, PWM duty cycle and switching
frequency.

• Modular architecture with interleaved half bridge

submodules ensures the system is scalable.
Io
• Employing SiC switching devices results in higher power
density for large-scale PV power plants. 1-ɷ4 Node 1 VC4
IL4 IC4
• The IMMC DC-DC converter regulates the MVDC grid
L4
voltage under varying solar insolation. Control strategy to ɷ4 Node 2 VC3
1-ɷ3

achieve maximum power point tracking is implemented via IC3 IL3

L3 +
PWM control. 1-ɷ2 Node 3 VC2 ɷ3 VIMMC1
• MVDC architecture results is lower ohmic losses and IL2 IC2 A
8kV
-
improves power density [7,13] L2
ɷ2 Node 4 VC1 1-ɷ1
• The 180-degree phase shift between the sets of the two DC- IC1 IL1
DC IMMC configuration allow voltage ripple cancelation at
Node 5
VA Is L1
the DC output port allowing compact capacitors design ɷ1

• High quality DC output with minimized voltage ripple

Io
• Proposed architecture does not require combiner boxes thus
saving cost and reducing complexity 1-ɷ4 +
Loop 4* VC4
- VL4 + C4
-
II. IMMC CIRCUIT ANALYSIS ɷ4 + 1-ɷ3
Loop 4 Loop 3*
VC3 C3
A. DC-DC IMMC Design and operation - + VL3 -
+
Fig. 2 shows the propose converter that can be viewed as two 1-ɷ2 Loop 2*
+
Loop 3
ɷ3 VIMMC1
V2
series cascaded blocks. Fig. 3 shows the upper half with the - VL2 + - C2
A
8kV
-
voltage and current loops marked. As detailed before, the
ɷ2 +
IMMC is series connection of half-bridge modules operated in Loop 2 Loop 1*
VC1 C1 + VL1 -
1-ɷ1

PWM duty ratio to maintain specific voltage across the series -

connected capacitors. Employing high switching frequency the VA Loop 1
ɷ1
required inductor and capacitor sizes can be maintained small.
From Fig. 3, the voltage ܸ௖ଵ across the capacitor C1 can be Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of the upper half of the proposed DC-DC IMMC in Fig. 2.
expressed as, (a) Shows the defined node voltages (b) defined loop currents

