A Day and Night Operational Cross-Clamped Symmetric Thirteen-Level High Power Converter for Renewable Grid Integration

Abstract

In this paper, a reduced switch approach with cross clamped multilevel configuration is presented for high power penetration in the utility grid. The cross arm converter gives a new solution to feed MW scale power with fewer count of semiconductor switches. The less device approach makes it a compact solution with modular functionality to handle power efficiently. A cross arm connects two solar PV arrays with only six switches to have symmetric level contribution in converter voltage. Topological level explanations and modes of converter modules are presented for the 13-level based new renewable energy system. Each cross connected module operates two PV arrays in individual MPPT mode to feed power efficiently. Efficiency enhancement is ensured with the nearest level round function to provide a fundamental switching logic. Fundamental modulation ensures fewer losses in switching transitions and efficient power control is achieved in day and night duration. Active and reactive power dynamics are shown to ensure reactive power compensation under sudden changes in grid voltage levels. Dynamic performance assessment shows that the converter operates smoothly with changes in irradiance set points. The system is modelled in MATLAB and RT-LAB environments, testing MW-scale feasibility of the new solar multilevel configuration for high power applications.