16

CHAPTER 2

OVERVIEW OF GRID CONNECTED SOLAR

PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The PV Power Conversion System (PCS) plays an important role in

renewable energy source based power generation. The PCS converts the
available DC supply from the source into required AC voltage (415 V, 50 Hz)
as specified by the utility grid by means of power electronic converter and is
feed into the grid. This chapter focuses on the components of a PV grid
connected system and its characteristics. The various power conversion
systems are studied in literature and compared based on efficiency, cost and
volume from which a suitable power converter for PV power conversion
system is suggested to obtain high reliability and high efficiency with low
cost. Then a brief literature review of transformerless grid connected system
is carried out to identify the setbacks of conventional transformerless inverter.
Finally synchronization methods of grid connected system are discussed.

2.2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Figure 2.1 shows the block diagram of a grid connected PV system.

It consists of PV plants, MPPT controller, PWM controller, power conditioner
(inverter), and filter. PV plant converts the sunlight into DC power, and a
power conditioning unit that converts the DC power to AC power. The
 17

generated AC power is injected into the grid and/or utilized by the local loads
through the filter. In some cases, the PV system is combined with storage
devices which improve the availability of the power. The subsequent section
provides more details about various components of the PV system.

DC to 3Ø
PV AC Filter Grid
Array Inverter

PWM
Controller PLL

MPPT
Controller

Figure 2.1 Block diagram of PV grid connected inverter

2.3 PV ARRAY MODEL

The PV plant consists of PV cells and it is arranged in series and

parallel combination to supply the desired DC voltage and current. Normally
PV cell is made up of silicon semiconductor and each silicon cell generates
0.6V. The commercially available PV module consists of 36 or 72 cells
connected in series to form a PV plant. The typical PV module used for
simulation parameters are listed in Table 2.1.
 18

Table 2.1 Electrical parameters of BP 3235T PV panel at standard test

condition G=1000W/m2 C

PV Parameters Ratings
Maximum output Power (PMax) 235 W
Power Tolerance (PT) [0 to 5] W
Percentage Efficiency of Module ( ) 15.0%
Voltage at maximum power point (VMPP) 30.0 V
Current at maximum power point (IMPP ) 7.84A
Open circuit voltage (Voc) 37.44 V
Short circuit current (Isc) 8.83 A

The simple equivalent circuit of the PV cell model is shown in

Figure 2.2. It consists of ideal current source in parallel with the diode. The
practical model of PV cells consists of series resistance (Rs) and parallel
resistance (Rp) and is shown Figure.2.3.

I
+ +
ID
ISc
D Vpv
VD
-
-

Figure 2.2 Basic equivalent circuit of PV cell

From the basic model, output current (I) is represented in

Equation (2.1) and diode current is given in Equation (2.2).

I = Isc - I D (2.1)
 19

qvd
kT (2.2)
I d =I 0 e -1

I Rs
+ +
ID
Iph
D RP Vpv
VD

- -

Figure 2.3 Practical equivalent circuit model of PV cell

The voltage current (Vg Ig) relation of the PV plant is given in

the literature
Rauschenbach (1980).

V+IR s V+IR s (2.3)

I=Iph -I0 exp -1 -
n s Vt R sh

where

V - Module voltage

I - Module current

Iph - Photon generated current

I0 - Dark saturation current respectively

Vt - Junction thermal voltage, Rs is the series cell resistance,

and Rsh cell shunt resistance

ns - number of cells connected in series

Is - saturation current,

K- Boltzmann constant 1.38×10-23 J / K

 20

A - solar cell ideal factor of the diode,

q - electron charge 1.6×10-19 C

KTA
Vt =
q

The photo current mainly depends on the solar irradiance and cell
temperature (Tsai et al 2012).

Iph =(Isc +ki (Tc -Tref ))G

where

Isc - Shortcircuit current of PV cell at 25°C

G - Solar insolation (kW/m2). = (1 kW/m2),

ki - Temperature coefficients

T-ref- Reference temperature of the cell.

