Low voltage ride-through strategies for a 3-phase grid-connected PV system

Grid codes is a technical specification which defines the parameters a power system that are connected to the national power systems has to ensure safe, secure and eco-nomic proper functioning of the electric system. One of these requirements is to stay connected to the grid during faults. In such scenarios, the generating unit should remain connected to the grid for a certain period and provide reactive power to support the grid. This is called low voltage ride-through capability. At the early stage, low voltage ride-through requirements were imposed for large scale generators connected to the trans-mission network. However, with the increased penetration of distributed generation, such as PV panels implemented in the distribution network, the low voltage ride-through requirements are also required for distributed generation. With the maturity of PV technology, the cost of PV generation has decreased. Therefore, the total installed capacity of grid-connected PV generation has increased; this has cre-ated new challenges to the low voltage ride-through. Power quality and transient per-formance are the most critical aspects of the grid-connected PV systems under grid faults. PV generation is permitted to switch off from the grid during a fault; however, with the high penetration of the installed PV system, it will degrade the power quality if the same method applied. It is necessary to make sure that the inverter currents remain sinusoidal and within the acceptable limits at the instant of the fault, during and after the fault clearance for different types of faults. Accordingly, this thesis proposes two low voltage ride-through strategies for a 3-phase grid-connected PV system in different reference frames. The presented low voltage ride-through control algorithm in the synchronous reference frame, which fulfils a voltage compensation unit and the reactive power injection block is designed to protect the inverter from overcurrent failure under both symmetrical and asymmetrical faults, reduce the double grid frequency oscillations and provides reac-tive power support by applying a voltage compensation unit. The inverter can also inject sinusoidal current during asymmetrical faults. The method does not require a hard switch from the Maximum Power Point Tracking to a non-Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm, which ensures a smooth transition. The proposed method in the stationary reference frame provides a fast post-fault recov-ery, which is essential to minimize the fault impacts on the loads and the converter. The method, which consists of a new reference currents calculation block and the voltage compensation unit, maintains the converter current within acceptable limits, produces sinusoidal current even during asymmetrical faults, improves the post-fault recovery performance, and provides independent control for active and reactive powers