Control for Grid-Connected and Stand-Alone
Operations of Three-Phase Grid-Connected Inverter
Thanh-Vu Tran*, Tae-Won Chun*, Hong-Hee Lee*, Heung-Geun Kim**, Eui-Cheol Nho***
*Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan, KOREA
**Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, KOREA
***Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, KOREA
Abstract—This paper describes a simple grid current control
method for the grid-connected operation, and inverter voltage
control method based on the phase locked loop (PLL) for the
intentional islanding operation at the three-phase grid-connected
inverter. The PLL controller based on the pq theory with a
simple P-controller is used to synchronize the phase of inverter
output voltage with a grid voltage at the grid-connected
operation or generate a desired inverter output voltage at the
islanding operation. The outputs of current controller are
connected together to those of voltage controller, in order to
prevent a sudden change of the outputs of both controllers
during the transfer instant. The simulation and experimental
results are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
control strategies.
Keywords-Distributed generation (DG), grid-connected
operation, islanding operation, phase locked loop (PLL), three-
phase inverter.
I. INTRODUCTION
The need for reduction of the generation of electricity
using fossil fuels and the increasing demand of energy have
prompted a interest in the use of renewal energy such as solar
energy, wind energy, and hydrogen energy, which presents an
opportunity for distributed generation (DG) systems [1].
Compared with large centralized power plants, the DG system
provides improved power quality and more reliable power for
industries that require uninterrupted service. Developments of
power converters along with its sophisticated high-
performance controllers make it possible to integrate different
types of renewable energy sources to the grid.
The PWM inverters have been usually used for interfacing
the renewable energy source to the utility grid. It should
operate in grid-connected operation mode and islanding
operation mode. During the grid-connected operation, the
grid-connected inverter in the DG system is usually operated
to inject preset real- and reactive-powers to the main grid,
which is the current control mode in synchronization with the
grid voltage. Some strategies of predictive current controllers,
which are robust to component parameter variations,
computation delay time are introduced in a grid-connected
inverter with LCL filter [2]-[5]. A current feedback method
for a proportional-resonant (PR) controller is proposed for
minimum current harmonic distortion as well as stability [6].
A PI state space current controller is addressed based on pole
placement approach with respect to rise time, overshoot, and
resonance damping [7]. When the main grid is disconnected
by faults such as voltage sags/swell, outage (intentional
islanding operation), the inverter changes its controller from
current control mode to voltage control mode to supply a
desired voltage to the sensitive load. When the grid
disconnection cause disappears, the DG system is switched to
the grid-connected operation.
This paper describes a grid current control method for the
grid-connected operation, and inverter voltage control method
based on the phase locked loop (PLL) for the intentional
islanding operation at the three-phase grid-connected inverter.
At the mode transfer between the current controller and
voltage controller, the outputs of both controllers may be not
equal, which will cause the rush current or voltage spike
during the transfer process. For the smooth transition between
both modes, the outputs of current controller are connected
together to those of voltage controller. The simulation and
experimental results are carried out to verify the effectiveness
of the proposed control strategies.
II. CONTROL STRATEGY OF THREE-PHASE GRID-
CONNECTED INVERTER
A. System Structure
Fig. 1 shows the configuration of three-phase grid-
connected inverter system, which consists of a power circuit
and control system. The power circuit contains the PV array or
fuel cell represented by the dc source, three-phase PWM
inverter, LCL filter with a damping resistor, three-phase critical
load connected to output of LCL filter, and static transfer
switch (STS) for grid-on or grid-off control. The control
system consists of the grid current controller for grid-connected
operation, the voltage controller for islanding operation, and
PLL controller. The outputs of current controller are connected
together to those of voltage controller, in order to prevent a
sudden change of the outputs of both controllers during the
transfer instant. A PLL controller is used to synchronize the
phase of inverter output voltage with a grid voltage or generate
a desired inverter voltage.
B. PLL controller
Fig. 2 shows the PLL controller based on the pq theory,
which is used to synchronize the phase of inverter output
voltage with a grid voltage at the grid-connected operation or
 If the error between the grid voltage phase and inverter
voltage phase at (1) is small, the error between two voltage
phases can be approximated as

Δω = VP sin(θ g − θ ) ≈ θ g − θ . (3)

The simplified block diagram of the linearized PLL is

shown in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3, the error between two voltage
phases Δω can be derived as follows.

s
Figure 1. A control structure of three-phase grid-connected inverter. Δω = θg (4)
s + KP

When the phase of grid voltage is in a step change, the

steady-state error of Δω is given by

s 1
ess = lim Δω = s × × =0. (5)
s →0 s + KP s

It can be seen that the P-controller used at PLL has not any
steady-state phase error.

