A Grid-connected Solar PV Module with Autonomous Power Management

Abstract

Fluctuation of voltage in the low power distribution grid, to which distributed energy resources (DER) are integrated, is a major power quality (PQ) concern. Particularly when the generation from the DERs is at the peak value of it and load requirement is minimum and either case also. In such cases, many PQ problems emerge at the point of common coupling (PCC) such as voltage sag, voltage swell and harmonics. Due to such problem supply to the load, become discontinuous i.e. unregulated supply to load. Therefore, it is indispensable to regulate the voltage of PCC. This paper presents a method to regulate the PCC voltage by connecting the renewable energy sources (RESs) with an R-C filter to the grid. This filter thus lessens the harmonics to a level as stated in the IEEE standard 519. The comparative analysis is done between the solar energy source with and without maximum power tracking to check their compatibility to integrate them with the grid. The autonomous power management (APM) system along with THD reduction is considered to reduce the power losses during islanding mode. The analysis of the solar model with and without maximum power is simulated in MATLAB software and the results of the simulated model are presented to endorse the effectiveness of this structure.