Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70

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Renewable Energy
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Technical note

Experimental study on flicker emissions by photovoltaic systems on

highly cloudy region: A case study in Malaysia
Yun Seng Lim*, Jun Huat Tang 1
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Jalan Genting Klang, 53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the most promising renewable energy sources in Malaysia because of its
Received 6 July 2013 location being around the equatorial region where sunlight is available throughout the year. However,
Accepted 28 October 2013 the country is warm and surrounded by the South China Sea and Malacca Straits. A large amount of
Available online 20 November 2013
clouds is created and passed over the region. The impacts of the passing clouds on the PV power outputs
and voltage magnitude have to be studied thoroughly. Therefore, an experimental low-voltage network
Keywords:
integrated with a PV system is set up. The experimental results show that the passing clouds result in the
Photovoltaic system
frequent and rapid fluctuations of PV power outputs, hence producing a large amount of flickers to the
Cloud
Flicker
distribution networks. Some of the flickers are actually greater than the statutory limits. To mitigate this
Load controller power quality issue, a dynamic load controller is proposed to be the solution because its components are
cheap. The load controller is made of a number of 200 W power resistors and solid-state relays. A central
controller switches the resistors on and off very rapidly based on the fluctuations of the network voltage.
The experimental results show that the dynamic load controller is able to reduce the flickers effectively
on the distribution networks. The studies and solution presented in this paper are very valuable to
different parties, such as the government, policy makers, utility companies and owners of the PV sys-
tems, in order to ensure an effective growth of the PV systems without compromising the quality of
electricity supply to the customers.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Malaysia is one of the tropical countries in Southeast Asia. It is
divided into West and East Malaysia by the South China Sea as
shown in Fig. 1. Malaysia depends highly on fossil fuels for elec-
tricity generation. Electricity generation from renewable energy
sources was about 1% or less [1]. However, extreme reliance on
fossil fuels has created much controversy because of its excessive
GHG emissions [2,3]. Also the reserves of oil and gas are depleting
very rapidly [4]. Therefore, the government has promoted the usage
of renewable energy sources by launching renewable energy pro-
grammes, such as Main Building Integrated Photovoltaic Project in
2005, new feed-in-tariffs for RE in 2012 and the new forward
looking RE policy in 2012 [5,6].
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the most promising renewable
energy sources in Malaysia because of its location being around the
equatorial region where sunlight is available over the year.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ60 126399520.
E-mail addresses: yslim@utar.edu.my (Y.S. Lim), tangjh8@1utar.com (J.H. Tang).
1
Tel.: þ60 126399520.
However, the country is warm and surrounded by the South China
Sea and Malacca Straits. Therefore, a large amount of clouds is
created and passed over the country. Fig. 2 shows the frequency of
completely clear sky occurrences at various regions around the
world [7]. Malaysia does not have a single day with a completely
clear sky. As tabulated in Table 1, the average amount of clouds in
Malaysia is about 77% which is the highest in the world [8,9].
With a large amount of clouds passing over Malaysia, the
incident solar irradiance is therefore highly scattered and fluctu-
ating, hence making the power output of the photovoltaic systems
to be very intermittent. Highly intermittent power output from PV
systems causes the voltage at the point of connection to be fluc-
tuating sharply and frequently, hence generating a large number of
voltage fluctuations and flickers to the low-voltage distribution
networks.
At present, little attention is placed on the flicker emissions by
the PV systems because the majority of the countries is free from
cloudy skies at the most of the time. Flickers introduced by wind
turbines have been studied by the authors in [10e13]. There are a
number of methods used to reduce flickers generated from the
wind turbines. The most common solution is to use a power
electronic-based device, namely static synchronous compensator

0960-1481/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2013.10.043
62 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70

Fig. 1. Malaysia map.

Fig. 2. World map showing the frequency of completely clear sky occurrence (%).

