Fig. 1.

Schematic diagram of CSIRO microgrid system

TABLE I. PV OUTPUT POWER AND CURRENT THD

Inverter No. 38 43 46 37 40 41 47 39 35 42 45 44 36
PV output power (W) 654 1481 46.7 655 1450 1450 93.5 1465 1465 1434 109.1 46.8 639
Rated Power (W) 1000 1500 1000 1000 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1000 1000
P/Pr (%) 65.40 98.74 4.68 65.5 99.67 99.67 6.23 97.7 97.7 95.6 7.27 4.68 63.9
Current THD(%) 2.59 2.74 20.77 1.85 2.11 4.19 35.93 4.77 2.55 3.37 17.52 21.74 1.87

40 35.93
90-100 P/Pr(%) 60-70 P/Pr(%) less than 10% P/Pr
Current THD (%)

30 20.77 21.74
17.52
20
10 2.74 2.11 4.19 4.77 2.55 3.37 2.59 1.85 1.87
0
43 40 41 39 35 42 38 37 36 46 47 45 44
Inverter No.

Fig.2. Current THD of the PV inverter for different loading conditions

those data, the THD will be analyzed by using FFT function ∑ I

in Matlab.
III. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENT RESULTS
A. Harmonics and PV output power
This experiment has been carried out at the CSIRO
microgrid to find the relationship between harmonic
distortion and PV output power levels. A total of 13 PV
inverters which operated at different power output levels
have been connected to the grid in parallel by distribution
over the three phases. Actual waveforms were captured at
8000 samples per second and the THD was calculated from
this equation:
THD (1)
I
Table I shows the PV output power, ratio of actual power
output and rated power (P/Pr) and THD of the current and
the PV generated power. Inverters are numbered 35 to 47,
and their nameplate capacity is either 1000W or 1500W, as
provided in the third row of the table. Those data can be
divided into three groups based on power level, which is
representing full load, half load and light load condition, as
shown in Fig. 2.
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the THD of the inverter
with low power output is up to around 20 times higher than
the THD of the inverter with high power output. The

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