2016 IEEE Students' Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science
Impact of Grid Disturbances on the Output of Grid
Connected Solar Photovoltaic System
Om Prakash Mahela, Student Member IEEE
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India
Email: opmahela@gmail.com
Abstract— The installed power capacity of grid-connected
photovoltaic (PV) systems has increased exponentially around the
world. The size of each unit is also increasing as they are
becoming more affordable. The grid is a highly non-linear
system. Hence, the grid disturbances affect the output of the solar
PV systems. This paper presents a study of the effects of grid
disturbances such as switching of loads, feeder tripping, outage,
and synchronization of conventional generators on the output
parameters of the grid-connected solar PV system. The voltage,
current and power of solar PV at the point of common coupling
have been analyzed. Further, the variations of dc output voltage
of the solar modules have also been investigated. The results are
validated using a 100 kW solar PV system integrated with a test
system in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The presence of
disturbances is validated using the discrete wavelet transform
(DWT).
Index Terms— Feeder tripping, grid disturbance, load
switching, photovoltaic system, solar energy, synchronization.
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy sources are a promising alternative that
could help in reducing the green house gases emissions from
electricity generation. These energy sources are expected to
take a leading role in the future transition from a centralized to
distributed generation scheme [1]. Due to its wide application
areas, easy construction and low maintenance, the
photovoltaic (PV) solar energy is the most promising green
energy and grid-connected photovoltaic systems (GCPVs)
have shown the most growth in the world [2]. PV power
generation directly converts the solar energy into electricity.
PV technology will have good stand in the near future as the
prices of PV modules are slowly dropping and these are
becoming economical. The output efficiency of these modules
has also increased in recent years about 20% to 30% [3]. The
GCPVs cumulative installed capacity in the world by the end
of 2013 was almost 139 GW [4].
The conventional power system networks are designed to
supply electric power from high or medium voltage networks
to consumers through low voltage feeders. With integration of
solar PV systems, the expected network behaviour may
change such as change in voltage profile with high PV
penetration with high voltage near the load against the voltage
drop from the source to the load in traditional network, power
flow from load to the source against the power flow from the
978-1-4673-7918-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
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Sheesh Ram Ola
Dean, Research and Development
Apex Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur
Email: sheeshola@gmail.com
source to load in traditional network [5]. Integration of solar
PV systems to the utility grid offers technical challenges such
as voltage fluctuations, harmonics, reactive power, low power
factor, load management, and stability problems [6]. These
problems are further enhanced and output of GCPVs are
affected in the conditions of disturbances in the grid due
system operations such as load switching, power system
faults, outage and synchronization of conventional generators.
Significant research work has been reported in the field of
performance of grid connected GCPVs. Kumar et al. [7],
presented a performance study on a grid connected 20 kW
solar PV system installed in an industry. Results of the steady-
state performance of a grid-connected rooftop hybrid wind-
photovoltaic system with battery storage during two years of
operation has been presented by the authors in [8].