(STATCOM), integrated with capacitors. STATCOM is installed on a networks because the line reactance is larger than the resistance.
point of concern to supply reactive power actively to the trans- Another method is to control actively the supply of real power from
mission network to reduce the flickers [14]. However, this solution the converter of the wind turbines so that the flickers can be
is effective if the wind turbines are placed on the transmission minimised [10,16]. This approach is effective if the wind turbines
are installed on the distribution networks because the line resis-
Table 1 tance is larger than the reactance.
Average amount of cloud and frequency of clear sky occurrence in several regions. The general technical issues caused by the distributed genera-
tion have also been studied by the researchers in [17e19]. Although
Regions Europe US South South America Malaysia
Africa near near equator some researchers have investigated the impacts of photovoltaic
equator systems on the voltage levels [20e23], they use simulation ap-
Average amount of 53.29 56.44 60.44 62.81 76.86 proaches to carry out the studies. Experimental studies on the
cloud (%) power quality issues caused by the PV systems are not very
Frequency of 22.95 16.87 11.37 13.10 0.71 common.
clear sky The objective of this paper is to present the findings on the
occurrence (%)
flicker emissions by the photovoltaic systems on Malaysia. An
 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70
experimental system is set up to carry out the experiments. This
system consists of a low-voltage distribution network integrated
with a PV system and a load bank. Characterisation of the PV power
output is carried out to show the frequency and the duration of the
peak PV power outputs. Standard formulas are used to calculate the
voltage fluctuation index, short-term flickers and long-term flickers
from a collection of the measurement. Dynamic load controller is
proposed to mitigate the flickers because it is a cheap and effective
approach.
This paper begins with a brief description of the impacts of
voltage fluctuation and flickers, followed by the set-up of the
experimental network and the characterisation of the PV power
output. The severities of voltage fluctuation and flickers are then
presented based on the measurement data. The reduction in
flickers using the load controllers is shown before the conclusion is
presented.
2. Impacts of voltage fluctuation and flickers
Usually, the main sources of voltage fluctuations and flickers on
HV and MV networks are arcing furnaces, welding machines, roll-
ing mills, mine winders, large capacitor bank for reactive power
compensation and electric boilers. The main sources of voltage
fluctuations and flickers on the low voltage networks are starting of
large electrical motors, X-ray, pumps, refrigerators and electric
cookers [24].
The flickers cause electrical motors to change in their starting
torques and power consumption, hence causing the increase in the
temperature and the deterioration of the efficiencies of the ma-
chines. The lifespan of the motors are then shortened. Air condi-
tioners are very common appliances in Malaysia. The motors being
used in the air conditioners can fail prematurely. Therefore, the cost
associated with the repair and maintenance of the air conditioners
may increase substantially. Also rapid changes in voltage supply can
make the motors to run at the varying speeds with vibration, hence
leading to the poor quality of products in any manufacturing fac-
tories [25].
The voltage fluctuations and flickers can cause the light sources,
such as incandescent lamps, to vary their luminous of light flux.
Anyone who is affected by light flickering can suffer headaches,
migraines and eye discomfort. In addition, unstable voltage supply
causes electronic equipment malfunction, unwanted triggering of
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units to switch to battery mode
and reduce the operational efficiency [26].
3. Set up of the experimental low-voltage distribution
network with a photovoltaic system
To study the characteristics of PV power output and voltage
magnitude at the point of the PV connection, a low-voltage three-
phase distribution network is set up as shown in Fig. 3. A photo-
voltaic (PV) system and a controllable load bank are connected to
the distribution network. Either the utility grid or a 15 kW gener-
ator can be used as the supply source to the distribution network.
The 15 kW generator is used to study the flickers purely generated
by the photovoltaic system. The technical details of the 15 kW
generator are given in Appendix A.
The type of solar cells in the modules is polycrystalline. The
technical specifications of the PV modules are shown in Appendix
A. The PV modules are commercial products that comply with all
the technical standards. Therefore, the quality of the PV modules
and their power outputs are well trusted.
Each PV module has a maximum capacity of 230 W. There are 32
modules being mounted on the car park area to produce the
maximum capacity of 7.36 kW as shown in Fig. 4. These 32 PV
63
Fig. 3. Experimental set up.
modules are divided into four strings. Each string has the capacity
of 1.84 kW and is detachable from the solar inverter such that the
capacity of the PV system can be fixed at 1.84, 3.68, 5.52 and
7.36 kW.
The rating of the solar inverter is 3.0 kW. Two inverters are used
to accommodate the 7.36 kW PV modules. The technical specifi-
cations of the solar inverter are given in Appendix A. The inverter is
a well-recognised solar device that complies with all the technical