2.3.1 Characteristics of PV Module

The voltage-current (V-I) characteristics and power-voltage

characteristics (P-V) of the PV plant are illustrated in Figures 2.4 (a) and (b)
respectively and it shows that both V-I and P-V curves are nonlinear because
PV panel is made of semiconductor material. The Maximum Power Point
(MPP) curve is shown in Figure 2.4 (c). The output power of PV plant is
maximum at certain value of voltage (VMPP) and this point is called as
maximum power point. The corresponding voltage (VMPP ) and current (IMPP )
at Maximum Power Point (MPP) are denoted in Figure 2.4 (c).
 21

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
5 10 15 Voltage(V) 20 25 30 35

(a)
10

0
5 10 15 Voltage (V) 20 25 30 35

(b)

PMPP

ISc

IMPP

VMPP Voc
V PV (V)

(c)

Figure 2.4 Characteristics of a single PV plant (a) P-V curve

(b) I-V curve (c) Maximum power curve
 22

2.3.2 Effect of Irradiance Change

300
Irradiation 1200 w / m2
250 Irradiation 1000 w / m2
Irradiation 800 w / m2
200 Irradiation 600 w / m2
Irradiation 400 w / m2
150

100

50

0
9 18 Voltage (V) 27 36 45

(a)
12
Irradiation 1200 w / m2
Irradiation 1000 w / m2
Irradiation 800 w / m2
Irradiation 600 w /m2
8
Irradiation 400 w / m2

0
9 18 Voltage (V) 27 36 45

(b)

Figure 2.5 Characteristics of the PV cell at constant temperature and

variable irradiance (a) I-V curves (b) P-V curves

The output power of PV plant is the function of voltage a

C) and variable irradiance, the current voltage
characteristics are plotted as shown Figure 2.5. It is observed that as
irradiance is increased from 400 W/m2 to 1000 W/m2, the generated voltage
and hence the output power of PV plant is also increased.
 23

2.3.3 Effect of Temperature Change

250 Temp 15 C
Temp 20 C
Temp 30 C
200
Temp 40 C
Temp 50 C
150

100

50

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Open crcuit Voltage(V)

(a)

10

4 Temp 50 C
Temp 40 C
Temp 30 C
2 Temp 20 C
Temp 15 C
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
PV Voltage (V)

(b)

Figure 2.6 Characteristics of the PV cell at variable temperature and

constant irradiance (a) I-V curves (b) P-V curves
 24

The Figure 2.6 shows current-voltage characteristics and voltage

power characteristics of PV plant at irradiance of 1000W/m2 and different
temperature condition (Chatterjee et al 2011). From the Figure it is evident
that increasing temperatu C results in reduction of
voltage from 42V to 36V and there is slight increase in current from 8.8A to
8.9A. Hence output power is reduced to 180 W from 230W.

2.4 POWER CONDITIONING SYSTEM

This is a power converter which interfaces the PV to utility grid and

converts the DC supply from the PV plant to AC supply as requirement by the
utility grid. Based on the galvanic connection between PV plant and grid, the
power conditioning system can be broadly classified into two types such as
isolated power conditioning system and non isolated power conditioning
system (Yaosuo Xue & Liuchen Chang 2004).

2.4.1 Isolated PV Power Conditioning System

In isolated type PV system the isolation between PV plant and grid

is achieved by using a line frequency (LF) transformer at the output of the
inverter (AC side) or by using high frequency (HF) transformer DC-DC
converter at the input side of the inverter. Figures 2.7 (a) and (b) show the
grid connected PV system with galvanic isolation at the DC side and the AC
side. In low frequency (power frequency) transformer system involves huge
size, increasing magnetic loss and low efficiency than high frequency
transformer based DC-DC converter system. This high frequency transformer
involves complex control resonant problems and which increase the cost of
the PV system.
 25

HF AC to DC DC to 3Ø
PV DC / AC Rectifier AC Grid
Array Inverter Inverter

(a)

DC-DC DC to LF 3Ø
PV Converter AC Transfor Grid
Array Inverter mer

(b)

Figure 2.7 Grid connected PV system with transformer galvanic

isolation (a) High frequency (HF) DC-DC converter
transformer system (b) Low frequency (LF) transformer
system

2.4.2 Non Isolated PV Power Conditioning System

The non isolated grid connected PV system is again classified in to

single-stage and multistage power conditioning systems.