Ɂଵ Therefore, the required inductor value ଵ can be expressed as,

ܸ௖ଵ ൌ ܸ
ͳ െ Ɂଵ ஺ (1) ܸ஺
ଵ ൌ
ο݅ (4)
Where Ɂଵ is the duty ratio of half-bridge module as shown ሺ ௅ଵ ሻ
ߜଵ ܶ
(Fig. 3). For the remaining submodules, the capacitor voltages
C2 to C4 can be defined as, A general equation to determine inductor ଶ to ௡ is given
by,
Ɂ୬
ܸ௖௡ ൌ ܸ (2) ܸ௖௡ ή ܸ஺
ͳ െ Ɂ୬ ௖௡ିଵ
௡ ൌ
ο݅௅୬ (5)
Where n = 2 to 4. Thus each ܸ௖௡ voltage can be independently ߜ୬ ܶ
controlled via is corresponding duty cycle Ɂ୬ by the half-
bridge modules. The output voltage of the converter ܸூெெ஼ଵ From Fig. 3 node equations, capacitor currents can be derived.
(Fig. 3) is the sum of the capacitor voltages and ܸ஺ : It is clear that ‫ܫ‬஼ଵ can be expressed as,
ܸூெெ஼ଵ ൌ ܸ஺ ൅ ܸ௖ଵ ൅ ܸ௖ଶ ൅ ǥ Ǥ ൅ܸ௖௡ (3)
†ଵ
‫ܫ‬஼ଵ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௦ ൅ Ɂଶ ‫ܫ‬௅ଶ െ ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ ൌ  ଵ (6)
†–
Design of Capacitors ଵ to ௡ V-I curve (see Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). The power sharing converter
In this section design equations for the capacitors and ripple is a half-bridge modules SM9 (Fig. 2) along with the inductor
voltage cancellation is explored, Capacitor ଵ can be is operated in high frequency with a duty cycle that allows of
independent control of PV Plant 1 and PV plan 2 output currents
expressed as,
‫ܫ‬௉௏ଵ and ‫ܫ‬௉௏ଶ respectively. The difference the two current ‫ܫ‬௉௏ଵ
and ‫ܫ‬௉௏ଶ (due to different MPPT operation) circulates in the
‫ܫ‬௦ ൅ Ɂଶ ‫ܫ‬௅ଶ െ ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ inductor ‫ܮ‬௦ in the form of ‫ܫ‬ௌு஺ோா . The PWM operation of the
ଵ ൌ (7)
߂ܸ‫ܥ‬ଵ SM9 therefore guarantees individual MPPT for PV Plant 1 and
Ɂଶ ܶ 2. The inductor current ‫ܫ‬ௌு஺ோா is given by,
A general equation to determine capacitors ଶ to ௡ିଵ is given
by, ‫ܫ‬ௌு஺ோா ൌ ‫ܫ‬௉௏ଵ݉ܽ‫ ݔ‬െ ‫ܫ‬௉௏ଶ݉ܽ‫ ݔ‬ (16)
‫ ݏܫ‬െ Ɂଵ ‫ ͳܮܫ‬െ ሺͳ െ Ɂ௡ ሻ୐୬ ൅ Ɂ ୐୬
௡െͳ ൌ (8) III. DESIGN EXAMPLE
߂ܸ‫ܥ‬௡
Ɂ୬ ܶ In this section a design example for 1MW PV power plant is
While the last capacitor ௡ can be expressed as: detailed. Plant specifications are derived from Kuwait Shagaya
60MW solar power plant as discussed. Table. 1 shows the
‫ܫ‬௢ െ ሺͳ െ Ɂ୬ ሻ‫ܫ‬௅௡ design specification for the 1MW PV plant block. The 1MW
௡ ൌ (9) PV plants is divided into two sets of PV Plants 1 and 2 as shown
߂ܸ‫ܥ‬௡
ሺͳ െ Ɂ௡ ሻܶ in Fig. 2. A Monocrystalline type “Helios 9T6” rated at 420W
is selected as a building block due to its high efficiency and
The total voltage ripple of the upper half of the IMMC is elevated temperature endurance [15]. To realize, 1.5kV DC
߂ܸூெெ஼ଵ can be found using equations 7, 8 and 9 as: output, each PV string can accommodate 30 series connected
panels per string. A total of 40 parallel string structures are
߂ܸூெெ஼ଵ =σ௡ଵ ߂ܸ‫ܥ‬௡ (10) needed for a 500kW capacity (see Table 1). Fig. 4 and Fig. 5
show a typical PV, current voltage (IV) curves for the two PV
Similarly, ߂ܸூெெ஼ଶ for the lower half of IMMC is, plants 1 and 2.

ܸூெெ஼ଵ =െ σ݊ͳ ߂ܸ‫݊ܥ‬ (11) IMMC Half-bridge submodule voltage rating:

Fig. 2 shows the proposed DC-DC IMMC connected to two
Consequently, the total ripple across the output ܸ஻௎ௌ is given PV Plants with center point grounded. The upper half of the
by, IMMC processes the power from PV-Plant-1 and boosts the
݊ ݊ voltage ܸ஺ (~1.5kV) to ܸூெெ஼ଵ (~8kV). For the converter shown
ܸ‫ ܷܵܤ‬ൌ ሺܸ‫ ͳܥܯܯܫ‬൅ ෍ ߂ܸ‫ ݊ܥ‬ሻ ൅ ሺܸ‫ ʹܥܯܯܫ‬െ ෍ ߂ܸ‫ ݊ܥ‬ሻ (12) in Fig. 2, we can write the following from equation (3),
ͳ ͳ
The capacitor voltage ripple across ܸ஻௎ௌ is therefore cancelled. ܸூெெ஼ଵ ൌ ܸ஺ ൅ ܸ௖ଵ ൅ ܸ௖ଶ ൅  ܸ௖ଷ ൅ ܸ௖ସ (17)
As a result, the capacitor ଵ to ௡ can be designed for a high
capacitors ripple ߂ܸ‫ܥ‬௡ of 30% allowing a compact capacitor Given ܸ஺ ൎ ͳǤͷܸ݇ and ܸூெெ஼ଵ  ൎ ͺܸ݇; from (17) we have,
sizing.
Average inductor currents ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ is derived as: ܸ௖ଵ ൌ ܸ௖ଶ ൌ ܸ௖ଷ ൌ ܸ௖ସ ൌ ͳǤ͸ʹͷܸ݇ (18)
It is clear from Fig. 2 that each semiconductor switch in the
‫ܫ‬௅ଵ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௦ ൅ Ɂଶ ‫ܫ‬௅ଶ (13) half-bridge submodule SM1to SM9 has a blocking voltage of
2*ܸ௖௡ , which is equal to 3.25kV. Therefore a 6.5kV SiC
A general equation to determine average inductor currents ‫ܫ‬௅ଶ developed by CREE and other manufacturers would be suitable.
to ‫ܫ‬௅௡ିଵ is given by, Reference [16] discusses the operational characteristics of a
6.5kV, 200A SiC MOSFETs developed by CREE that has been
ሾ‫ܫ‬௦ െ Ɂଵ ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ ൅ Ɂ୬ ‫ܫ‬௅௡ ሿ chosen for the proposed design.
‫ܫ‬௅௡ିଵ ൌ (14)
ͳ െ Ɂ୬ିଵ IMMC Half-bridge submodule current rating:
‫ܫ‬௅௡ is a boosted version of the output current ‫ܫ‬௢ Such that: The next step is to determine IMMC device current ratings.
‫ܫ‬௢ From Fig. 2 and equation (15) the submodule SM4 inductor
‫ܫ‬௅௡ ൌ
ͳ െ Ɂ୬ (15) current is given by,