standards. Therefore, the quality of the device and AC output
voltage are well within the permissible tolerance.
The PV modules are mounted on the car park area surrounded
by trees and buildings. The nearest building is more than 30 m
away from the PV modules. The building is too far away from the PV
panel and should not shade the PV panel. The trees are the only
possible object to shade the PV panel. The shortest distance from
the PV modules to the nearest tree is about 15.8 m. The PV panel is
alighted with the tree in a straight line pointing towards the East.
The trees may shade the PV panel early in the morning. The heights
of the PV mounting structure and the tree are 3.3 and 6.6 m
respectively. The angle made between the PV plane and the solar
radiation just before the PV panel receives the direct sunlight in the
morning is calculated to be 12.4 . This inclination angle can happen
approximately at 8 am as determined by using PSA algorithm [27].
After 8 am, the PV panel receives direct sunlight throughout the day
without being shaded by any surrounding objects. Therefore, the
measurement of the voltage and current from the PV is set to take
place after 8 am.
4. Characterisation of the PV power output
A case study is carried out to characterise the power output of
the PV system in the experimental network. The two PV systems
are connected to phase A of the distribution network. The terminal
voltage and the current output of the PV systems are measured by
using two national instrument modules, namely NI 9225 voltage
module and NI 9227 current module. Labview is used as a pro-
gramming platform to read the readings from the NI modules and
store them in a Microsoft excel file. The PV systems are monitored
over a period of 9 months. The result of a particular day is shown in
Fig. 5. The PV power output fluctuates very rapidly, causing the
voltage magnitude to change frequently throughout the day. Three
unique characteristics of the PV power outputs are observed as
listed below.
1. Many high PV power outputs happen within short durations.
64 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70
Fig. 4. Mounting of the PV array on the site.
2. Some of the high power outputs drop down suddenly instead of
gradually. For example, the high power output of 2.7 kW that
happens between 12.00 and 12.22 pm drops immediately to
1.2 kW after 12.22 pm.
3. The magnitude of reduction in the PV power output is signifi-
cant, about 63% of reduction in the PV power output.
Many high PV power outputs happen within short durations
because of the high frequency of the passing clouds over the PV
panels. The sudden reductions in the PV power outputs are caused
by the thick clouds that reduce the total solar irradiation arriving at
the solar panels. Some of the thick clouds can reduce the solar
irradiation substantially, hence making a significant reduction in
the PV power output.
A collection of PV power outputs over a period of 9 months is
characterised to derive a chart as shown in Fig. 6. This chart shows
the frequency of various PV power outputs and the corresponding
duration. It is noticed that the majority of the high PV power out-
puts happen for less than 5 min.
A comprehensive PV monitoring data from Thailand, China,
Hong Kong and the UK are collected from the sources of [28e31].
Fig. 7 shows the characteristics of PV power outputs in Thailand,
China Hong Kong and the UK. It is shown that the majority of the PV
power outputs in China, Hong Kong and the UK happen for more
than 30 min which is much longer than that in Malaysia. Further-
more, the PV power outputs reduce gradually. Therefore, the
magnitudes of flickers produced by the photovoltaic systems are
significantly less than that in Malaysia. It is noticed that the lifespan
of some high PV power outputs in Thailand are short, less than
Fig. 5. Fluctuation in PV output and voltage magnitude.
5 min. This is because Thailand is close to Malaysia, making this
region to be vulnerable to much passing clouds.
5. Quantification of voltage fluctuations and flickers
produced by the photovoltaic system
To quantify the voltage fluctuation and flickers produced by the
photovoltaic systems, standard formulas are adopted from [11,32].
The method described in this paper to calculate the short-term
flickers is an estimation approach as described in IEC 61000-3-3
[33] as well as the handbook of power quality [34]. It is a simplified
assessment technique for estimating the short-term flicker severity
caused by equipment at the low voltage networks. It is also known
as the unity flicker severity curve approach. This method makes use
of the fact that the short-term flicker severity is a linear parameter
to the magnitude of the voltage changes that causes it. It provides
good indication of the flicker severity and has been used in the past
as described in [11,32,35]
This method is chosen and incorporated into the control algo-
rithm of the load controller because it is a quick and simple
assessment approach which creates a very little delay in the
execution of the load controller. The approach defined in IEC
61000-4-15 [6] calculates the short-term flicker accurately. How-
ever, this approach needs more computation effort than the flicker
curve method. If it is used in the control algorithm, the execution of
the programme can slow down the response of the load controller
towards voltage fluctuations substantially.
The steps of the flicker curve method are described as follows:-
Fig. 6. Characteristic of PV output in Kuala Lumpur.
 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70 65