In single-stage, only one power processing stage is available to

convert the PV power to AC supply. The single stage power conditioning
system is depicted in Figure 2.8 (a). Nowadays, single stage power converters
are most widely used in PV applications. The single- stage inverter can
perform the buck, boost, and both buck- boost input voltage, inversion and
maximum power point. The single-stage inverter has the advantages of
improved efficiency, low cost, more reliability, modularity, and compact size
than multistage power conversion systems (Prasad et al 2008). The main
drawback of transformerless single-stage system is that it injects DC current
in the AC side (grid) which saturates the core of the magnetic component
present in the power system.
 26

In a multistage power conversion system more than one power

processing stages are involved as shown in Figure 2.8 (b). The non isolated
multistage system consists of front end DC-DC converter which is used to
buck, boost or buck-boosts the PV output voltage. In this method maximum
power is tracked by using maximum power point tracker in the DC-DC
converter itself. The multistage non isolated system involves more number of
switching devices than single-stage system; this causes reduction in efficiency
of PV system.

DC to 3Ø
PV AC Filter
Grid
Array Inverter

(a)

Non
isolated DC to 3Ø
PV DC-DC AC Filter
Grid
Array Converter Inverter

(b)

Figure 2.8 Grid connected PV system with transformerless inverter

(a) Single-stage system (b) Multi-stage system

2.5 CONNECTION TOPOLOGIES OF PV SYSTEMS

PV modules and power conditioning systems are connected in

different combinations in a solar PV plant. Based on the connection between
PV module and inverter the PV system is classified as follows
(Kjaer & Blaabjerg 2005);

a. Centralized inverter topologies

b. Master slave inverter topologies

 27

c. String inverter topology

d. Multi-string inverter topologies and

e. Modular topology.

2.5.1 Centralized Inverter Topology

This topology is used for large PV systems like 710kW to several

megawatts. A single inverter is used as a centralized inverter and it is shown
in Figure 2.9. To avoid further amplification the PV modules were divided
into series of connections (string), each string generates sufficiently high
voltage. The main drawbacks of this system are:

i) In case of inverter failure whole PV power production is

stopped.
ii) There is loss of power due to partial shading of the PV
plants.

PV PV PV

Central Inverter

=
AC bus
strings

Figure 2.9 Centralized inverter topologies

2.5.2 Master Slave Inverter Topologies

In this topology, the inverter is connected in parallel configuration

with AC bus as shown in Figure 2.10. If any one of the inverter fails, another
inverter can supply power to the grid so that reliability is improved. The
 28

inverter is designed to operate based on the irradiance of the sun. So this

scheme will improve the life span of the inverter and its efficiency. This
topology is used for high power ratings. However it suffers from high cost,
power loss due to PV plant mismatch, and partial shading (Pregelj et al 2002),
(IEA International Energy Agency Innovative Electrical concepts, Report IEA
PVPS T7-7: 2001).

PV Strings Inverters

AC bus

Figure 2.10 Master Slave inverter topologies

2.5.3 String Inverter Topology

In this method, PV strings are connected with an individual inverter

as shown in Figure 2.11. Each string inverter is operated at its own maximum
power point (MPP) which leads to reduced power loss due to plant mismatch
and partial shading. The main drawback of this method is high cost due to
more number of inverter. This type of inverters is used for rating of (2-3kW).

String Inverters
PV Strings
=

AC bus

Figure 2.11 String inverter topology

 29

2.5.4 Multi-String Inverter Topology

DC-DC
Converters
PV Strings

=
=
Multistring Inverter

= = AC bus
=

=
=

DC bus

Figure 2.12 Multi string inverter topologies

Figure 2.12 shows the multi-string inverter topology which consists

of two-stage power conversion processes. In the first-stage, strings are
connected to its own DC-DC converter for tracking MPP and boost up the
voltage. Then in the second stage, the inverter converts the DC supply to AC.
Owing to separate MPPT of the PV plant string, output energy is increased,
but losses and cost will be increased due to two processing stages. This
topology is used up to 10 kW.