‫ܫ‬௢
‫ܫ‬௅ସ ൌ
B. Power sharing converter operating principle: ͳ െ Ɂସ (19)
Fig. 2 shows two series connected solar field (PV Plant 1 &
2). Under varying climate conditions and cloud coverage, each Substituting ‫ = Ͳܫ‬56A and Ɂସ ൎ ͲǤͷ, we have ‫ܫ‬௅ସ = 112A from
plan is expected to operate at a different MPPT point on the (19). Therefore, for SM4 submodule, two 6.5kV SiC devices
from CREE rated at 200A is sufficient. Repeating the same
calculation for ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ we can show from (13) that ‫ܫ‬௅ଵ = 448A. 500 W/m2 750 W/m2 1000 W/m2

Therefore, the submodules closer to the center of the IMMC 400

converter (SM1 and SM5) carry the maximum current (i.e. 4
times), while the submodule located at the top/bottom SM4 and 300
SM8 (Fig. 2) are rated lowest in terms of the current. Having

Current (A)
concluded this, Fig. 6 shows the interleaved parallel 200
arrangement of 6.5kV, 200A, CREE submodules to meet the
converter rating shown in Table 1. 100

IMMC Capacitors / Inductor selection: 0

0 500 1000 1500 2000
Required inductor value can be determined from equation (5). ܸ௉௏ଵ (v)
Choosing a ripple of ο݅௅୬ = 30% ; Vcn = 1500V; switching Fig. 5. Variation of current vs voltage for PV Plant 1 and 2 for different insolation
frequency of 20kHz, L = 3mH. Further, capacitor value is given conditions
by (7) to (9). Defining voltage ripple ߂ܸ‫ܥ‬௡ = 30%; C = 100uF.
Table. 2 Summarizes the design parameters for each DC-DC
IMMC.
SM4 +
VC4
Table. 1 1MW PV plant design specifications IL4 -
+ SM3
Parameter
VC3
IL3 / 2
-
Total maximum power capacity 1MW +
SM2
IL2
8 kV
IL2 / 3
Number of PV Plants 2 VC2
-
+ SM1
Each PV plant output voltage 1500V
VC1 IL1 / 4
a b c
Selected PV module building Helios 9T6 -
block [15] +
Power Sharing VA
Stage
Maximum power, voltage, current 420W, 49.5v, -
power for each PV panel 8.5A
respectively Fig. 6 Parallel interleaved half bridge modules to handle the current of the proposed
upper half of the DC-DC IMMC shown in Fig. 2. Example 6.5 kV, 200A SiC half
bridge modules developed by CREE [16] are employed.
Number of PV panels per String 30

Number of PV strings 40
Table. 2 design criteria for each DC-DC IMMC.
Number of sets DC-DC IMMC 2
converter Criteria

Output DC bus voltage (ܸ‫) ܷܵܤ‬ 16kV Number of Submodules per 4

DCDC-IMMC
Output DC current (‫) Ͳܫ‬ 56A
Switching Frequency 20kHz
500 W/m2 750 W/m2 1000 W/m2
600K
Switching device type SiC 6.5 kV, 200A, 12mȍ
developed by CREE [16]
Power (kW)

