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Reviews - On - Grid-Connected - Inverter - Utility-Scaled - Current Us Projects
Reviews - On - Grid-Connected - Inverter - Utility-Scaled - Current Us Projects
Reviews - On - Grid-Connected - Inverter - Utility-Scaled - Current Us Projects
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Fig. 1. Classification of grid connected inverter topologies. Fig. 2. Two level VSI (B6) topology.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 3. Popular multi-level topologies: (a) neutral point clamped (NPC); (b) T-type; (c) capacitor clamped (flying capacitor); (d) cascaded H bridge.
TABLE I. SUMMARY OF MULTILEVEL INVERTERS
Inverter Type NPC FC CHB MMC
* 4(n-1) – full-bridge
Number of power switches 2(n-1) 2(n-1) 2(n-1)
2(n-1) – half-bridge
* 4(n-1) – full-bridge
Main switching diodes 2(n-1) 2(n-1) 2(n-1)
2(n-1) – half-bridge
*
Number of clamping diodes (n-1)(n-2) 0 0 0
Number of DC bus
* (n-1) (n-1) 0 0
capacitor
Number of balancing
* 0 (n-1)(n-2)/2 (n-1)/2 (n-1)/2
capacitors
Arm inductor 0 0 0 2
Voltage quality Medium Medium High High
DC-link voltage balance Difficult Difficult Isolated DC source Possible
Modularity Low High High High
Control complexity Low High High High
Voltage balancing, Voltage setup
Control concern Power sharing Yes
Loss distribution (pre-charge)
Fault tolerance No No Yes Yes
Motor drive, PV, fuel cells, Motor drive, HVDC, wind
Applications Motor drive, STATCOM Motor drive, STATCOM
battery system turbine
* per phase leg
2) Application-based functions
The secondary level of GCI functions can be application-
oriented functions. On top of basic functions, GCIs have
different control algorithm according to different applications.
In this paper, functions for photovoltaic (PV) system, wind
turbine system, ESS, and microgrid are presented. First, for
PV system application, functions of GCIs include maximum
Fig. 4. Z-source inverter. power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms that improve the
efficiency of the PV system by extracting the maximum power
functions. Functions of GCIs can be classified into three from PV sources during steady state, rapid irradiation changes,
categories: basic functions, application-based functions, and or at any irradiation levels. Also, the anti-islanding function is
grid support functions as shown in Fig. 5. required to trip off and protect devices in case of grid faults.
Grid monitoring function is fast detection capability of grid
1) Basic functions voltage and frequency for passive anti-islanding. PV plant
Regardless of application and ancillary functions of GCIs, monitoring feature exists for partial shading detection and
almost all GCIs are required to have basic functions: diagnosis of PV panel.
capabilities of grid synchronization, DC voltage control, and
grid current control. These functions are corresponding to the In wind turbine system, the capability of power control of
fundamental roles of GCIs as grid-feeding units to convert the generator-side converter is required for power
power produced by DERs to AC power at unity power factor. maximization and limitation functions. Grid-side inverters for
Grid synchronization includes a detection of three-phase large-scaled wind turbine system that is more than 1MW are
utility grid voltage at the point of common coupling. A phase normally required to have fault ride through (FRT), also called
locked loop (PLL) with the internal oscillator is commonly low voltage ride through (LVRT), a capability to be on-line
used technique for grid synchronization to detect grid when the grid disturbance event such as voltage sag occurs
frequency and phase angle. Advanced PLL technique such as [19].
dual second order generalized integrator frequency locked The capability of bidirectional power flow should be
loop can be used under non-ideal grid condition with positive achieved for ESS application. GCIs for ESS application have
sequence component extraction [17]. DC voltage control is to capabilities of charging and discharging by using either
regulate DC link voltage variation caused by a variation of voltage mode control or current mode control. Additional
average power exchanged and oscillation of instantaneous functions for grid supporting features are required for utility-
power due to the grid disturbance. The capability of grid scaled ESS, such as high and low voltage ride through,
current control is necessary when GCIs operate as grid- dynamic power control, dynamic reactive power control, and
feeding units to fulfill grid requirements on the virtual generator control mode providing grid stabilization via
interconnection of distributed generation set by regulations. synthetic inertia and active damping. These functions are
According to IEEE 1547 [18], total demand distortion of applied to different ESS applications: load shifting, peak
injected current should be less than 5 %. power shaving, power smoothing, islanding, UPS, ancillary
service, and static synchronous compensator (STATCOM).
Fig. 5. Categorization of various functions of grid-connected inverters into basic, application-oriented, and grid support functions.
The GCIs in microgrid application are classified into three and frequency compensation, harmonic compensation,
units: grid-feeding, grid-forming, and grid-supporting units voltage-based power quality problem mitigation, and current-
according to the operation mode of the microgrid. Functions based power quality problem mitigation.
of grid-feeding units are similar to basic functions that almost
all GCIs have. As microgrid has islanding operation mode, C. Challenges and Opportunities of Grid-Connected
GCI should provide a grid-forming function with the Inverters
capability of AC voltage control to achieve coordinated power There has been rapidly growing interest in high
management and provide energy to loads when microgrid is performance and affordable GCIs to meet the increasing
islanded. This power sharing feature can be implemented demands of DG systems. Fig. 6 illustrates the four important
using droop control. criteria that should be considered in the design of GCIs: power
density, performance, cost, and VA rating. It is favorable to
3) Grid support functions have compact and light-weighted GCIs as far as the packaging
Previous functions explained are passive to grid and installation are concerned. In general, the high switching
disturbance, meaning that GCIs ride through the disturbance frequency operation can significantly reduce the size of bulky
and do not compensate in an active way. GCIs can have grid passive components, but the downside is the increased
support functions to provide compensation and regulation for switching losses and additional cooling. Soft-switching
the utility grid regardless of a type of DERs connected. inverters such as resonant pole or resonant AC/DC link
Particularly, GCIs utilized for power quality improvement of inverters can be an amenable solution at the cost of the
the grid are defined as multi-functional GCIs (MFGCIs), increased control and inverter design complexity. The wide
which are a combination of conventional GCI and power bandgap power switching devices such as gallium nitride
quality conditioning device. MFGCIs have a variety of (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) can also be used to increase
functions for different grid disturbance and are capable of the switching frequency while not compromising the overall
acting as STATCOM, unified power quality conditioner, and efficiency of the GCIs due to their fast switching speed and
active filter. Grid supporting functions of GCIs include load lower on-state resistance. Filters can be reduced by resorting
voltage compensation, reactive power compensation, voltage into high switching capabilities of wide bandgap devices.
Duration
Capacity
Rating
[kWh]
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