Solar Energy 163 (2018) 545–551

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Review

A comprehensive review of future photovoltaic systems T

Firas Obeidat
Renewable Energy Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Philadelphia University, P.O. Box 19392, Amman, Jordan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper presents a comprehensive review of photovoltaic (PV) systems with more focus on PV inverters. At
Future PV system this stage, there is no consensus that this technology will play a major role or will be the first choice for energy
PV inverters generation in the future because of many reasons, the most important of which is its lack of efficiency. Different
PV cells materials are used and other materials are expected to be used for developing PV cells, modules and power
Power electronic devices
electronic devices in order to increase their efficiency and lifetime, and to reduce their costs. Future power
Grid codes
electronic devices are expected to have reduced chip thickness, more specific converter topologies, better control
of types of materials, improved nanotechnology, and inbuilt current bi-directionality. Different aspects will be
discussed in this paper related to PV inverters including power electronic materials, topologies, grid codes,
storage systems, and others.

1. Introduction 2. The future of PV technology

In recent years the world has seen a marked growth in photovoltaic
(PV) generation (Fraunhofer ISE). PV generation is currently significant
in many regions and it is expected to continue its exponential growth
and to play a major role to meet renewable energy targets as set up by
local authorities, national governments and international agreements to
meet CO2 reductions. Inverters have a major function in PV systems
since they both optimise the power generated from solar panels via
their inbuilt controller, and efficiently transform the electrical power to
the necessary format for injecting into the grid supply. PV inverters are
divided into three types according to their power rating. The highest
power type is the centralised inverter. A PV array is made of several PV
strings with modules connected in series. These can be connected to a
centralised inverter which provides three phase power to the grid. At a
much lower power level of a few kW, inverters are known as string
inverters, since they are supplied by a single string of PV panels (or
sometimes two or more strings). The string inverter output can be three-
phase or single-phase depending upon its power level. The third in-
verter type is the micro inverter. The micro inverter is connected to a
single PV panel, and provides a single phase output power.
This paper discusses available to date PV systems, with particular
reference to inverters, and moves on to discuss the future of PV mate-
rials and PV inverters, summarising the factors that will influence fu-
ture designs such grid codes and storage systems.
There is no general consensus on the future of PV technology as
there are obstacles to its implementation. Non-technical barriers in-
clude factors like long lived fossil power plants, unfavourable pricing
rules, supply of raw materials, land availability and geographical con-
straints (Bosetti et al., 2012). In Raugei and Frankl (2009), the authors
listed four factors that must be considered to draft possible future cost
and environmental performance scenarios for PV technology. These
factors are cost reduction, increase of efficiency, integration into
buildings and energy storage technologies. Other factors (Frankl et al.,
2006a) are the maturity of each technology in terms of its degree of
industrialization and module manufacturing cost, energy pay-back
time, and additional issues related to “Balance of System” (BOS) costs.
Because of these obstacles, there is no general consensus on the
future of PV technology. Frankl et al. (2006a) drafted three long term
road maps for the future development of PV technology up to 2050.
• “Very Optimistic/Technological Breakthrough” scenario: the growth
of world PV technology will increase in a quadratic fashion to reach
almost 9000 GW by 2050. This implies that by the middle of the
2030 s several energy storage systems (e.g. Hydrogen Gas, pumped
hydroelectric, compressed air energy storage and efficient high-
speed flywheel systems) and the infrastructure required to enable
the storage of mass PV energy in these storage systems will be de-
veloped. The scenario is dominated by the expected expansion of PV
systems following development of new technologies and materials
post 2025. These technologies and materials are expected to