2.5.5 Modular Inverter Topology

Modular inverter topology is used for micro inverter technology.

Each and every module has its own inverter, mounted on the panel itself and
it is shown in Figure 2.13. This topology has the advantages of reduced losses
due to partial shading problem and flexible plant design. The main drawback
is the high cost of the system and increased thermal stress. This topology is
used up to 500 W.
 30

PV Module Module Inverters

AC bus

Figure 2.13 Modular topology

2.6 COMPARISION OF TRANSFORMER AND

TRANSFORMERLESS INVERTER TOPOLOGIES

A comparison of transformerless inverter topology with high

frequency transformer inverter topology and low frequency transformer
inverter topology for PV grid connected inverter rated up to 6.6kW is
presented based on literature (PHOTON inverter data base). The system
efficiency, cost, and volume of the PV system are considered for comparison.
In Transformerless inverter topology, PV inverter is directly connected to the
grid and there is no galvanic isolation between the PV plant and the utility
grid. Whereas in high frequency transformer inverter, high frequency DC-DC
isolated converter gives the electrical isolation (galvanic isolation) between
the PV plant and grid and in the low frequency transformer inverter, the low
frequency transformer (power frequency transformer) is connected at the
output of the inverter and grid, which provides the isolation between grid and
PV plant.

The PV power conversion system has two types of efficiency, one

is conversion efficiency: called as maximum efficiency and the other being
European efficiency which is calculated at different levels of irradiance by
using the formula given in Equation (2.5) (Haberlin et al 1997).

Eu 0.03% 5% 0.06 10% 0.13 20%

0.1 30% 0.48 30%
0.2 100%
(2.5)
 31

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2.14 Comparison PV Grid connected inverter topology (Photon

inverter database 1992) (a) Efficiency Vs Inverter rating (b)
Weight Vs Inverter rating (c) Volume Vs Inverter rating
 32

Figure 2.14 (a) shows the comparison of inverter efficiency and

rating. It is observed that the transformerless inverter has a maximum
efficiency of 98% while the inverters with galvanic isolation have a maximum
efficiency of 96.5% only. Similarly the weight and volume of transformerless
topology and transformer topology are compared and shown in
Figures 2.14 (b) and Figure 2.14 (c) respectively. It is clear that
transformerless inverter topology has maximum efficiency, less weight, and
volume when compared to the other two galvanic separation topologies. From
the above comparison it is revealed that transformerless inverter PV system
has 1.5 % higher efficiency than the inverter with transformer topology.

2.7 REVIEW OF TRANSFORMERLESS INVERTER FOR GRID

CONNECTED PV SYSTEM

In 1980, the first line commutated inverter topology was used for
PV based electric drive application and it was used up to 10 kW (Bulawka et
al 1987) as shown in Figure 2.15. It has the advantage of high efficiency, low
cost, and robustness. However, it suffered from a low power factor of 0.6 to
0.7 only.

PV Filter AC

Array

Figure 2.15 Line commutated PV inverter

Nowadays, forced commutated inverters are mostly used for a

power rating of more than1.5kW as shown in Figure 2.16. This inverter is
 33

operated at higher switching frequency to avoid the acoustic noise

(Bulawka et al 1987). This results in high switching loss and lower efficiency.
The forced commutated inverters (voltage source inverter) are operated in a
buck mode and hence require an input voltage of double times the output
voltage, which results in higher rating of power electronic device. Also it is
suffered from short circuit problem.

S1 S3 S5
+

Vpv
3
PV Cpv
Filter phase
grid
-

S4
S6 S2

Figure 2.16 Forced commutated PV inverter

To boost the input voltage of PV plant, a boost type inverter called

current source inverter (CSI) based grid connected inverter is proposed
(Chen & Smedley 2008) and is depicted in Figure 2.17.

