A Comparative analysis between SQP and PSO for optimizing a one MW PV substation

A real-case one MW PV substation is briefly described in this paper. The Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE) [1], [2] strategy for operational power converters provides lower switching losses and a higher-quality waveform at the output. By properly formulating an objective function (OF) to be minimized, the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) approach is frequently used to obtain switching angles from a system of highly nonlinear equations. The disadvantage of this method is that it is extremely dependent on the initial guess of the answer. For that, a meta-heuristic approach based on the PSO algorithm [3], [4] is proposed. The fundamental benefit of the PSO approach over algebraical and numerically based techniques is not only its ability to compute a wide range of switching angles, but also its ability to reduce the dependence on the initial guess of the result. This study highlights a brief comparison. The obtained findings indicate the efficacy of the proposed SHE method with both optimization strategies, avoiding the harmful effect on the current harmonics rejected on the grid. The current work demonstrates that the PSO is a promising strategy for regulating the functioning of a three-phase voltage source converter in order to improve the quality of the energy provided for the grid.