Fig. 7. Characteristic of PV output in other countries.

Step 1: Determine the magnitude of every voltage changes over The long-term flicker index, PLT, is the average of PST evaluated
the specified minute using the following equation. over 2 h using the cubic law as defined below.

vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u  3
u N i
Vmax  Vmin u
3 X PST
DV ¼ *100 (1) PLT ¼ t (3)
Vnom N
i¼1

where Vmax is the maximum voltage, Vmin refers to minimum

where N is the total number of short-term flickers within the 2 h
voltage and Vnom is the nominal voltage, which is 230 V in Malaysia. i is the short-term flicker at the number of i.
and PST
Step 2: Determine the number of voltage changes within the
specified minute, r.
Step 3: Calculate the average value, d, of the all the voltage
changes DV happening within the specified minute.
Step 4: Substituting, r, expressed as the number of voltage
changes per minute, into the severity curve as shown in Fig. 8 to
find the corresponding relative voltage change, d0, that pro-
duces PST0 ¼ 1.0.
Step 5: The short-time flicker severity can therefore be calcu-
lated using the following correlation.

d d
PST ¼ PST0  ¼ (2)
d0 d0
Fig. 8. Unity flicker curve at PST0 ¼ 1.
66 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70

5.1. Case study 1: study flicker emission on the network with the
15 kW generator

A case study is carried to investigate the severity of flickers

introduced by the photovoltaic system. A 1.84 kW photovoltaic
system is connected to phase A of the distribution network. A
15 kW generator is used to be the supply source to the network
because the generator does not generate any severe flickers to the
network. As a result, any flickers experienced at the point of the
common coupling are generated from the photovoltaic system.
The voltage magnitude at the point of the common coupling is
measured and used to calculate the short-term and long-term
flickers. Fig. 9 shows the voltage fluctuation index (VFI), short-
term flickers (PST) and long-term flickers (PLT). There are 47 short-
term flicker indices that are calculated from the collection of data
as shown in Fig. 10. The average of the 47 short-term flickers is the
long-term flicker. Table 2 shows the values of the voltage fluctua- Fig. 10. A number of short-term flickers being calculated from the collection of voltage
tion, short and long-term flicker indices. It is noticed that the magnitude.
maximum value of the short-term flicker exceeds the statutory
limit. The long-term flicker index is also greater than the statutory As the PV capacity increases from 1.84 to 7.37 kW on phase A,
limit. These results show that the flickers produced by the photo- the short and long-term flickers grow from 0.922 to 1.158 and 0.365
voltaic systems can exceed the allowed limits. to 0.509 respectively. The results prove that the capacity of PV
system contributes to the growth of the short and long-term
flickers. It is also noticed that the short-term flicker index be-
5.2. Case study 2: study on flicker emission on the network with the
comes greater than the statutory limit of 1.0 when the PV capacity
utility grid
is 7.37 kW. The index is projected to be much higher if the PV ca-
pacity is higher than 7.37 kW.
A second case study is carried out to investigate the severity of
Figs. 12 and 13 show a significant increase in the short and long-
flicker caused by various PV capacities on phase A when the utility
term flicker indices on phase B and C even though the PV system is
grid is used as the supply source to the network. For each PV ca-
on phase A. The flickers on phase A cause the flicker indices on
pacity, the voltage magnitudes on phase A, B and C at the point of
phase B and C to increase. This is because there are mutual cou-
common coupling are measured and used to calculate all the short-
plings or capacitive linkages between the three phases in an elec-
term flicker indices as well as the long-term flicker index over the
trical cable. These linkages establish an electrical connection
period of measurement. Figs. 11e13 show the worst flickers expe-
between the three phases. Any high magnitude of flickers and
rienced on phase A, B and C at the point of common coupling.
harmonic currents on one phase can propagate to the other phase
Fig. 11 shows that the short and long-term flicker indices are
phases through the mutual couplings. The experimental results
0.231 and 0.1247 respectively when the PV system is not connected
show that the impacts caused by the intermittency of the PV power
to the network. These values represent the background flicker
output can be widely spread across the distribution network.
indices. These background indices can vary depending on the ac-
Therefore, it is very important to mitigate the flickers caused by the
tivities on the university premise. These values can increase if there
fluctuation of the PV power output.
are a number of air conditioners or machineries operating at the
same time. When a 1.84 kW PV system is connected to the network,
the background flicker is combined with the flickers introduced by
6. Dynamic load controller for mitigating flickers
the PV system to give rise to the total short and long-term flickers of
0.922 and 0.365 as shown in Fig. 11.
There are several options available to mitigate voltage fluctua-
tion and flicker issues. Installing static capacitors, power electronic-
based switching devices or increasing the cable size of the distri-
bution network is one of the mitigation techniques [33]. Super
capacitor is claimed to be an effective means for mitigating the
voltage fluctuation from the photovoltaic systems [34]. By incor-
porating the mitigation technique as part of the photovoltaic sys-
tems, the total cost of the photovoltaic systems can be very high.

