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Short Circuit Current Contribution of A Photovoltaic Power Plant
Short Circuit Current Contribution of A Photovoltaic Power Plant
Abstract: The grid integration of renewable energies is more and more influencing the short circuit
capacity (SCC) of power systems all over the world. The behavior of renewable energy sources, e.g.
wind or solar energy, is different from that of classical synchronous generators during symmetrical or
unsymmetrical short circuits. The response of renewable energy generation units to short circuits is more
or less controllable by the power electronics used in the converter system and the corresponding control
algorithms. These differences have to be taken into account during planning grid extensions by the power
system operator and designing protective or security functions for the network and its components.
In this paper the authors describe the short circuit current contribution of a photovoltaic power plant. For
a 3 MW photovoltaic system equipped with several generation units and connected to a medium voltage
power system, three different short circuit scenarios (single-line-to-ground, line-to-line and three-phase
faults) and the corresponding short circuit current contribution of the power plant were calculated and the
results illustrated and discussed.
Keywords: Photovoltaic, Inverter, Fault Ride Through, Control, Short Circuit Current, Unbalanced Faults
In equation (6) and (7) the equation (3) is transformed in a In order to suppress the negative sequence current in
reference frame aligned to the grid voltage. Here the unbalanced steady state or dynamic conditions the negative
orthogonal components are already separated into the direct sequence grid voltage has to be detected and separated
and quadrature axis components. ω0 is the radian frequency quickly. The space vector of the negative sequence voltage is
of the grid voltage. rotating with the grid frequency in the opposite direction. The
negative sequence space vector is described by equation (10).
∠u
dig,d,+g
∠u
ug,d,+g = l ⋅
∠u ∠u
− ω0l ⋅ ig,q,+g + uLSC,d,+
g
(6) ∠0
u g,- = u g,α,- + ju g,β,- (10)
dt
∠u
The entire space vector of the grid voltage consists of
dig,q,+g
∠u
ug,q,+g = l ⋅
∠u ∠u
+ ω0l ⋅ ig,d,+g + uLSC,q,+
g
(7) positive and negative sequence components. Equation (11)
dt describes the entire space vector in a stationary reference
It follows from (6), (7) that the reference voltages of the frame consisting of the positive sequence space vector and
inverter can be described by the following equations (8) and the conjugate complex negative sequence space vector.
(9) including the two PI current controllers. ∠0 ∠0 *∠ 0 ∠u *∠u
u g = u g,+ + u g,- = u g,+g e j(ω0t +ϕu ) + u g,- g e- j(ω0t +ϕu ) (11)
1 ∠ug
∠ug
uLSC,d,+
∠u
= ug,d,+g − K P 1 + ⋅ (ig,d_ref,+
∠u ∠u
− ig,d,+g ) + ω0l ⋅ ig,q,+g (8) Finally the output reference voltage of the inverter consists of
Ts
the positive sequence reference inverter voltage introduced
by (8) and (9) and the conjugate complex negative sequence
1 ∠ug
∠ug
uLSC,q,+
∠u
= ug,q,+g − K P 1 + ⋅ (ig,q_ref,+
∠u ∠u
− ig,q,+g ) − ω0l ⋅ ig,d,+g (9) grid voltage (10) and can be written as
Ts
∠0 ∠0 *∠ 0
u LSC = u LSC,+ + u g,- = u LSC,+
g ∠u *∠u
e j(ω0t +ϕu ) + u g,- g e - j(ω0t +ϕu ) (12)
The corresponding block diagram of the inner positive
sequence current control loop of the inverter is given in Fig. The corresponding block diagram is introduced in Fig. 6 and
4. represents the merger of positive sequence inverter and
ug,d,+ conjugate complex negative sequence grid voltage.
ig,q_ref,+ 1 −
uLSC,q,+ Fig. 6. Calculation of the reference inverter voltage
K P 1 +
ig,q,+ Ts −
−
ug,q,+ The basic sketch of the complex phasors of a three-phase PV
inverter system is illustrated in Fig. 7.