C. Grid-connected operation mode

Figure 2. Structure of PLL controller.
Fig. 4 shows the grid current control loop at a grid-
connected operating mode. When the main grid is in normal
situation, a STS is closed, and the three-phase inverter with
LCL filter is connected to the main grid through the STS.
When the desired active and reactive powers are defined as P*
and Q*, respectively, the reference d-q grid currents can be
calculated as follows.

Figure 3. Small signal block diagram of PLL. (2 / 3) ⋅ ( P*Vgd − Q*Vgq )

generate a desired inverter output voltage at the islanding
operation [8][9]. Two feedback signals labeled as fα and fβ are
obtained by the cosine and sine of the PLL output angle θ. By
the sum of products of the feedback signals and α-β input
voltages, which are two-axis voltages in the stationary
reference frame, a variation of angular frequency Δω
corresponding to a phase detector (PD) can be calculated as
follows.
Δω = Vα ⋅ f β + Vβ ⋅ fα = VP sin(θ g − θ )
Where Vp, θg are a peak and phase angle of input voltage,
respectively. Through the P-controller and the feedforward of
base angular frequency ωb=2π¯60Hz (or 50Hz) and integrator,
the PLL output angle θ can be obtained from
∫
θ = ( K P Δω + ωb )dt .
i *gd = 2 2
(6)
Vgd + Vgq
(2 / 3) ⋅ ( P *V gq + Q *V gd )
i *gq = (7)
2
V gd 2
+ V gq
The PI controller is used to regulate the d-q grid currents.
The outputs of PI controller Δ Vgd and Δ Vgq, which denote a
variation of the inverter voltage, are added to d-q grid voltages
in order to obtain a good dynamic response with the
(1) feedforward of grid voltage. As the outputs of voltage
controller Vdmv, Vqmv at the instant of transfer from the voltage
control mode to the current control mode are kept constant
during a grid-connected operation and the outputs of both
controllers are connected together, the grid current can be
controlled by the outputs of current controller Vdmc, Vqmc
around the fixed Vdmv, Vqmv. The three-phase reference voltages
for generating PWM pulses can be calculated by adding a
fixed output voltage of voltage controller to an adjustable
(2) output voltage of current controller.
In order to synchronize the PLL output angle θ with the
grid voltage angle θg, the α and β components of input voltage
 TABLE I. CIRCUIT RATING AND PARAMETERS USED IN SIMULATION
AND EXPERIMENT.

Rated power 5 kW
Grid voltage (Line-to-Line) 110 V / 60 Hz
Switching frequency 8 KHz
Lf1 1.3 mH
Lf2 0.24 mH
Cf 10 uF
Rd 1.5 Ω

Figure 4. Block diagram of grid current control loop.

Figure 6. Simulation result for grid current control at grid-connected

Figure 5. Block diagram of voltage control loop. operation.

at the PLL can be transformed from the measured grid line

voltages Vgab, Vgbc, Vgcab.

D. Islanding operation mode

When the main grid voltage is in fault situations, a STS is
tripped, the PWM inverter is operated in the voltage control
mode for regulating the voltage across a sensitive load with
110Vrms, 60Hz. Fig. 5 shows block diagram of the voltage
control loop at an islanding operation.

The reference d-q voltages are assigned as 220 6 V and

0V, respectively for controlling the magnitude of voltage
across the sensitive load to 110Vrms. The voltage magnitude
can be controlled by the outputs of PI controller Vdmv, Vqmv
with the fixed Vdmc, Vqmc, which are the outputs of current
controller at the instant of transfer from the current control
mode to the voltage control mode.
The input voltages of PLL are assigned to the same as
reference d-q voltages at the voltage control loop. From (1),
the output of PD, Δω can be calculated as

Δω = 220 6 cos θ ⋅ (− sin θ ) + 220 6 sin θ ⋅ cos θ = 0 . (8) Figure 7. Simulation result for inverter voltage control at the islanding
operation.
 (a)

Figure 8. Photograph of experimental setup.

As Δω is always equal to 0, the angle θ with 60Hz

frequency can be generated by integrating a fixed angular
frequency ωb=2π¯60Hz. Through the voltage control and PLL
operation, a PWM inverter can supply the constant voltage
with 110Vrms, 60Hz into the sensitive load.

III. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A. Simulation studies (b)

To verify the validity of the proposed control strategies for
the grid-connected operation and islanding operating, a Figure 9. Experimental results for the grid current responses : (a) D- and q-
simulation has been performed by using PSIM program. The axis grid current, (b) Grid voltage and inverter output current.
circuit rating and parameters used at simulation and experiment
is shown in Table I. Fig. 6 shows the outputs of d-q current
and voltage controllers, a-phase grid current and inverter output
current, when reference d-q grid currents are increased from
5A and -3A to 10A and -8A, respectively at gird-connected
operation. The d-q grid currents are quickly tracked to their
reference values. As increasing the grid current, the outputs of
current controller are slightly increased while the outputs of
voltage controller Vdmv, Vqmv remain constant. Fig. 7 shows the
outputs of d-q voltage and current controllers, a-phase grid
voltage and current, inverter output voltage and current at the
islanding operation. The inverter provides constant voltage
with 110Vrms, 60Hz, and supplies the current to the sensitive
load. The grid current becomes zero, because the main grid is
disconnected by STS.