Table 2
The values of voltage fluctuation index, short- and long-term flickers.

Index Magnitude Statutory limits

a
Voltage fluctuation index (VFI) 0.254 N/Ab
Short-term flicker (PST) Maximum PST ¼ 2.150c 1.00d
Long-term flicker (PLT) 0.834e 0.65f
a
The voltage fluctuation index is based on the voltage data of one day.
b
The statutory limit for the voltage fluctuation index is not available.
c
These are the maximum and minimum values of PST among the all values of PST.
d
The statutory limit of short-term flicker is from [17].
e
Fig. 9. Variation in voltage magnitude caused by the fluctuation in the power output of The value of the long-term flicker is based on the data of one day.
f
the 1.84 kW photovoltaic system. The statutory limit of long-term flicker is from [17].
 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70
Fig. 11. Short-term and long-term flicker indices on phase A with respect to various
capacity of PV.
Hence, the photovoltaic systems can be an unattractive renewable
energy source in Malaysia. In order to keep the cost of the photo-
voltaic systems as low as possible, the mitigation methods must be
cheap and yet effective enough to reduce the indices of voltage
fluctuation and flickers.
It is proposed to use dynamic load controllers to mitigate the
voltage fluctuations and flickers. Dynamic load controllers are a
form of demand side management usually used to control the level
of power consumption on the electrical grid. They can reduce the
peak demand to avoid any power interruptions on the grid or
maintain the frequency of standalone power systems due to the
limited capacity of the power generation as described in Refs. [35e
39]. Demand side management is also proved to be an effective
approach for reducing the distribution losses and hence cutting
down the electricity bills for customers [40,41]. It is also used to
solve voltage rise issues on distribution networks integrated with a
large number of distributed generation (DG) [42]. Using the load
controllers to mitigate flickers caused by the photovoltaic systems
may not be studied thoroughly.
The proposed load controller is made of a number of resistors and
solid-state relays which are cheap components. The load controller
makes use of the real power to correct the network voltage on the
distribution network because the line resistance is bigger than the
reactance. Furthermore, the amount of real power required by the
load controller is small. Therefore, only a small amount of PV power is
dissipated as heat in the resistors. This amount can be used to heat up
water for washing purposes.
Fig. 12. Short-term and long-term flicker indices on Phase B with respect to various
capacity of PV.
67
Fig. 13. Short-term and long-term flicker indices on Phase C with respect to various
capacity of PV.
The load controller is implemented in the experimental
network as shown in Fig. 3. It consists of 6 units of 200 W power
resistors with solid state relays to switch on and off the power
resistors. The resistance of each resistor is 288 U. A simple control
algorithm is developed using LabVIEW as a programming platform
in a computer. Fig. 14 shows the flow chart of the control algorithm.
The control algorithm uses the voltage magnitude at the point of
the common coupling to determine whether the voltage is within
the required tolerance or not. The nominal value of the low-voltage
distribution network is 240 V. The tolerance with the upper and
lower limits of 243 and 238 V is established in the control algo-
rithm. If the network voltage is detected to be outside the toler-
ance, the control algorithm can immediately switch on or off the
resistors to reduce the voltage fluctuation or flickers. The algo-
rithm is very simple and therefore the resistors can be switched on
and off very rapidly.
The cost of a STATCOM with the use of capacitors is at least US$
5000.00 [43]. The cost of the dynamic load controller is estimated
to be Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 1000.00 or US$ 314.00 based on the
exchange rate of 0.31 USD/RM. It is shown that the cost of the dy-
namic load controller is very much lower than that of STATCOM.
An experiment is carried to investigate the effectiveness of using
the load controllers to mitigate flickers. In this experiment, a
1.84 kW PV system is connected to the laboratory network with the
15 kW generator being the supply source. The short-term flickers are
then calculated and shown in Fig. 15. It is noticed that all the short-
term flicker indices are reduced when the load controllers are used.
The maximum flicker is lower than the statutory limit. The long-
term flicker is also reduced to 0.458. This experiment shows that
the load controller is an effective means of mitigating voltage fluc-
tuation and flickers. The load controller consumes about 10% of the
total electricity generated by the 1.84 kW PV system. Therefore, the
electricity consumed by the resistors is 0.65 kWh per day. The fre-
quency of switching the load controller varies depending on the
intermittency of the PV power outputs. It is noticed that the
switching frequency can vary ranging from 100 to 150 times per day.
7. Conclusion
Photovoltaic systems are recognised as a potential renewable
energy sources in Malaysia because of the large amount of solar
irradiation available throughout the year. However, a large amount
of clouds is generated and passed over the country, hence causing
the PV systems to inject severe flickers to the distribution networks.
Therefore, a laboratory network has been set up to investigate the
severity of flicker emissions by the photovoltaic systems.
68 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70

Fig. 14. Flow chart of the control algorithm.

