2014 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CleED 2014) Shenzhen, 23-26 Sep.

2014

Simulation Research on Photovoltaic Grid-connected System

Xia<1y'an ZHANG Haileng II

NARI Technology Development Co., Ltd ,-China State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Company.-China
zharogi(jaoyan@sgepli.SQcc.com.cn hplru64@I63.com
Jingtao ZHAO Tao JIN
NARI Technology Development Co.,ltd,-China State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Company.-China
zhaojingtao@sgepri.sgcc.com.cn lang8Ohua@126.com
Yangdong ZHAO
NARI Technology DeYelopment Co, Ltd .•-China
zhaoyangdong@sgepri.sgcC.com.ffi

ABSTRACT 1010 as an order of magnitude. According to the engineering

With the rapid development of new energy resources, more mathematics model of PV cells, a simulation model is built in
and more renewable energy i s fed into the grid through MATLAS. And the simulation results of characteristic curves of
grid-connected inverter. A simulation model of PV grid­ PV cells are shown in Figure 2.
"r-�-------'
connected system is built in MATLAB/Simulink, and the output
characteristics of the PV cells are analyzed. The P&O method
(Perturbation and Observation) is used to achieve MPPT ..
(Maximum Power Point Tracking). A double-closed-loop

! I----�
control strategy including a voltage outer loop and a current
"
inner loop in grid-connected operation and a V/f control
strategy in the island operation are proposed. The simulation
results show that the system can achieve MPPT of PV cells,
u ' \
" \"--<"
which can also realize stable operation. The control strategies
proposed in this paper have some reference significance to •• �--.---." o---"
, , --->c
Vohagc
the actual PV system design. (V)
Keywords: PV, MPPT, P&O method, Double-closed-loop. VIf (a) I-V characterisbc curve

,. ,------,
1 introduction
With the rapid development of society, the energy crisis and
environment pollution have become serious problems to be ,.

solved. And the use of renewable energy has become a hot �

research in various fields in recent years. Solar energy is ,
,
an ideal energy for human with the advantages of universal •
"
•

existence, unlimited reserves and cleanliness[1-2). Utilizing

the solar energy to generate electricity is an important
"
decision-making of sustainable development energy strategy. " .. " 3
The PV system including PV cells. a BOOST circuit and a DC­ Volt�g.(V)
AC inverter is introduced in this paper. The simulation model (b) P-V characteristic curves
is built in MATLAS/Simulink. The MPPT algorithm for PV Figure 2 Characteristic curves of PV cells in a certain temperature and light
system. the grid-connected operation strategy and the island condition

operation strategy are simulated, and the simulation results

are analyzed.
2 System Architecture
2.1 Pycells model
PV cells are the core of PV system. which can convert solar
energy into electricity by photovoltaic effect. The equivalence
principle diagram of PV cells [3-4J is shown in Figure 1.
The simulation results show a reasonable agreement with the
theoretical characteristic curves. which proves the simulation
model is correct. As shown in Figure 2 (a), any point on the
curve can be taken as a working point, with the working
voltage on the horizontal axis and the corresponding working
current on the vertical one. And the product of the working
voltage and the corresponding working current is the power

R.
shown in Figure 2 (b). Figure 2 (b) shows that there is a
maximum output power of PV cells in a certain temperature
and light condition. So using a control strategy to select the
appropriate working point can make the PV cells work at the
=<; maximum power point.

2.2 System architecture

Figure 1 Equivalent arculI 01 PV cells
In Figure 1, lph is the photo-generated current. Id is the
diode junction current. Cj is the junction capacitance. R,
is the series resistance with a low resistance less than 1 0
R,/o is the parallel resistance with a high resistance. taking
The output power of PV system is influenced by the weather.
which has obvious intermittency. Similar to wind power
generation, executing MPPT is suitable for this type of
distributed power. so that the maximum output power is fed
into the grid, to maximize the utilization of the energy. The
Boost converter is used to achieve the MPPT in this paper.
The structure diagram of PV system is shown in Figure 3.
The reference voltage and reference frequency of the inverter

