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Harmonic effects caused by large scale PV installations in LV network

Conference Paper · November 2007

DOI: 10.1109/EPQU.2007.4424134 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Harmonic effects caused by large scale PV
installations in LV network
M.C.Benhabib J.M.A.Myrzik J.L.Duarte
EPE/EPS group EPS group EPE group
Department of electrical engineering Department of electrical engineering Department of electrical engineering
Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven University of Technology
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract- In the next decade the amount of decentralized growth in the last decade has been 30% to 40% a year. In
generators will significantly increase in the distribution 2002 the PV sector registered a 33% growth in Europe [2].
networks. Among the sustainable energy sources, the research In this paper, the influence of the current harmonics
on photovoltaic generators has received much attention, generated by photovoltaic systems connected to the LV
especially the study of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems,
network and the interaction with other non-linear loads and
which has potential of becoming a significant market.
Measurements in a bungalow park in the Netherland with a the network voltage will be studies. Basis for this simulation
high penetration of PV have shown a lot of harmonic is a neighborhood in the Netherlands with around 96 houses.
distortions at the point of coupling. There harmonics are The simulations will show the effect of these harmonic
concerning resonances and the interaction of current currents generated by big masses of photovoltaic systems
harmonics generated by the inverters and the voltage and common electronic loads and the interaction between
harmonics coming from the grid. them.
This paper, will study the influence of the current harmonics
generated by photovoltaic systems connected to the low voltage II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
network and the interaction with other non-linear loads and
the network voltage. Basis for this simulation is a
neighborhood in the Netherlands with around 96 houses. The power circuit of the proposed PV system is shown in
Simulations will show the effect of these harmonic currents Fig. 1. It presents a conventional photovoltaic energy
generated by big amount of photovoltaic systems and common conversion system, which include a DC–DC converter and a
electronic loads and the interaction between them. DC/AC inverter that are connected between a PV array and
an electrical power system via a transformer. The DC/DC
converter which is here a boost type is employed to track the
Keywords- LV network, photovoltaic system, power quality. maximum power point of the PV array. The maximum
I. INTRODUCTION power point tracking (MPPT) method used in this paper is
presented by [5]. The DC/AC inverter is employed to
The limited reserves of primary sources such as oil and gas, produce an output current in phase with the utility voltage in
the threat of nuclear accidents and unpredictable order to obtain unity power factor. The photovoltaic system
international political situations, introduce a lot of used in each house is connected at first to a linear load
fluctuation of fuel prices which has increased the last years. which are connected to the LV network. Then, the
This has introduced an increasing interest to sustainable photovoltaic system used in each house is connected to the
energy sources. This is even truer with the appearance of a non-linear loads which are connected to the LV network.
new world problem, which is the reheating of the planet and This LV network taken from [3] and [4] is connected to the
Co2 problem [1]. MV network via a 10kV/400V transformer. The LV
One of the most promising applications of sustainable network also comprises two feeders as shown in Fig. 2.
energy sources are photovoltaic systems. The global rate of Each feeder is divided in five parts. The distance between
 each part is give in the figure (part1:100m, part2: 100m, The simulation results are shown in Fig.3 to Fig.5:
part3: 200m, part4: 50m, part5: 50m). Each part contains 20
houses, which are located at each 10m. So, the total number
of houses in one feeder is 48 houses. 10
Inverter

Iinv [A]
PV panel Boost
0
ipv ig Rb L it D i0
b
b -10
ic i dc Rinv Linv Iinv Isupply
Cpv C dc U dc
Up SW U0 -20
R pv Rdc Iload Tr 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
v
-a- inverter current signal t [sec]

Vs 10

MPPT PWM V dc PWM - 8 THD=3.36%

+

Iinv [A]
+ Robust
Vdcref - PI PLL 6

Sine θ
4
Iinv *
2

Figure 1. Power circuit of the PV system 0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
h
-b- FFT of the inverter current
III. SIMULATION
Figure 3. Current injected by the inverter Iinv

A. Single photovoltaic inverter simulation

10

The first part of the simulation concerns the photovoltaic

5
system alone, as detailed in Fig.1. The reason of this choice
Iload [A]

is to show the current harmonics generated in a simple PV

0
system connected to a linear load.
The parameters of the photovoltaic system are given in
-5
table I.