Performance study of a positive sequence detector plus dq
PLL synchronization algorithm for a 3-phase GCPV system
under harmonic distortions and unbalances has been reported
in [9]. In [10], authors presented detailed modelling and
control of a grid connected solar PV system. Edalati et al.
[11], presented a comparative investigation of mono and poly-
crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules for use in grid-
connected photovoltaic systems in dry climates. The design
and performance of a real 11.04 kW GCPV system established
in an industrial sector which experiences the same fluctuations
in solar irradiation and ambient temperature has been
investigated by the authors. A framework for the reliability
evaluation of grid-connected photovoltaic system with
intermittent faults in the network is proposed using dynamic
Bayesian networks (DBN) by the authors in [12]. A three-state
Markov model is constructed to represent the state transition
relationship of no faults, intermittent faults, and permanent
faults. This model is further fused to DBNs. Mahela et al.
[13], presented a discrete wavelet transform based technique
for the detection and localization of the power quality
disturbances associated with outage and grid synchronization
of the solar PV system in distribution networks. Power quality
assessment in 3-phase grid connected solar PV system with
single and dual stage power extraction circuits has been
reported in [14].
This work presents the impact of grid disturbances such as
switching of resistive and inductive loads, tripping of feeders
feeding the consumers, outage of generator and
synchronization of generator with the utility grid on the
system parameters such as voltage and current at PCC as well
as output of the solar PV modules. The study has been carried array as reported in [13] have been used in this study. The
out in MATLAB/Simulink environment using a solar PV converter of solar PV plant has dc-dc boost converter which
system integrated with typical electrical power network. increases dc output voltage of PV module from 273.5 V to 500
Further, the presence of disturbances is detected using the V. The dc-ac inverter converts 500 V dc to 260 V three-phase
discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The sum of absolute ac supply. The transformer XPV steps up the 260 V three-
values of detail coefficients is used for the same. phase ac power to the 1.2 kV three-phase ac supply. The test
This paper is organized into six sections. The section II grid is operated at voltage with rms value of 1.2 kV. The loads
describes the test system used for the study. Discrete wavelet L1, L2 and L4 are initially connected in the network while the
transform and proposed algorithm are presented in Sections III load L3 is initially open circuited. The loading status of the
and IV respectively. Section V includes simulation results and test network is shown in Table I. The technical data of
their discussion. Finally, the conclusions are drawn in Section transformers are provided in Table II.
VI.
TABLE I. LOADING STATUS
II. TEST SYSTEM
Load MW Rating MVAR Rating
Single line diagram of the test system used for proposed L1 30 2
study is shown in Fig. 1. The conventional generators G1 and L2 2 0
G2 are connected to the network through the transformer L3 30 2
L4 2 0
(XFM). The generator G1 is initially connected to the system
while generator G2 is open. Three transmission lines TRL1,
TABLE II. TRANSFORMER DATA
TRL2 and TRL3 are connected in network as shown in the test
system. The positive and zero sequence impedances of Transformer MVA kV- kV- HV winding LV winding
High Low
transmission lines are (0.1153+j0.3958) ᅅ/km and R(ᅅ) X(ᅅ) R(ᅅ) X(ᅅ)
(0.4130+j1.2516) ᅅ/km respectively. The length of each
transmission line TRL1 and TRL2 is 14 kms. XFM 50 1.2 0.50 0.3807 2.7688 0.0510 0.0042
XPV 5 1.2 0.260 0.3807 2.7688 0.0510 0.0042

III. DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORM

The wavelet transform is a mathematical tool that
decomposes a signal into different scales with different levels
of resolution by dilating signal prototype function. It provides
local representation of a signal in both time and frequency.
Therefore, it is suitable for analyzing a signal where time-
frequency resolution is needed such as disturbance transition
events in power quality [15], [16]. The continuous wavelet
transform (CWT) of a signal x(t) is defined as

where

where is the base function or the mother wavelet.

Asterisk denotes the complex conjugate and a, b are the
dilation and translation parameters respectively. The
discretized mother wavelet is given by the relation

where a0 and b0 are the fixed constants; m, n are positive

Fig. 1. Single line diagram of the test system. integers. The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is given by
The solar PV system is connected to the test grid through
the transmission line TRL3 having a length of 2.5 kms and
transformer (XPV). The point of integration of solar PV
The selection of ao=2 and bo=1 gives an algorithm, which
system with the network is known as point of common
is known as the multi-resolution signal decomposition
coupling (PCC). The bus B5 is considered as PCC. The solar
technique, to decompose a signal into scales with different
PV system consists of 66 parallel strings and each string has 5
time and frequency resolution.
modules connected in series. The technical data of solar PV

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 IV. PROPOSED ALGORITHM
The test system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink
environment. Three-phase voltage, current and power injected
by the solar PV system into the grid are captured at the PCC.
The output dc voltage of the solar PV is also captured to see
behaviour of the solar PV during disturbances. The voltage
and current of phase-A at PCC and power injected by the solar
PV system into the grid are plotted for each of the cases under
study. The voltage signal is passed through the DWT and
decomposed using db4 as mother wavelet up to level 4 with
sampling frequency of 3.2 kHz. The sum of absolute values of
the detail coefficient is obtained using moving window of
width of 32 samples. The result so obtained clearly detects the
presence of disturbances in the signal.
V. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The impact of disturbances in the grid due to the system
operations such as switching of loads, generators and feeders
have been investigated using the test system. Frequency of 60 Fig. 2. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
Hz has been used for the ac supply. The bus B5 has been supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during
selected as the test point where voltage and current signals switching off the resistive load.
have been captured to carry out the proposed study. The data
has been captured after 60 cycles from the start of simulation
to avoid any disturbance due to start of simulation. Hence, the
time scale is represented from 1 to 2 seconds in the graphs.
A. Switching off the Resistive Load
The resistive load L2 has been switched off at 20 cycles.
The voltage of phase-A at PCC, current injected into the grid
at PCC, power supplied by the solar PV into the grid and Fig. 3. Detail coefficient for switching off the resistive load.
output dc voltage of solar PV module during switching off the
resistive load are shown in Fig. 2. The voltage at PCC the network change through small values for a period of 10
increases and current supplied by the GCPV into the network cycles. The power supplied by the solar PV into the network
decreases. The power supplied by the solar PV to the network increases slightly with small oscillations. The dc output
also increases. The dc output voltage of solar PV module voltage of solar PV module changes slightly for a period of 10
decreases from 280 V to 275 V. Small oscillations have been cycles.
observed in the dc output voltage of the solar PV module in
the Fig. 2 (d) as well as power oscillations in the power
injected by the solar PV into the grid for a period of 30 cycles.
Peak in the power curve of Fig. 2 (c) has also been observed at
the instant of switching off the load, this may be used to detect
the initiation of the event of switching off the load.
The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4
of voltage of phase-A during the event of switching off the
resistive load is plotted in Fig. 3. The initiation of the event is
detected by the sharp peak available in the plot and the
disturbances are detected by the continuous variations in the
values.
B. Switching off Inductive-Resistive Load
The inductive-resistive load L1 connected on the bus B2 has
been switched off at 20 cycles. The voltage of phase-A at
PCC, current injected into the grid at PCC, power supplied by Fig. 4. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
the solar PV into the grid and output dc voltage of solar PV supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during
switching off the inductive-resistive load.
module during switching off the inductive and resistive load
are shown in Figs. 4 (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively. The The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4 of
system voltage at PCC and current supplied by the GCPV into voltage of phase-A during the event of switching off the

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inductive-resistive load is plotted in Fig. 5. The event is
detected by the slight depression in the values as shown in the
plot. Significant disturbances have not been detected during
this event.

Fig. 7. Detail coefficient for feeder tripping.

D. Switching on the Inductive-Resistive Load

Fig. 5. Detail coefficient for switching off the inductive resistive load.
C. Feeder Tripping
The transmission line feeder TRL2 supplying the resistive
load L4 has been tripped at 20 cycles. The voltage of phase-A
at PCC, current injected into the grid at PCC, power supplied
by the solar PV into the grid and output dc voltage of solar PV
modules during tripping of feeder supplying resistive load are
shown in Figs. 6 (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively. The
behaviour of system parameters during tripping of feeder
supplying resistive load is similar to that during the switching
off the resistive load. The system voltage increases and current
supplied by the GCPV into the network decreases. The power
supplied by the solar PV into the network increases. The dc
output voltage of solar PV module decreases from 280 V to
270 V. Small oscillations have been observed in dc output
voltage of the solar PV modules as well as power oscillations
in the power injected by the solar PV into the grid for a period
of 25 cycles.
The inductive-resistive load L3 has been switched on at 20
cycles and connected on the bus B3. The voltage of phase-A at
PCC, current injected into the grid at PCC, power supplied by
the solar PV into the grid and output dc voltage of solar PV
modules during the switching of the inductive-resistive load
are shown in Figs. 8 (a), (b), (c), and (d) respectively. The
system voltage at PCC and current supplied by the GCPV into
the network drop to very low values and harmonic
disturbances has been observed in both the voltage and current
signals. The power supplied by the solar PV into the network
drops drastically to a value of 15 kW only. The continuous
spikes have been observed in the dc output voltage of solar PV
modules. This shows that the solar PV system becomes
unstable during such events in the grid.

