Paper Title:

Performance Analyzing of Stand-Alone PV Hybrid Mini-Grid System with PV at DC and

AC Coupling
Abstract

Stand-alone PV system has been originally developed to feed solar energy produced by PV modules

into the system by using solar charger controller at DC bus called DC Coupling for long time. In Late

1990 there is a new concept of feeding solar energy to the PV system at AC bus called AC Coupling.

The AC coupling system uses grid connected inverter to convert energy produced by PV modules and

synchronize output to AC distribution line. In mini grid system the common AC output of Bi-directional

inverters or diesel generators performs as grid forming device to supply distribution line. Since 1990

there are stand-alone PV systems designed by using DC coupling or AC coupling which each type of PV

coupling system highlight their advantage over the other. The work in this document presents a

comparison of the efficiency of DC coupling and AC coupling PV system design in a hybrid mini-grid

and finally proposes the alternative PV system design by using the Dual DC and AC coupling PV

system in a hybrid mini-grid design. The HOMER Pro micro-grid analysis tool which can simulate DC

and AC coupling PV system is used to compare leverage cost of energy (LCOE) of different type of PV

hybrid mini-grid system. The simulation software which can do performance analyzing metric

according to IEC 61724 and IEA-PVPS T2 is created in this study in order to simulate system operation

and performance using DC, AC and dual DC and AC coupling PV system. The conclusion can clearly

identify the best PV system in hybrid mini-grid in terms of LCOE and system performance.