400K Inductors values 3mH

Capacitors values 100μF

200K

0K
0 500 1000 1500 2000
ܸ௉௏ଵ (v)
Vpv_(insolation_1000_) IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Fig. 4. Variation of power vs voltage for PV Plant 1 and 2 for different insolation In this section simulation results of the proposed converter
conditions
(Fig. 2) with the design example parameters specified in Table
1 and 2 are discussed. Fig. 7 shows VIMMC1, VIMMC2, VBUS, VA, VB
voltages illustrated in Fig. 2. It is clear that VBUS of 16kV DC is
achieved with a ripple of 1.6%. This high-quality output DC
 voltage with low voltage ripple is realized without the need of ܸ஼ଵ ܸ஼ଶ ܸ஼ଷ ܸ஼ସ
over sizing the DC-DC IMMC submodule capacitors due to 1.68K
ripple cancelation technique implemented by phase shifting
VIMMC1 and VIMMC2 by 180 ଉॶ (as detailed in equation (12)). Fig. 8 1.66K

displays the inductor currents IL1, IL2, IL3 and IL4. As detailed in

Voltage (v)
1.64K

equations (4) and (5) the current ripple in the inductors are
1.62K
equal. Also notice the inductors average current varies from IL1
to IL4 as illustrated by equations (13) to (15). Fig. 9 shows DC- 1.6K

DC IMMC capacitor voltages VC1, VC2, VC3, VC4, as expected, they

1.58K
are all balanced at 1625v.
0.426367 0.426465 0.426563
The power sharing aspects of the proposed approach are TimeTi(s) ( )
demonstrated in Fig. 10 to Fig. 13. Due to the effect of unequal Fig. 9 Steady state capacitor voltages (Fig. 2) : VC1, VC2 VC3 VC4, as expected, they are
, ,

all balanced at 1625v

shading on PV Plant 1 and 2, (i.e. PV Plants 2 insolation is set
at half of its original value), the proposed converter is capable
of harvesting the total available power which 750kW (i.e.
ܸ ஻௎ௌ
Vbus ܸூெெ஼ଵ ܸVimmc2
Vimmc1 ூெெ஼ଶ ܸ஺Vpv1
ܸ஻ Vpv2
500kW from Plant 1 and 250kW from Plan 2) while regulating 25K

VBUS, at 16kV. Also, the current ISHARE is equal to zero when PV1

Voltage (V)
20K
15K
and PV2 plants have the same insolation. 10K
5K
0K

ܸܲͳ ݈ܲܽ݊‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫ ݐ‬
PV1_Plant_Insolation ܸܲʹܲ‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫܶܰܣܮ‬
PV2_Plant_Insolation
ܸ஻௎ௌ ܸூெெ஼ଵ ܸூெெ஼ଶ ܸ஺ ܸ஻
Insolation (W/M2)

bus c c p p
1000
16.0938K

17.5K 16.0547K 900

16.0156K

15.9766K
800
15K 15.9375K
700
15.8984K

12.5K 600
Voltage (v)

Vbus Vimmc1 Vimmc2 Vpv1 Vpv2

8.20313K
500
10K 8.125K

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Time (s)
8.04688K

7.96875K

7.5K 7.89063K

7.8125K

5K
7.73438K
Fig. 10. Simulation results showing a change in insolation level (due to partial
shading) on PV Plant 2 and the resultant DC voltages: VIMMC1, VIMMC2, Vbus, VA, VB .
1.71875K

1.64063K

2.5K Notice the DC voltages are regulated.

1.5625K

1.48438K

1.40625K

0K 1.32813K

1.25K

0.31875 0.318945 0.319141 0.319336 0.319531 0.319727

Time (s) ‫ܫ‬ ‫ܫ‬IL2
IL1௅ଵ ௅ଶ ‫ܫ‬௅ଷ
IL3 ‫ܫ‬௅ସ IL4‫ܫ‬
ை
Ibus0

Fig. 7 Steady state voltages of the IMMC (Fig. 2): VIMMC1, VIMMC2, Vbus, VA, VB . 600
Current (A)

500
400
300
200
‫ܫ‬௅ଵ ‫ܫ‬IL2
IL1
௅ଶ ‫ܫ‬௅ଷ ‫ܫ‬௅ସ 
IL3 IL4 100
0
600 -100

ܸܲͳ ݈ܲܽ݊‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫ ݐ‬
PV1_Plant_Insolation
ܸܲʹܲ‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫܶܰܣܮ‬
PV2_Plant_Insolation
Insolation (W/M2)

500
Current (A)

1000
900
400 800
700
600
300
500
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
200
Time (s)
Fig. 11. Simulation results showing a change in insolation level (due to partial
100 shading) on PV Plant 2 and the resultant inductor currents. Notice the decrease in
Time (s) the average current due to insolation reduction
0.338086 0.338281 0.338477 0.338672 0.338867
Time (s)

Fig. 8 Steady state inductor currents (Fig. 2): IL1, IL2, IL3 and IL4
 ܸ ܸ
Vc1
஼ଵ ஼ଶ ܸ஼ଷ
Vc2 Vc3ܸ஼ସVc4

3000
Voltage (V)

2500
2000
1500
1000
500 T4
0
SM4 C4
-500

ܸܲͳ݈ܲܽ݊‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫܶܰܣܮܲʹܸܲ݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫݐ‬
PV1_Plant_Insolation
PV2_Plant_Insolation  L4
Insolation (W/M2)

1000
900
DSP
800
SM3 T3
700
C3
600
500
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
L3
Time (s) L2
Fig. 12. Simulation results showing a change in insolation level (due to partial T2
shading) on PV Plant 2 and the resultant capacitor voltages. Notice the voltages are SM2 C2
regulated.