Fig. 8. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during
switching on the inductive-resistive load.

The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4

of voltage of phase-A during the event of switching on the
inductive-resistive load is plotted in Fig. 9. The continuous
disturbances are detected by the continuous variations in the
values after the event.
Fig. 6. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during feeder
tripping.

The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4

of voltage of phase-A during the event of feeder tripping is
plotted in Fig. 7. The disturbances are detected by the
continuous variations in the values after the event. Fig. 9. Detail coefficient for switching on the inductive resistive load.

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E. Outage of Conventional Generator
The outage of conventional generator G1 is simulated at 20
cycles. The voltage of phase-A at PCC, current injected into
the grid at PCC, power supplied by the solar PV into the grid
and output dc voltage of solar PV modules during outage of
conventional generator G1 are shown in Figs. 10 (a), (b), (c)
and (d) respectively. The system voltage and current drop at
the time of outage of generator and large oscillations have
been observed in the current. Maximum disturbances have
been observed in both the voltage and current. The power
supplied by the solar PV to the network drops drastically to
nearly zero values. The continuous spikes with variable
magnitude and dips have been observed in the dc output
voltage of solar PV modules. This shows that the solar PV
system become unstable as capacity of the solar PV system is
very small as compared to the load connected in the network.
High peaks observed in the current signal may also damage
the costly equipment installed in the network.
Fig. 10. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during outage
of conventional generator.
The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4
of voltage of phase-A during the event of outage of
conventional generator is plotted in Fig. 11. The continuous
disturbances are detected by the continuous variations in the
values after the event. The magnitude of variation is less than
that during the event of switching on the inductive-resistive
load.
Fig. 11. Detail coefficient for outage of conventional generator.
F. Synchronization of Conventional Generator
The synchronization of conventional generator G2 on the
bus B1 has been simulated at 20 cycles. The voltage of phase-
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A at PCC, current injected into the grid at PCC, power
supplied by the solar PV into the grid and output dc voltage of
solar PV modules during synchronization of conventional
generator G2 are shown in Fig. 12 (a), (b), (c) and (d)
respectively. The significant changes are not observed in the
voltage and current signals. The power supplied by the solar
PV into the network slightly increases. The dc output voltage
of solar PV module has constant value and is not affected by
the synchronization of generator. The grid connected solar PV
system remains stable during the event of synchronization of
conventional generator with the grid.
Fig. 12. (a) Voltage at PCC (b) current injected into the grid at PCC (c) power
supplied to the grid and (d) output dc voltage of solar PV panel during
synchronization of conventional generator.
The sum of absolute values of detail coefficient at level 4
of voltage of phase-A during the event of synchronization of
conventional generator is plotted in Fig. 13. No significant
disturbances are detected during this event.
Fig. 13. Detail coefficient for synchronization of conventional generator.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
A study of impacts of disturbances in the grid due the
power system operations such as switching of loads, tripping
of feeders, outage and synchronization of generators on the
output of grid connected solar PV system is presented in this
paper. The study is carried out in MATLAB/Simulink
environment using a test system with conventional generators,
loads, transmission lines, transformers and solar PV system
integrated through converters. The study showed that
oscillations have been observed in the voltage, current and dc
output voltage of the solar modules during the conditions of
switching on the inductive loads and outage of conventional
generators. The spikes have also been observed in the dc
voltage of solar PV modules and GCPV system becomes
unstable in these events. Synchronization of conventional
generator with the utility grid do not affect the voltage, current
and output dc voltage of the PV modules significantly and
GCPV system remains stable. Switching off of resistive-
inductive load slightly affects the voltage current and power
output of the solar PV system. Low magnitude variations are
observed at the time of switching off the load. Voltage and
power output of solar PV increase while current decreases
with switching off of the resistive loads and tripping of feeder
supplying the resistive loads. Transient have also been
observed with the output dc voltage and output power of solar
PV system. The presence of disturbances in the events under
study are validated with the help of discrete wavelet
transform.
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