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 2014 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CleED 2014) Shenzhen, 23-26 Sep. 2014

output is provided by the grid. In grid failures. the reference 9

voltage and reference frequency is provided by the inverter
controller itself. Each module of the system is described in
details in the following

PV Cells BooOlt DCfAC

Array onverter I---" Invtrter

FIgUre 3 StructlJre diagram of PV system

3 MPPT Module Figure 5 Simulation model of MPPT using Boost circuit

Set the parameters of PV cells as following: V"" = 22V

The output power of PV system is influenced by temperature.
light condition and and the series resistance, which decide
,
,f,o = 8.58A • V'" = 17.7V ,f,. = 7.94A ,T.", 25 C • S'<f = lkW/m
o
the working point of the system. As a result. a MPPT =

module must be added so that the PV cells can output the

. The simulation results in the standard reference temperature
maximum power in various conditions. There are several
and light conditions, are shown in 6.
MPPT methods commonly used, including Constant Voltage
method. Perturbation and Observation method. Conductance
Increment method and the Optimal Gradient method etc.15-
6! The P&O method is used to achieve MPPT in this paper.
The principle of P&O method is as following: firstly. applying
a perturbation in the output voltage of PV cells, and then
calculating the output power of PV cells before and after
applying the perturbation by the power calculation equation:
P=VxI. If the output power increases. the disturbance is
continued to be applied in the same direction; if the output
power decreases, a disturbance is applied in the opposite
direction until the output power reaches the maximum value.
A DC-OC converter can be used to make the PV cells work at
the maximum power point. So the Boost converter is used to
achieve MPPT. Its circuit topology structure is shown in Figure
4.

L D

v.

Figure 4 Clrcurt topology structure of Boost converter

According to the principle of Boost circuit
V",
V- = (1 )
I-D

loot =I�(}-D (2)

The equivalent input impedance is:

R; = v.. = VOU9Cl_D 1 =R l-D 2 (3)

n lin 10"'
From Eq.3, it can be seen that the equivalent input impedance
of the Boost circuit can be adjusted by adjusting the duty cycle
D. MPPT can be achieved by adjusting Rin to match with the
output impedance of PV cells.
The simulation model of MPPT using Boost circuit in MATlAB
is shown in Figure 5.

Tim. (,)