TABLE I. PARAMETER OF THE SYSTEM (PV, LOAD, SUPPLY) -10

0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
-a- Load current signal t [sec]
Parameters Values
Cpv 55.0 µF
10
Lb 506µH THD≈0%
8
Cdc 550 µF
Iload [A]

6
Linv 10 mH
4
Rload 80 Ω
2
Vs 240 V
0
Vdc 400V 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
-b- FFT of the load current h
Figure 4. Load current ILoad

Clean Feeder 1
supply
10 kV / 400
V 100 m 100 m 200 m
Feeder 2
Cable 150Al House House
50 m 50 m n-1 n

50 houses Cable 50Al 10 m

Figure 2. Description of the LV network
 10
TABLE II. THD OF THE THREE SCENARIOS.

5 voltage Current Current Current

THD THD THD THD
Isupply [A]

0 (feeder 1) (feeder 2) (feeder 1 & 2)

First 0.54% 5.73% 5.69% 5.7%
-5
scenario
Second 2.05% 7.92% 7.94% 7.94%
-10 scenario
0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
-a- Supply current signal t [sec] Third 51,25% 118,73% 119,1 118,76
scenario
10
THD=6.09% 500
8
Isupply [A]

4
0
2

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

-b- FFT of the supply current h -500

0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
Figure 5. Supply current Isupply -a- Voltage in feeder 1

200

From these figures, it is possible to see that the PV gives 100

less then 5% of THD (this result depend in general on the
type of robustness of the control and the PWM), however, 0
the transformer amplifies the injected current harmonics up
to more than 5% (THD). But, what will happen to the -100
electrical network, when 96 photovoltaic systems are
operating together? This is what we are going to see next. -200
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
B. multi PV inverter simulation LV network simulation -b- Three-phase current in feeder 1
200

We propose for the network that contains 96 houses three 100

scenarios, which are:
0
1. Each house contains a PV system and a linear load.
2. Each house contains a PV system and one non- -100
linear load (RL).
3. Each house contains a PV system and four non- -200
linear loads (2 RL and 2 RC). 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
-c- Three-phase current in feeder 2
B.1 With linear loads 300
200
The first scenario consists of each house with a
photovoltaic system and a linear load equal 100
to R=80Ω (2.4 KW). 0

The simulation results are given in Fig.6, where it is -100

possible to recognize a balanced system with limited high- -200
order harmonics in the current (see also table II).
-300
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
-d- Total three-phase current (feeder 1+ feeder 2)
-near the transformer-
Figure 6. Currents and voltages in the electrical network
 200
B.2 One single-phase rectifier connected to the RL load
100
The second scenario consists of each house with a
photovoltaic system and a non-linear load including a 0
single-phase rectifier connected to a RL load. The single-
phase rectifier produces a THD equal to 6.6%. -100

The simulation results are shown in Fig.7 and table II. -200
0.15 0.155 0.16 0.165 0.17
-e- Zoom of three-phase current in feeder1 t [sec]
500
200

100

0
0

-100

-500 -200
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec] t [sec]
-a- Voltage in feeder 1
-f- Three-phase current in feeder 2
400 [A]
200
300
100
200
0
100
-100
0
0 10 20 30 40 -200
h 0.15 0.155 0.16 0.165 0.17
-b- FFT of the voltage in feeder 1 t [sec]
-g- Zoom of three-phase current in feeder 2
30
300
200
20
100
0
10 -100
-200

0 -300
0 10 20 30 40 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
h
-c- Zoom of the voltage FFT in feeder1 -d- Total three-phase current (feeder 1+ feeder 2)
-near the transformer-
200 300
200
100
100

