Most countries in the world uses conventional energy sources to supply electrical

power to consumers. The load demand increases every day and it has become a
challenging task for utility as well as for engineers to meet this increasing
demand scenario with desired power quality. As conventional energy sources
face the constraints of their long term availability and distance from the load
center so it is desired to find a source of energy which could be used to supply
the increased demand of power in conjunction with the main grid and which is
near to load center in comparison to conventional energy sources. Solar energy
has been emerged as a major source power. Solar farms are used to extract and
convert the solar energy. Among different types of solar farms, PV-based solar
farms are gaining popularity as these are environment friendly and
advancements in power electronics technology has made it possible to extract
the solar power more efficiently . These solar farms are installed at various
places depending upon the installation area availability and load demand to
support the main grid supply system through PCC (point of common coupling). At
PCC the voltage or current can be injected. Overall efficiency of utility network
can be increased by adjustment of power factor which enhance the flexibility of
the utility network to supply loads with desired power quality . The voltage or
current of the solar farm can be used to adjustment power factor by controlling
the phase angle of the injected voltage or current.
Solar cells or photovoltaic cell convert sunlight directly into
electricity.
Solar cells are made of special materials called semiconductor.
Like-Silicon(Si), Germanium(Ge) etc.
When Light hits the solar cell, parts of energy absorbed and
electrons from the atoms of the semiconductor material is
released. When electrical conductor are attached to the positive
and negative sides, thus forming an electrical circuit, The
electrons can be captured in the form of electric current. Thus,
current together with the cell’s voltage(which is result of Inbuilt
electric field ), defines the power that the solar cell can
produce.
Solar energy can be converted into electricity with the
use of solar panels.
Solar panel installed on the roof of the household is
CAUGHT, CONVERTED & STORED for future use.
We can install two type of systems:
1.Stand alone solar farm (which generate for personal
use)
2.A grid connected PV system ( generate power for
public use)
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park,
is a large-scale photovoltaic system(PV system) designed for
the supply of merchant power into the electricity grid. They
are differentiated from most building-mounted and other
decentralised solar power applications because they supply
power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users.
They are sometimes also referred to as solar farms or solar
ranches, especially when sited in agricultural areas.
The solar power source is via photovoltaic modules that
convert light directly to electricity.
• Power factor is the measure of how effectively electrical
equipment converts electric power (supplied by your
power utility) into useful power output.

• In technical terms, it is the ratio of Active Power (kW) to

the Apparent Power (kVA) of an electrical installation.
• KW • KVAR • KVA
In purely resistive loads current in phase with voltage
there is “unity power” factor.

Capacitive and Inductive loads will cause the current to

“lead” or “lag” the voltage there is “non unity power”
factor.
Non unity power factor means a load is consuming both
active and reactive power
A grid-connected photovoltaic power system, or grid-
connected PV power system is an electricity generating
solar PV power system that is connected to the utility
grid. A grid-connected PV system consists of solar panels,
one or several inverters, a power conditioning unit and
grid connection equipment. They range from small
residential and commercial rooftop systems to large
utility-scale solar power stations. Unlike stand-alone
power systems, a grid-connected system rarely includes
an integrated battery solution, as they are still very
expensive. When conditions are right, the grid-
connected PV system supplies the excess power, beyond
consumption by the connected load, to the utility grid.
The supply of reactive power is very important in an AC
power grid. The amount of power produced by the
generators must closely match that which is being
consumed.
A leading power factor in the system( due to capacitive
loads) cause the voltage to rise and a lagging current( due
to inductive loads) will cause the voltage fall.
From the phase diagram we see, increasing the reactive
power increases the apparent power but has no effect on
the active power. This means generators in the generators
in system must apply more apparent power even thought
there is no additional work being done by system.
Power factor for grid connected system in which grid
connected PV inverters are only set up to inject power
at unity power factor.

We have concluded that factory with 60kw PV system

producing power at unity power factor.

It may be financially beneficial to reduce the amount

of active power drawn from the grid at the expense of
increased charges due to a poor power factor.