VL

+ S1 S3 S5

Vpv 3
PV
phase
grid
-

S4
S6 S2

=
S

Figure 2.17 Boost type PV inverter

 34

The current source inverter (CSI) inverters have the common mode
voltage problem due to parasitic capacitance effect. To overcome the short
circuit problem in the conventional voltage source inverter, the dual buck half
bridge inverter (DBHBI) was introduced (Zhilei Yao et al 2009a) as shown in
Figure 2.18. However, DBHBIs have the drawback of high switching stress
and low input utilization than the bridge type inverters.

C1 S1
D2

AC
Vdc
D1 S2
C2
=

Figure 2.18 Dual buck half bridge PV inverter

D2
S1

Vdc

D1 S2
AC

S3
D4

D3 S4

Figure 2.19 Dual buck full bridge PV inverter

 35

Dual Buck Full Bridge Inverter (DBFBI) is presented by

Zhilei Yao et al (2009b) and it is illustrated in Figure 2.19. It has high input
utilization factor. There is no short circuit problem and voltage stress
problem. However, it requires more power switches which lead to complexity
of control. Owing to low voltage gain and dead time problems in the
conventional inverter, Peng et al (2003) have proposed the impedance source
inverter (Z-Source inverter) for fuel cell applications. It has high voltage gain,
high immunity to electromagnetic interference and can perform buck and
boost operation in single stage. Figure 2.20 shows circuit diagram of three-
phase Z-source inverter. Gajanayake et al (2009) have utilized the ZSI for
distributed generation application. The main feature of ZSI is that it handles
the shoot through state effectively to boost the input voltage in single stage.
The arrangement of ZSI is depicted in Figure 2.20. However, it requires larger
values of passive element and also it suffers from high input ripple current
and resonant problems.

L1
D

S1 S3 S5
+

Vpv C1 3
PV Cpv C2 phase
grid
-

S4 S6
S2 =
L2

Figure 2.20 Z-Source inverter fed PV system

The main drawbacks of transformerless grid connected inverter are

common mode voltage and current problems due to the presence of galvanic
 36

connection between PV plant and grid. This introduces additional leakage

current through parasitic capacitance of the ground. It creates electromagnetic
interference, harmonic injection into the grid and results in power loss
(Lopez et al 2010). To eliminate the ground current, Neutral Point Clamped
(NPC) PV inverter technology is introduced by Huafeng Xiao &
Shaojun Xie (2013). It enjoys the advantages of low current ripple and low
value of filter requirement; it is shown in Figure 2.21.

DC Lf Li L/2 R/2
Cp

Rf AC

Cp Cf
DC L/2 R/2

Figure 2.21 Neutral point clamped PV inverter

This NPC inverter requires two PV strings of the same rating. Each
string conducts for only one half cycle. This results in high volume of
decoupling capacitor which increases the total cost and size of the
system. Optimized transformerless inverter topology proposed by
Huafeng Xiao et al (2011) is based on Heric topology and H6 topology.
 37

+
Cpv Cdc1 S1

PV S2
S5
S3
L1 AC
Cf
Cdc2

L2
-
S4 S6

Cpv

Figure 2.22 Optimized transformerless inverter

Figure 2.22 shows the optimized transformerless PV grid connected

inverter which consists of six switches for single-phase operation and it leads
to more power loss and cost. Also the amount of input voltage supplied by the
PV plant is higher than the output voltage.

The inverter reliability is mainly affected due to the shoot through

problem and is overcome by using Z-source inverter (ZSI). The resonant
problem and common mode problem of ZSI are controlled by proper
modulation techniques and inverter topologies. The modified modulation
scheme is proposed for the improved ZSI based PV grid connected system by
Bradaschia et al (2011). The improved ZSI fed PV system is depicted in
Figure 2.23.
 38

P
L1
D
+ S1 S3 S5

Vpv C1 3
PV C2 phase
CpN
grid

-
S4 S6 S2 =
N L2

Figure 2.23 Modified ZSI fed transformerless PV grid connected inverter

An improved transformerless inverter with common mode leakage

current elimination is presented by Bo Yang et al (2012) as shown in
Figure 2.24. The presence of two decoupling switches in the DC side results
in reduced harmonics and elimination of common mode leakage current. But
it has poor reliability due to the additional switches in the inverter.