5 x 100 kW
In Fig. 11 a symmetrical three-phase short circuit is
described. The fault leads to a voltage collapse at the MV.
5 x 100 kW The short circuit impedance of the transformer leads a
residual voltage of roughly 0.1 p.u. at the LV terminal
5 x 100 kW corresponding with the rated impedance of the transformer.
Although the LV drops to only 0.1 p.u. the generation units
5 x 100 kW inject a positive sequence current during the disturbance
5 x 100 kW
according to the voltage control characteristic. The injected
positive sequence capacitive reactive current is limited to 1
p.u.
Regarding the short circuit contribution of the PV power
MV Power System
plant in the presented three case studies, it is obvious that the
with directly grounded
generation units equipped with the corresponding control can
neutral point Dyy Transformer PV Power Plant
U nom = 20 kV U p / U s / U t = 20 / 0.27 / 0.27 kV
only inject a positive sequence current fulfilling the timing
U nom = 0.27 kV
S k = 120 MVA
''
S ps = S pt = 625 kVA PTerminal = 5 x 100 kW restriction. Due to the missing requirements regarding
X /R=3 zps = zpt = 12% Ptotal = 6 x 500 kW = 3 MW negative sequence current injection during unbalanced grid
Fig. 8. Principle configuration of PV power plant faults the negative sequence current is usually suppressed to
zero. It can also be seen from all three simulations that the
The location of the selected short circuits is between the MV inverter reduces the active current to zero during the short
busbar and the MV network. Three different fault scenarios term disturbances due to the missing requirements for the
were considered, namely a single-line-to-ground fault, a two- active current injection in German grid codes.
phase fault and a three-phase fault. All inverters were In principle the PV inverters are able to supply more short
operating with nominal active power and a power factor of 1 circuit current during fault scenarios than only 1 p.u. reactive
at the medium voltage level prior to fault. So the inductive current due to current reserve margin of the inverter system.
reactive powers of the three transformers are compensated by The control is able to limit the current injection during faults
the reactive power control of PV inverters. The gain of the to the nominal but also to an overload current limitation of
dynamic voltage controller of the inverters is set to 2 p.u. the generation system. Regarding the peak current during the
with a deadband of 0.1 p.u. transient periods of the faults the maximum peaks are slightly
small and have a duration of only some ms.
Line-To-Ground Voltage M V Line-To-Ground Voltage M V
20 20
10 10
Voltage / kV
Voltage / kV
0 0
-10 -10
-20 -20
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Currents M V Currents M V
200 200
100 100
Current / A
Current / A
0 0
-100 -100
-200 -200
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Voltage M V Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Voltage M V
1.5 1.5
U+ U+
1 1
Voltage / p.u.
Voltage / p.u.
U- U-
0.5 0.5
U0 U0
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Voltage LV Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Voltage LV
1.5 1.5
U+ U+
1 1
Voltage / p.u.
Voltage / p.u.
U- U-
0.5 0.5
U0 U0
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Current M V Positive, Negative & Zero Sequence Current M V
0.5 0.5
I+ I+
0 0
Current / p.u.
Current / p.u.
I- I-
-0.5 -0.5
I0 I0
-1 -1
-1.5 -1.5
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Positive Sequence Active & Reactive Current M V Positive Sequence Active & Reactive Current M V
0.5 0.5
IP+ IP+
0 0
Current / p.u.
Current / p.u.
IQ+ IQ+
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
-1.5 -1.5
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Time / s Time / s
Fig. 9. Simulation results of a single-line-to-ground fault in Fig. 10. Simulation results of a two-phase fault in the
the medium voltage network and the response of the medium voltage network and the response of the generation
generation unit unit
Line-To-Ground Voltage M V 6. CONCLUSIONS
20
This paper has presented simulation results of the short
10 circuit current contribution of a PV power plant to the MV
Voltage / kV
U-
0.5
in future publications.
U0
0 REFERENCES