B. Experimental results
Fig. 8 shows the photograph of the experimental setup
with 5kW grid-connected inverter. The control system for the
grid connected and islanding operations is implemented by 32-
bit DSP TMS320F28335. The three-phase AC switch is used
as the STS, and a grid-on/grid–off signal for AC switch is
generated by the DSP controller. Fig. 9 shows the
experimental results for responses of d-q grid currents and
inverter output current at the grid-connected operation when
the reference d-q currents are changed from 3A and -1A to 5A
and -3A, respectively. Fig. 10 shows the waveform and FFT
Figure 10. Waveform and FFT analysis of grid current.
analysis of a grid current, and the measured THD of the grid
current is 1.92%.
Fig. 11 shows the experimental results at the transfer from
the grid-connected operation to islanding operation when the
grid voltage is in fault situation. When 50% voltage sag at the
main grid is occurred, STS is tripped by a fault signal. The
grid-connected inverter changes its controller from grid
current control to inverter voltage control. It can be seen that

Figure 11. Experimental results at the transfer from grid-connected operation
to islanding operation.
Figure 12. Waveform and FFT analysis of inverter output voltage.
the inverter provides a desired voltage to sensitive load after
mode transfer, and the grid current becomes zero. Fig. 12
shows the waveform and FFT analysis of an inverter output
voltage at the islanding operation, and the measured THD of
the inverter output voltage is 1.89%.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper described a simple grid current control method
for the grid-connected operation, and output voltage control
method based on the PLL for the intentional islanding
operation at the three-phase grid-connected inverter. The PLL
controller based on the pq theory with a simple P-controller
which has no steady-state phase error, was used to synchronize
the phase of inverter output voltage with a grid voltage or
generate a desired voltage. As the outputs of current controller
are connected together to those of voltage controller, the grid-
connected inverter was able to change smoothly from the grid-
connected operation to islanding operation. The experimental
results showed that the proposed control schemes are capable
of obtaining the good grid current response and also
maintaining the inverter voltage within the desired level. The
measured THDs of grid current and output voltage of inverter
are only 1.92% and 1.89%, respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Power Generation &
Electricity Delivery of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology
Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea
government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No.
2010T100100465).
REFERENCES
[1] B. Kroposki, R. Lasseter, T. Ise, S. Morozumi, S. Papathanassiou, and N.
Hatziargyriou, “Making Microgrids Work.” IEEE Power & Energy
Mag., vol.6, no.3, pp.41-53, May/June, 2008.
[2] H. M. Kojabadi, B. Yu, I. A. Gadoura, L. Chang, and M. Ghribi, “A
Novel DSP-Based Current-Controller PWM Strategy for Single Phase
Grid Connected Inverters,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol.21, no.4,
pp.985-993, July 2006.
[3] I. J. Gabe, V. F. Montagner, and H. Pinheiro, “Design and
Implementation of a Robust Current Controller for VSI Connected to the
Grid Through an LCL Filter,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol.24,
no.6, pp.1444-1452, June 2009.
[4] J. C. Moreno, J. M. Espi. Huerta, P. G. Gil, and S. A. Geonzalez, “A
Robust Predictive Current Control for Three-Phase Grid-Connected
Inverters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron, vol.56, no.6, pp.1993-2004, June
2009.
[5] K. J. Lee, B. G. Park, R. Y. Kim, and D. S. Hyun, “Robust Predictive
Current Control Based on a Disturbance Estimation in a Three-Phase
Grid-Connected Inverter,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol.27, no.1,
pp.276-283, Jan. 2012.
[6] G. Shen, X. Zhu, M. Chen, and D. Xu, “A New Current Feedback PR
Control Strategy of Grid-Connected VSI with an LCL Filter,” in Proc.
IEEE APEC, 2009, pp.1564-1569.
[7] J. Dannehl, F. W. Fuchs, and P. B. Thogersen, “PI State Space Current
Control of Grid-Connected PWM Converters with LCL Filters,” IEEE
Trans. Power Electron., vol.25, no.9, pp.2320-2330, Sept. 2010.
[8] P. Blaabjerg, R. Teodorescu, M. Liserre and A. V. Timbus, “Overview
of Control and Grid Synchronization for Distributed Power Generation
Systems,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol.32, no.5, pp.1398-1609, Oct.
2006.
[9] L.G. B. Rolim, D. R. da Costa, and M. Aredes, “Analysis and Software
Implementation of a Robust Synchronization PLL Circuit Based on the
pq theory,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol.53, no.6, pp.1919-1926, Dec.
2006.