Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (A)

(Affiliated to Osmania University)

Ongoing Research Activities
Department : Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Area of Research : Design and Development of Resilient Micro-inverter system for Solar PV
Applications
Name (S) : Krishnaveni Kondreddi *
TMK**
Designation (S) : * Professor/ Department of EEE, CBIT/Krishnaveni_eee@cbit.ac.in
**Associate Professor/ Department of EEE, CBIT/murali _eee@cbit.ac.in

Summary
The growing implications of climate change have created an increasing demand for clean and renewable energy
sources. Solar photo voltaics(PVs) are increasingly popular as an alternative energy source due to the fact that
they produce clean and renewable power with zero operating emissions. A key factor in the long term success
of the PV industry is the confidence in the reliability of the system. For PV systems, the two largest expenses
are attributed to the costs of the inverters and the solar panels. Inverter prices have been dropping by about 10%
for every doubling of cumulative production, while PV modules have been dropping by about 20% for the same
amount . The reliability and low product life spans have remained issues to date within the industry.

For a PV system, inverters are the most common cause of failure in the field. These issues have the potential to
damage the reputation of the entire industry and could possibly hinder the future growth of the industry. Despite
types of wires and cables
this, the industry’s main focus has been on lowering the price the inverters and improving their overall
efficiency . Given this focus, the long term reliability and resiliency of an inverter system has not yet been fully
developed. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is currently working with Sandia National
Laboratories in the development of accelerated inverter testing protocols and standards for reliability.
Unfortunately, to date no standards for inverter reliability exist and system resiliency is rarely discussed at all.
This indicates a growing need for the development of reliable inverters and resilient inverter systems.
Enhancing the robustness and performance of PV systems will aid and support the continued penetration of
solar energy into the electricity grid and will lead to the overall success of the industry .

Research Objectives: The aim of this research is to design a micro-inverter system with improved resiliency.
To achieve such goal, the following objectives are identified:
i. Design of a 300W micro-inverter
ii. Design of a 600W inverter
iii. Evaluation of inverters
iv. Design of the micro-inverter system
v. Development of the micro-inverter system performance criteria
vi. Design of a resiliency controller for micro-inverter systems
vii. Development and design resiliency case studies
viii. Evaluation of resiliency control strategies using performance criteria
References
[1] National Renewable Energy Laboratory, "A Review of PV Inverter Technology Cost and Performance
Projections," US. Department of Energy, Battelle, 2006.
[2] Sandia National Laboratories, "Utility-Scale Grid Tied PV Inverter Reliability Workshop Summary Report,"
U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, 2011.
[3] N. Mohan, T. Undeland and W. Robbins, Power Electronics, Converters, Applications and Design, New
Jersey: Joh Wiley & Sons, 2003.
[4] M. Rashid, Power Electronics Handbook, Oxford: Elsevier Inc., 2001. 2
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