(c) Output yoltage of PV cells

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 2014 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CleED 2014)
Tim. (,)
(d) Output voltage of Boost circuit
Figure 6 Simulation results of MPPT using Boost circuit
The Figure 6(a) shows that the output power of PV cells
can reach 140W which is the maximum power point in Ihis
environment condition after 0.03s. It proves that the simulation
model can achieve MPPT. The Figure 6(e) and Figure 6{d)
show that the output voltage in Boost load-side multiply the
PV cells output voltage by 2.7. As a result, Boost circuit can
achieve MPPT, at the same time it can amplify the output
voltage of PV cells as the DC voltage of the OCfAC inverter.
4 Model of Three-phase PV Grid-connected
System
4,1 Main circuit of three.phase PYgrjd-connected system
PV Grid-connected System convert the direct currency (DC)
produced by the PV cells using the solar energy to alternating
current (AC) which has the same frequency and phase with
the grid. The PV system can supply power to load. and can
also supply electricity to the grid. When the power produced
by the PV system is greater than the power of load, the
excess power can be fed into the grid. Otherwise. PV system
only supplies power for the load. and the remaining power is
supplied by the grid. Voltage source inverter is used in the PV
system in this paper. The main circuit of three-phase PV grid­
connected system is shown in Figure 7.
-
Figure 7 Main circuit of threeilhase PV grid-connected system
Inverter is the core of the three-phase PV system. and the
controller realize to make the current of inverter track the
voltage frequency and phase of the grid. As a result, the
control strategy is the key research content of PV system. The
output power of distributed generation. such as wind power
generation and PV system. has obvious intermittency as a
result of the changes of the weather. A double-closed-loop
control strategy including a voltage outer loop and a current
inner loop in grid-connected operation is used in this paper.
In this case. the reference voltage and reference frequency of
the inverter output is provided by the grid. In grid failures. a VI
f control strategy is used. In this case. the reference voltage
and reference frequency of the inverter output is provided
by the inverter controller itself. These two kinds of control
strategies are introduced respectively as following.
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Shenzhen, 23-26 Sep. 2014
4.2pouble-closed-Ioop control strategy
4.2.1 Principle of double-closed-loop control strategy
A two-stage PV system is adopted in this paper. in which the
DC-DC converter realizes MPPT. and the DC-AC inverter
realizes grid-connection. As described in chapter 3. calculate
the output power by sampling the output voltage and current of
the PV cells, and then find the working point at the maximum
power through the P&O method, and make the system work
at MPP by adjusting the duty cycle D of the switches. The PV
cells deliver the energy to DC bus capaCitor by the DC-DC
converter to provide the required DC voltage of the DC-AC
inverter. A stable DC bus voltage is needed in order to ensure
reliable operation of the inverter. Therefore. a DC voltage
outer loop is used to realize the stability of DC voltage. which
can provide a reference current for the current inner loop. The
'+
structure diagram of controller is shown in Figure 8 .
� -
PI Ire
X
+
I_I SI D wt
eluent
f--"-IX>-"ReglJh.tor
V,
.r
s.m ciJt
1_
Figure 8 Structure diagram of controller
4.2.2 Simulation Model and Simulation Results
Set the parameters of PV cells as following: Voc = J70V
. I,,=21.3xIOA , V.. =3S0V , I",=20xlOA . T'<f=2S�C .
S", = lkW/m
2
. The simulation is carried out in the standard
reference temperature and light conditions. When the double­
closed-loop control strategy including a voltage outer loop and
a current inner loop in grid-connected operation is used. the
simulation results are shown in
,
Figure 9 Simulation results of grid-connection system
The simulation results in Figure 9 show that the double­
closed-loop control strategy can realize effective control of
grid-connected PV system. The simulation result of reactive
power shows that the reactive power can be maintained
at about 0, so the double-closed-loop control strategy can
effectively guarantee the inverter output current and the grid
voltage frequency synchronism.
4.3YIfControl Strategy
4.3.1 Principle of VIf Control Strategy
In grid failures. the PV system disconnects with the grid. and
runs in the island operation state. At this time. a character
is needed to provide the reference voltage and frequency in
order to keep the output voltage and frequency in the rating. In
an actual PV system in the island operation state, the energy
storage device is needed to provide the reference voltage
and frequency to ensure power supply for the critical loads
Paper No. CP0251 3/4 Page 1303
 2014 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CleED 2014) Shenzhen, 23-26 Sep. 2014

continuous and reliable. In the simulation model in this paper. Voltage Engineering. 2009, 35(8):2048-2052.
a reference voltage and frequency is set in the controller to
simulate the energy storage in the actual system. Xiaoling Yuan, Fajing Fan, Sumei Zhou. Simulation Research
4.3.2 Simulation Model and Simulation Results on 5 kW Photovoltaic Grid-connection System[J). Electronic
The parameters of PV cells are set the same as those in the Design Engineering. 2011. 19(22):140-143.
chapter 4.2.2. The simulation is carried oul in the standard
reference temperature and light conditions. When the V/f
control strategy in the island operation is used, the simulation
results are shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10 Simulation results in the island operation

The simulation results in Figure 10 show that the voltage
amplitude and frequency can effectively track the given
reference voltage and frequency. and the PV system is of
stable operation in island operation state.

5 Conclusions
As to the PV system, a simulation model of PV system is built
in MATLAB in this paper. The P&O method is used to achieve
MPPT, and a double-closed-loop control strategy including a
voltage outer loop and a current inner loop in grid-connected
operation and a V/f control strategy in the island operation
are proposed. The simulation results show that the control
strategies proposed in this paper can well achieve MPPT and
realize the stable operation of PV system, which also have
some reference significance to the actual PV system design.

Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the state grid science and
technology program "The key technology research and
demonstration of grid-connection and dispatching operation
for distributed renewable energy power generation system".

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