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Frequency-Dependent Modeling of Grounding

System in EMTP for Lightning Transient Studies of
Grid-Connected PV Systems
N. Ahmadi1, V. Mashayekhi1, S. H. H. Sadeghi1,2, A. Nasiri2
1
Electrical Engineering Department
Amirkabir University of Technology
Tehran, Iran
2
Electrical Engineering Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, USA

Abstract— The paper adopts a comprehensive modeling To alleviate the adverse effects of lightning overvoltages,
technique to investigate the effect of frequency-dependent appropriate surge protection devices are deployed in the
characteristics of grounding system in a grid-connected locations of concern [6]. These devices often use a nonlinear
photovoltaic (PV) system on the overvoltages caused by lightning resistive element to suppress the overvoltage by directing a
strikes on the nearby overhead line. In this technique, the surge current into earth via a grounding system [7]. A
frequency response of grounding system is determined using
grounding system consists of a series of metallic structures
an electromagnetic approach based on the method-of-
moments (MoM) solutions of the governing Maxwell's that is buried in an appropriate depth in earth. The metallic
equations. To evaluate the resultant overvolatges on the key structures provide a near-zero impedance that can carry high
components of PV systems, the electromagnetic transients amplitude currents to the earth [8].
program (EMTP) is used where the grounding system is Conventionally, the grounding system in transient studies
represented by an appropriate state-space model. The model is is modeled by a lumped resistor whose value is often
derived by approximating the frequency response of the MoM determined by an empirical formula [9]. In this model,
impedance matrix by a rational function based on the vector conductors of grounding system are assumed to be ideal (zero
fitting method. Simulated results obtained for a typical grid- resistance) with the same potential. This assumption simplifies
connected PV system show that when a lightning surge hits the
the transient study but neglects the frequency dependent
grid, the values of overvoltages produced in the PV system can
exceed those predicted by the conventional resistive model of behavior of the earth system and travelling wave [10]. If the
grounding system. impedance of high-frequency grounding system is not low
enough, the resultant overvoltage may damage the protected
Keywords- Inverter, Lightning, Photovoltaic array, Protection, devices [11].
One port system. To accurately predict the lightning overvoltages in a PV
power plant, one should consider the frequency-dependent
I.INTRODUCTION impedance characteristics of various components of the
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are found to be the most grounding system, including buried grounding grid and soil
promising future energy technology [1]. They comprise several electric parameters. Measurements have been reported on the
modules (panels) that transfer sunlight directly into electricity. frequency dependence of electrical parameters (i.e.,
In a PV module, an array of solar cells is connected to each conductivity and permittivity) of soil in terms of temperature,
other to provide higher output [2]. density, moisture, humidity, and soil type [12]
By increasing the number of photovoltaic systems, both In this paper, we present the results of a comprehensive
roof and ground mounted, there is a tendency for connection to transient analysis of the interconnected grounding system in a
grid as a viable power generator [3]. To connect to an existing solar power plant. In the following sections, first, we describe
utility network, an appropriate step-up transformer is often how various elements of a grid-connected PV system are
used to match the voltage level. modeled for transient study in the electromagnetic transients
program (EMTP). In particular, we employ a multiport
Like other power system apparatus, a grid-connected PV
approach to obtain the frequency-dependent model of the
system can be affected by cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. It
grounding system. Finally, we present a comprehensive
can experience damaging overvoltages caused by travelling
surges on the nearby overhead line [4]. In the event of such transient analysis of the interconnected grounding system in a
unwanted overvoltages, the power electronic devices used for typical PV system power plant when exposed to a lightning
converting the DC output signal of the PV panels into surge generated on the nearby overhead line.
appropriate AC waveforms are found to be the prime victims
[5].

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I. PV SYSTEM MODEL IN EMTP-RV B. Inverter Set

The schematic of a grid-connected PV system is shown in An inverter set is required to convert the DC voltage
Fig. 1. The system consists of a PV module that is connected to output, Vdc, of the PV module into three-phase AC voltage (Va,
a medium voltage utility network via an inverter set and a step- Vb and Vc), as shown in Fig. 3. They are assumed to be three-
up transformer. For the sake of simplicity, we ignore the legged voltage-source inverters with six IGBT switches (S1-
existence of the energy storage device often used to solve S6). The pulse-width modulation technique is used to compare
fluctuation solar intensity. Also, we assume that the PV system a sinusoidal waveform to a DC voltage [14].
is immune to the direct exposure to lightning strikes and can
only experience travelling surges caused by lightning strikes on
the nearby overhead line. In addition, lightning arresters are
dully mounted at the HV terminals of the step-up transformer
and the output terminals of the inverter to suppress
overvoltages to the permitted basic insulation level (BIL).
To perform a transient analysis of the system described
above, we use the EMTP-RV which has a set of tools to build a
system from the library of built-in blocks. In the following
sections, we describe how various elements of the grid-
connected PV system are modeled for use in the EMTP. Figure 3. Three-legged voltage source inverter set.