S5
S1 S3
L1
Cdc
AC
PV
- L2
S2
S6 S4

Figure 2.24 H6 PV inverter topology

 39

The improved inversion of Z source inverter called as voltage

fed Trans Z-source inverter (T-source inverter) is proposed by
Wei Qian et al (2011). It has a low component count and can buck and boost
the input voltage to required level by allowing shoot through period. This is
compact and has high efficiency. In order to overcome the drawbacks of the
conventional system VSI and ZSI, the T-source inverter is suggested for grid
connected PV system. The diagram of the proposed T-source grid connected
PV inverter system is shown in Figure 2.25.

P D
1:n
S1 S3 S5
+ L2
L1

Vpv 3
PV Cpv phase
grid
Vc C
-

S4
S6 S2 =
N

Figure 2.25 T-source inverter for PV grid connected system

2.8 GRID SYNCHRONIZATION TECHNIQUES

Synchronization is the most important factor in a grid connected

PV system in which the following conditions should be satisfied. The voltage
magnitude; frequency and phase angle of PV system must be the same as that
of utility grid. The power factor of power supplied to the grid must be within
the specified limits with proper reactive power compensation. There are
several methods followed in grid connected PV system synchronization such
as zero crossing detection (ZCD), filtering of grid voltages, Phase Locked
Loop (PLL), and dark lamp method. In this research work, synchronous
reference frame phase locked loop method is used.
 40

In conventional method, grid voltage is duplicated to synchronize

the PV inverter with grid. The output current of the inverter is in phase with
the grid voltage (De Souza et al 2002). It is a simple method but produces
distortions, transients in the output current and no control for reactive power
flow.

The phase locked loop (PLL) method is commonly used in

synchronization of inverter with grid. It consists of a sinusoidal multiplier
Phase Detector (PD), a loop Filter (LF) and a voltage controlled oscillator
(VCO). To speed up the synchronization method, the modified stationary
frame PLLs is proposed (Thacker et al 2009). It improves the immunity to
input noises, disturbances, and removes the double-line frequency ripple
generated by PD during grid voltage/frequency variations.

However in this research work, the standard existing SRF PLL is

used and explained in this section. The structure of SRF PLL as shown in
Figure 2.26. The PLL converts the oscillating grid voltage (orthogonal
-q). Then a PI regulator is used to
regulate Vq so that the phase of the q component can be locked. A low pass
filter is used to fit high frequency harmonics. This effectively allows the
inverter to have the ability to control reactive power flow by Kaura Vikram
(1997) and & Se-Kyo & Blasko (2000).

IC

Vq 1
V PI --- Mod(2 )
Orthogonal S
V signal
generation V Vd
dq

1 f
---- LPF
2
RMS V
calculation LPF

Figure 2.26 Structure of synchronous frame (dq) PLL

 41

2.9 GRID STANDARD

The designed system needs to comply with the strict utility grid
standards. Then it must follow certain standards specified by the utility
authority of every country. The grid connected system must obey the
following norms.

1) Total harmonic distortion (THD) should be below 5%. The

individual harmonic levels are specified in the standard IEEE
1547.
2) Power factor should be maintained at nearly unity.
3) Less amount (less than 0.5% of rated output current is
allowable) of DC current is injected to the grid.
4) Automatic reclosing and synchronizing should be taking place
in PV generations and utility grid.
5) Grounding of the system (leakage current and grid current
should be maintained)
6) Voltage and frequency should be within permissible range.

2.10 SUMMARY

The comprehensive overview of grid connected PV system is presented

in this chapter. Various types of grid connected inverters used in PV system have
been discussed. The choice of inverter for PV grid connected system has been
analyzed based on efficiency, volume, and weight. It is observed that
transformerless inverter is the better choice for low voltage grid connected PV
systems. Further the recent developments in transformerless power conversion
system have been explored. Different types of transformerless PV system have
been compared based on power conversion stage, input utilization factor, and
reliability. Finally, the TSI is identified to overcome the drawbacks of
conventional VSI and ZSI. The consecutive chapter analyzes the modeling, and
the control methods of TSI for PV grid connected system are described.