The PV power output and the voltage magnitude have been
measured and characterised to show the frequency and the dura-
tion of the high power output. The majority of the high PV power
outputs happen within short durations. The changes in the power
outputs happen very rapidly. These are due to the large number of
clouds passing over the PV panel. Some of the clouds are very thick,
hence reducing the solar irradiation substantially.
The collection of voltage magnitudes is used to calculate the
short and long-term flickers with respect to various PV capacities.
The experimental results show that the severity of the flickers
grows with the PV capacity. Some of the short-term flickers exceed
the statutory limits. In addition, the presence of the mutual
coupling enables any severe flickers on one phase to propagate to
the other two phases of the network. Therefore, the effects of the
flickers can be widely spread out across the distribution network.
A load controller is proposed to be the mitigation method
because its components are cheap. It consists of several resistors and
solid state relays. It can switch the resistors on and off very rapidly to
reduce severity of flickers caused by the photovoltaic system. The
load controller is an effective approach on the distribution network
because the line resistance is larger than the reactance. Furthermore,
the amount of real power required by the load controller is small.
Therefore, only a small amount of PV power is dissipated as heat.
Appendix A. Specifications of the laboratory distribution
network

Tables A1eA3 show the technical specifications of the photo-

voltaic modules, the inverter and the generator.
Table A1
Technical specifications of photovoltaic modules.

PV module Specifications

Type of solar cells Polycrystalline

Module efficiency 14.1%
Maximum power (Pmax) 230 W with tolerance of þ10% and 5%
Short circuit current (ISC) 8.42 A
Open circuit voltage (VOC) 37.0 V
Maximum power current ðIPmax Þ 7.83 A
Maximum power voltage ðVPmax Þ 29.4 V
Max. system open circuit voltage 1000 V
Physical dimension 1658*986*50 mm
Physical weight 23 kg
Compliance with standards IEC61215, IEC61730, IEC61730-2
Fig. 15. Values of short-term flickers produced by the 1.84 kW photovoltaic system on
and CE mark
the laboratory network.
 Y.S. Lim, J.H. Tang / Renewable Energy 64 (2014) 61e70 69

Table A2 DV ¼ Z  DI (B1)
Technical specifications of photovoltaic inverter.

Photovoltaic inverter Specifications where Z is the impedance of the transmission line where the PV
Type Single-phase grid-connected solar inverter
system is connected to. The change in PV power output (DP) is
DC input related to DI by the following equation.
Max. input voltage 500 V
MPPT voltage range 150e450 V DP ¼ ðV þ DVÞ  DI (B2)
Max. input current 2*12 A
AC output DI is related to DV by the following equation.
Nominal power 3000 W
Nominal voltage 230 V DV
Voltage range 184e264 V DI ¼ (B3)
Z
Max. output current 14 A
Nominal frequency 50/60 Hz Substituting Eq. (B2) into Eq. (B3) gives the following.
Frequency range 49e51 Hz
Temperature range 20 to 50 DV
DP ¼ ðV þ DVÞ  (B4)
Z
V is the nominal voltage and is much greater than DV. Therefore,
Table A3  
V
Some of the technical specifications of the generator DPz  DV (B5)
Z
15 kW generator Specifications
The change of the voltage magnitude depends on two factors
Type Three phase synchronous generator
Voltage (V) 415 based on Eq. (B5). It depends on the change of the PV power output
Rating power (kVA) 17 and the impedance (Z) of the cable where the PV system is con-
Efficiency (%) at 0.8 PF 85.4 nected to. If the impedance of the cable (Z) is high, then the change
Phase resistance 0.94
of the voltage magnitude is reduced.
(ohms) at 20  C
Voltage regulation accuracy 1% in steady state condition
Compliance with Standards IEC 60034-1; CEI 2-3, BS 4999-5000;
VDE 0530; NF 51-100, 111; OVE M-10, References
NEMA MG 1.22
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