0 0
-100
-100 -200
-300
-200 0.15 0.155 0.16 0.165 0.17
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 t [sec]
t [sec] -d- Zoom of total three-phase current (feeder1+ feeder2) -near the
-d- Three-phase current in feeder 1
transformer-

Figure 7. Currents and voltages in the electrical network when we

introduce in each house a non-linear load.
 250
B.3 Four single-phase rectifiers (two connected to a RL load
& two connected to a RC load) 200

The third scenario consists of each house with a 150

photovoltaic system and four non-linear loads which
comprise two single-phase rectifiers connected to RL loads 100
and on two other single-phase rectifiers connected to RC
load. The THD of the single-phase rectifier connected to the 50
RL load is equal to 6.6% and the THD of the single-phase
rectifier which is connected to the RC load is equal to 0
122.64%. 0 10 20 30 40
h
-d- FFT of the current in feeder 1
1000
The simulation results are given in Fig.8 and table II:
1500
500

1000
0
500

0 -500

-500 -1000
0.2 0.205 0.21 0.215 0.22
-1000 t [sec]
-e- Zoom of three-phase current in feeder 1
-1500
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 1000
t [sec]
-a- Voltage in feeder 1
500
400

300 0

200
-500
100

-1000
0 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
0 10 20 30 40
h t [sec]
-b- FFT of the voltage in feeder 1 -f- Three-phase current in feeder 2

1000 250

200
500
150

0 100

50
-500
0
0 10 20 30 40
-g- FFT of the current in feeder 2 h
-1000
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
t [sec]
-c- Three-phase current in feeder 1
 1000 load as shown in table II. Moreover, we notice that the
increase of the THD is observed not only in the currents but
also in the voltages. This can generate disturbances in some
500
sensitive equipment. Furthermore, when we make a zoom in
the currents in the 2nd and 3rd scenarios, it is possible to
0 notice that this last contains small peaks related to the
interaction between photovoltaic’s and non-linear loads.
-500

CONCLUSION
-1000
0.2 0.205 0.21 0.215 0.22
t [sec] Concerning the scenarios presented, we can conclude that
-h- Zoom of three-phase current in feeder 2 the THD Increase with the addition the non-linear loads,
especially with RC-type loads, which can be found in a lot
2000 of electronic equipments.
Moreover, we notice that the voltage distortion is quite
1000 sensitive to non-linear loads in an LV network.

0 REFERENCES

-1000
[1] Climate change, energy and sustainable development:
How to tame King Coal?. Coal Working Group. January the
12th, 2006.
http://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/KINGCoaldefinitive.
-2000 pdf
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
-i- Total three-phase current (feeder 1+ feeder 2) [2] Renewable energy target for Europe, 20% by 2020.
-near the transformer- EREC - the European Renewable Energy Council.
http://www.wind-energie.de/fileadmin/dokumente/Themen_A-
Z/Europa/EREC_Targets_2020.pdf
500 [3] J. F.G. Cobben, W.L. Kling and J. M.A. Myrzik “Power
Quality aspects of a future micro grid” International
400 Conference on Future Power Systems, pp. 5, Nov. 2005.
[4] J. F.G. Cobben “Power quality, implication at the point
300
of connection” PhD thesis at Technische University of
Eindhoven, defended 12 june 2007.
[5] Matsui, M.; Kitano, T.; De-hong Xu; Zhong-qing Yang
200 “A new maximum photovoltaic power tracking control
scheme based on power equilibrium at DC link” Thirty-
100
Fourth IAS Annual Meeting, IEEE Industry Applications
Conference, 1999.
0
0 10 20 30 40 50

-k- FFT of the current in feeder 1

Figure 8. The currents and voltages in the electrical network when we

introduce in each house four non-linear loads.

DISCUSSION

The first that we observe from these three scenarios is that

although there is no non-linear load in the first scenario the
THD is higher than 5%, as shows in table II, because of the
non-linearity of the transformer connected between each PV
and the LV network, which increase the current harmonics
injected by each PV system itself.
The second remark is that the introduction of only one non-
linear load in each house leads to an increase in the THD.
This is worsened with the introduction of more non-linear

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