C. Step-up Transformer
A step-up transformer is often used to connect large PV
plants to the utility network. The transformer steps up the
inverter output AC voltage from a few hundred volts to the
grid voltage level (e.g., 6–36 kV). While the system engineer
may have a design preference with regard to transformer
winding configuration, in practice, the choice of inverter and
Figure 1. Schematic of a typical grid-connected PV System.
the utility interconnection requirements are the two important
A. PV Array factors. A delta-wye configuration with grounded wye is often
A photovoltaic array is a complete DC power-generating an appropriate choice.
unit, consisting of several PV modules to produce higher D. Grounding System
voltages, currents and power levels. A simplified model of a
solar cell is shown in Fig. 2 where a DC current source in A grounding system consists of a series of metallic
parallel with a diode supplies power through a small series structures that is buried in an appropriate depth in earth. The
resistor. The values of the equivalent circuit elements associated metallic structures provide a near-zero impedance that can
with a PV array can be determined, using the operating parameters carry high amplitude currents to the earth. In a typical PV
of its modules [13]. These include power plant, the step-up transformer and the inverter are
connected to the grounding systems (Fig. 1). To obtain the


: short-circuit current of the module frequency-dependent model of the grounding system, we


: open-circuit voltage module employ a multiport approach [15]. In this approach, the


: equivalent serial resistance of the module method-of-moments (MoM) is first used to solve the governing


: thermal potential electric field integral equation (EFIF) representing the


: number of series module in array electromagnetic behavior of the current-carrying grounding


: number of parallel module in array conductors. Then, Smith and Longmire’s expressions [16] are


: number of cells in module utilized to represent the frequency dependence of soil electrical

: value of diode factor estimated to be 1.402 parameters. Due to the time-consuming nature of the solution
in the frequency domain, a model-based parameter estimation
technique is utilized to reduce the number of frequency points
required for the transient response of the grounding system.
Once the frequency-dependent model of the grounding system
is determined, the vector fitting method [17] is used to
determine a rational function approximation of transient
impedance that matches the respective frequency spectrum
with an enforcement of passivity.
The elements of the impedance/admittance matrix can be
modeled as rational functions given below [18].
Figure 2. Simplified model of a solar cell

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where



and

are, respectively, polynomials of order PV modules are characterized by their manufacturer with
n and d, and
is the frequency of interest. Assuming that basic data. In this work, the Hyundai HiS-M182SF PV module




,


will have






unknown coefficients. By was selected for modeling the PV array in Standard Test


sampling

at






frequencies, (1) can be written Conditions (STC), which refers to irradiance of 



and


as a














matrix equations which can be temperature equal to
 [21]. The specifications of the
solved in a regular fashion. module are shown in Table I. The PV array used in this paper
Having determined the elements of the admittance matrix is made up of 260 strings in parallel, each consisting of 25 PV
for a number of frequencies, the fitting algorithm described in modules in series with the total power of approximately 1.2
[18] is used to determine the respective rational function MW.
approximation,


, i.e.
TABLE I. THE PARAMETERS OF THE HYUNDAI HIS-M182SF PV
MODULE [21]





Parameters Value























































Nominal output (Pmax) 182 W




Open-circuit voltage(Voc) 32.7 V
Short-circuit current (Isc) 7.8 A
where s denotes the Laplace variable, Np is the number of
poles, Pi and


are the i-th pole and residue respectively which Temperature coefficient of Voc -0.32%/K
can be real or complex conjugate quantities, and d and e are Temperature coefficient of Isc 0.056%/K
real constant. Number of cells 54 in series
Finally, a state-space representation of the resultant
transfer function is utilized to derive a time-domain model
for inclusion in EMTP-RV. Two separate grounding grid are used for connecting the
lightning arresters installed at the HV terminals of the
E. Protection System transformer and the output terminals of the invert set. Each
Important electric/electronic apparatus are to be protected grid (Fig. 5) consists of a 