ܸܲͳ݈ܲܽ݊‫݀݁ݐݏ݁ݒݎܽܪݐ݈݊ܽܲʹܸܲݎ݁ݓ݋ܲ݀݁ݐݏ݁ݒݎܽܪݐ‬
PV1_Plant_Power
PV2_Plant_Power ܲ‫ݎ݁ݓ݋‬
L1
Power (kW)

600K
400K SM1 T1
200K
0K
-200K C1
‫ܫ‬ ௌு஺ோா
Ishare 
Current (A)

-100 DC-DC Interleaved Modular Multilevel Converter

-200 ( DC-DC IMMC)
ܸܲͳ݈ܲܽ݊‫݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫܶܰܣܮܲʹܸܲ݊݋݅ݐ݈ܽ݋ݏ݊ܫݐ‬
PV1_Plant_Insolation PV2_Plant_Insolation

Insolation
(W/M2)

1000
800
Fig. 14. Laboratory prototype of the upper half of the DC-DC IMMC shown
600
in Fig. 2

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Time (s)

Fig. 13. Simulation results showing the performance of the power sharing converter AA
(SM9 in Fig. 2). The current ࡵࡿࡴ࡭ࡾࡱ is altered to adjust to a different MMPT point
due to insolation change.

BB
V. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND RESULTS
In this section preliminary experimental results from a scaled
down laboratory prototype are discussed. Fig. 14 shows the C
hardware prototype of the proposed upper half of the IMMC
(see Fig. 3). Four half-bridge modules are connected in series
D
D
as shown in Fig. 3 along with the inductors and capacitors. The
duty cycle of the PWM is set at 0.5, an input DC voltage ܸ஺ =
30V. Fig. 15 shows the experimental waveforms for the first
two stages. Additional results for large input voltage along with
a PV simulator will be added. Fig. 15. Preliminary experimental results of the proposed DC-DC IMMC operating
at a reduced scale: (A) is ࢂࡵࡹࡹ࡯૚ (B) is ࢂ࡭ (C) is ࡵࡸ૚ (D) is ࡵࡸ૛

Table. 3 DC-DC IMMC Prototype design parameters.

Criteria VI. CONCLUSION

In this paper a medium voltage medium voltage DC collection grid
Inductor values ଵ to ସ 100μH method for large-scale PV plants has been proposed. A twin
Interleaved Modular Multilevel (IMMC) DC-DC boost converter
Capacitors Values ଵ to ସ 100 μF topology along with an integrated power sharing converter has been
shown to control two solar PV plants under partial shading conditions.
Switching Frequency 100kHz The IMMC DC-DC boost stage is composed of half-bridge converter
modules that are stacked in series. Analysis, design and detailed
Switching device used ଵ to LMG3410-HB-EVM GaN simulation results for 1MW PV plant have been discussed. It has been
ସ device rated 600v peak shown that the two PV power plants can be operated at two different
MPPT points. Although the capacitor voltage ripple is set at 30%, the
DC Load 41W output DC voltage ripple is only 1.6% due to 180 degrees phase shift
operation of the upper/lower IMMC stages. Simulation results of the dual power modules," 2017 IEEE Electric Ship Technologies Symposium
proposed converter in Fig. 2 for various operating conditions has been (ESTS), Arlington, VA, 2017, pp. 598-604.
discussed. Experimental results from a low voltage laboratory [17] A. Allehyani, A. Morsy and P. Enjeti, "A new Interconnected Modular
Multilevel Converter (IMMC) with sinusoidal voltage output suitable for
prototype converter are presented to verify key results.
high performance AC drives," 2017 IEEE 18th Workshop on Control and
Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), Stanford, CA, 2017, pp. 1-
8.doi: 10.1109/COMPEL.2017.8013409
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The first author would like to thank Kuwait Foundation for
Advancement of science for their sponsorship for this
conference participation. Also, he would like to thank College
of Technological Studies in Kuwait for their scholarship award.

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