squared mesh made of
against likely electrical surges. Zinc oxide (ZnO) arresters are linear conductors with radius 14mm, buried in the depth of 1
the most commonly used surge protection devices in power m. The soil is characterized by low-frequency resistivity of
system. They offer highly non-uniform current-voltage (I–V) =1200 .m and relative permittivity of r=10. Referring to
characteristics, which make them suitable for designing Fig. 5, the ending points of the arresters are connected to Port1
gapless lightning arresters [19]. To calculate the required in the respective grounding grid while the neutral points of the
parameters of the surge arresters, the modeling technique transformer and the inverter set are tied to Port2 accordingly.
described in [20] is used. The model-based parameter estimation (MBPE) technique
[18] with uniform sampling strategy is used together with the
II.SIMULATION RESULTS frequency-domain MoM to obtain the harmonic impedance
matrixes of the grounding system. Having obtained the
The modeling technique described in the preceding
impedance matrix in the desired frequency range, the vector
sections is used to investigate the effect of frequency
fitting model (Np=25) is utilized to acquire a rational model of
dependency of soil electrical parameters on lightning
the frequency response of the grounding system from which
overvoltages in a typical grid-connected PV system. With
an appropriate state-space model is derived for inclusion in
reference to Fig. 4, the PV system is rated 1.2 MW/697V and
EMTP-RV.
is connected to a 25kV distribution network with 50km line
via a 0.697kV/25kV delta-wye transformer with 1.2MVA A. Grounding Impedance
rated power. To protect the transformer and inverter set Fig. 6 shows the magnitude and phase variations of
against lightning overvoltages, ZnO gapless surge arresters are












, representing the self and mutual
used at their output terminals. It is assumed that the lightning impedances associated with Port 1 and Port 2 shown in Fig. 5.
strikes directly the tower with the height of 20m, generating a Notice that






due to the symmetry, and





surge current of rise time 3Us, fall time 50Us and peak value because of the rule of reciprocity. From the results shown in
10kA. Fig. 6, it can be clearly seen that when soil electrical
parameters are frequency dependent, harmonic impedances
take different values over the working frequency interval.
These figures also confirm the well-known inductive behavior
of long grounding systems.

Figure 4. EMTP-RV representation of the simulated grid-connected power

system.

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5
x 10
12

10

P (Watt)
6

Voc=25*32.7=817.5 V
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
VG (Voltage)

Figure 5. Geometry of the 




grounding grids used in Fig. 4. Figure 8. EMTP simulated power output of the PV array.
25
C. Overvoltages on Inverter Legs
Z =Z
11 22
20
Z
12
=Z
21 Fig. 9 illustrates the predicted transient overvoltages
15 produced on inverter legs for the two cases of the
|Z(j)| (
)

comprehensive electromagnetic and simple resistive models of

10 the grounding system. A study of the results shown in this
5
figure clearly demonstrates the effect of the frequency-
dependency of soil parameters on the resultant overvoltages.
0 2 3 4 5 6
Notice that the peak values of the voltage waveforms do not
10 10 10 10 10
Frequency (Hz) exceed

due to the presence of surge arresters. A further
(a) study of the results indicates that the peak values of
overvoltages predicted by the electromagnetic model are
100
generally more than those obtained by the resistive models.
50 The underestimation of the overvoltages can have destructive
0
effects, causing major failures and insulation breakdown.
Z(j
) (o)

-50 1500
Electromagnetic Model
Resistive Model
1000
-100
Z = Z 500
Va inverter (v)

11 22
-150
Z =Z
12 21
0
-200 2 3 4 5 6
10 10 10 10 10 -500
Frequency (Hz)

(b) -1000

Figure 6. Harmonic impedances of the grounding grid shown in Fig. 5. -1500

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (ms)

B. Output of PV Array (a)

1500
The I-V characteristic curve of the PV array is plotted in Electromagnetic Model
Resistive Model
Fig. 7. It is matched to the single PV module with the voltage 1000

and currents scaled up according to the scaling rules. The 500

Vb inverter (v)

short-circuit current is 2028 A (from 260 times 7.80A in the 0

single module). The open-circuit voltage is 817.5V, and is
scaled up 25 times. Also, the simulated power output of the -500

PV system is shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen in this figure, -1000

the maximum power output of the PV array is 1.2 MW, -1500

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
describing 182W power for each PV module in 260×25 series Time (ms)

of PV arrays. (b)
1500
Electromagnetic Model
2500 Resistive Model
1000

Isc=7.8*260=2028A
2000 500
Vc inverter (v)

0
IG (Current)

1500
-500

1000
-1000

500 -1500
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (ms)

0
Voc=25*32.7=817.5V
(c)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
VG (Voltage)
Figure 7. EMTP simulated I-V characteristic curve of the PV array at Figure 9. Overvoltages at the inverter terminals; a) terminal-1 (

), b)
standard conditions. terminal-2 (

), and c) terminal-3 (

).

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III.CONCLUSION [17] B. Gustavsen, A. Semlyen, “Enforcing passivity for admittance matrices

approximated by rational functions,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 16,
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lightning transient studies of grid-connected PV systems. The to accelerate solving the thin-wire EFIE used innumerical simulation of
adopted technique uses a model-based parameter estimation lightning,”Eng Anal Bound Elem, vol. 33, pp. 866–871, Jun. 2009.
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frequency behavior of grounding system, and more vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 302-310, Jan. 1992.
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simple resistive model of grounding system.
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