E-mail address: fobeidat@philadelphia.edu.jo.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.01.050
Received 9 July 2017; Received in revised form 29 October 2017; Accepted 15 January 2018
Available online 13 March 2018
0038-092X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Obeidat
constitute approximately 50% of the total PV market by 2050. To
ensure PV moves from a limited share (3% of world electricity
generation in 2025) to a major energy source provider in 2050, the
PV sector will require the realization and diffusion of new PV ma-
terials and devices, and high increases in efficiency and lifetime for
all PV technologies.
• “Optimistic” scenario: this scenario assumes that the predicted
growth in the world PV market made by the European Photovoltaic
Industry Association together with Greenpeace will be valid up to
2025 as mentioned in their latest Solar Generation Report (EPIA
2006), with the expected annual installed capacity reaching to 55
GW; crystalline Si, thin films and novel devices will likely co-exist
all the way through, each expanding especially within its own most
suitable market sector. After 2025 it is assumed that the growth rate
of the PV market will be less, eventually leading to a linear trend
whereby the cumulative installed capacity will grow steadily. In this
scenario the global installed capacity will double each decade and
reach 2400 GW by 2050.
• “Pessimistic” scenario: this scenario assumes that at best PV will
provide approximately 13% (Fraunhofer ISE, 2015a) of total world
electricity by 2050 (the estimated total energy in 2050 is
35,000 TWh per annum). In this scenario, novel technologies are
postponed to a much later time, and by 2050 only a small percen-
tage of novel technologies will take part in the total cumulative
installed power and new devices will be used in limited applications.
Fig. 1 shows the expected growth of the world PV market according
to the three scenarios discussed (Frankl et al., 2006a).
3. Technical influencing factors for new PV cell materials
3.1. Future PV cell materials
A PV cell is a semiconductor diode that can convert the energy from
sunlight into direct current electricity. Individual PV cells produce low
voltage of approximately 0.5 V, but at a high current of Approximately
3 A. A PV module comprises several PV cells connected in series. In
addition, bypass diodes are used to connect some sections of the series
in parallel to create some redundancy and additional electricity paths.
The peak power of a commercial PV panel is around 50–360 W and in
some cases reaches to 405 W (http://www.solardesigntool.com/
components/module-panel-solar/Helios-Solar/1649/9T6-405/
specification-data-sheet.html, a.N.).
Fig. 1. World cumulative installed capacity according to the three scenarios (Frankl et al., 2006a).
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Solar Energy 163 (2018) 545–551
Table 1
PV cell technical barriers.
Technology Drawbacks to future use
Crystalline-silicon Efficiency, materials
Thin-film Efficiency, stability, toxicity, lifetime
Concentrating PV
Organic PV
Stability, complexity, high cost
Efficiency, stability, lifetime
Third Generation PV Efficiency, proof of concept only
The different PV cell characteristics (efficiency, lifetime, I-V curve)
depend on the material used. Each material or technology has draw-
backs such as those shown in Table 1, some materials have serious
drawbacks that put these materials out of competition for future of PV
technology. Other materials will be used up to at least the middle of the
2030s. After 2030 it is predicted that there is a need for new materials
to increase PV system efficiency and to reduce costs. Various high ef-
ficiency PV cells are now being developed such as PERC cells, N-type
bifacial cells, IBC cells, HJT cells and TOPCON cells (Solar, 2016).
In Goetzberger et al. (2002) and Goetzberger and Hebling (2000),
for the future of solar energy materials three scenarios are envisioned:
i. Mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon is relatively mature
but several studies have shown that it still has a high cost reduction
potential; fifty percent of the cost of a silicon module is due to the
cost of processed silicon wafers. A major new development that may
occur is the low cost production of solar grade silicon.
ii. New crystalline film Si materials of medium thickness either as
ribbons or on foreign substrates.
iii. A breakthrough may occur in the production of true thin film ma-
terials such as amorphous silicon (a-Si) or Copper Indium diSelenide
(CIS) or Cadmium Telluride (CdTe).
The authors in Frankl et al. (2006b) state that to achieve the am-
bitious target of high PV market penetration and cost reduction, there is
a need for significant PV module technology improvement. Other im-
provements in terms of “Balance of systems” (BOS), system reliability,
maintenance and overall system performance are necessary as well. It is
expected that the long-term future PV technology spectrum will be very
different from that of today. At present crystalline silicon is the domi-
nant PV cell material and will be used for many years to come. However
for the longer term (2030 and beyond), its share in the PV market is will
be likely progressively reduced. It is believed that several different
F. Obeidat
technologies will very likely coexist. Even though their efficiencies may
be quite different, these technologies can be divided into two types:
i. Ultra-low cost, low-medium efficiency cells and modules: the tech-
nology closest to a transfer to pilot production is the dye-sensitised
Nano-crystalline solar cell concept. These “Colour to PV” modules
might reach 10% efficiency by 2030. The Japanese are more opti-
mistic, forecasting this objective to be reached by 2020. The effi-
ciency of Dye-sensitised cell reached to 11.9%, Dy-sensitised mini-
module 10.7%, Dye-sensitiesed submodule 8.8%, organic cells
11.2% and organic module 8.7% (Green et al., 2017).
ii. Ultra-high efficiency cells and modules: these are known as third
generation PV cells and will utilize advanced concepts of solid-state
matter physics such as hot electrons, multiple quantum wells, in-
termediate band gap structures and nanostructures.
In Hoffmann (2006), the relative growth in PV until 2020 will be
covered by thin film technologies, whereas up to 2030 new technolo-
gies such as high efficiency Dye and Organic technologies will take the
lead. These new technologies are termed as third generation technol-
ogies and will use hot electron, quantum well, intermediate band gap
structure and nanostructure technologies.
In Raugei and Frankl (2009), the authors list three technologies for
future PV systems which are applicable for the optimistic and very
optimistic scenarios mentioned above. The first technology is ribbon Si
which was listed because it is more efficient than conventional wafer
based Si technologies, despite it being one of the most recent Si-based
technologies. The second technology is CdTe, and this was listed be-
cause it has so far been the fastest growing and most successful thin film
technology.
In Razykov et al. (2011), the authors expect thin-film PV technol-
ogies to play a major role in the future world PV market. It is claimed
that further research and development will be directed towards in-
creasing the efficiency of thin-film Copper Indium Gallium Selenide
(CIGS), CdTe, Si and multi junction III–V cells and Nano PV devices.
In Bosetti et al. (2012), the authors created a questionnaire con-
cerning the future of PV and concentrated solar power, and it was
circulated to sixteen European PV experts. One of the questions asked
the respondents to indicate what would be the optimal distribution of
the current R&D budget between the different technologies considering
the current status and the main barriers to cost reduction. Seven out of
sixteen experts suggested that at least a quarter of the PV research
budget in the next twenty years should be allocated to improving more
mature technologies such as crystalline silicon PV (thin film PV). There
was consensus from the experts on allocating a relatively large part of
the budget to what is considered a promising and relatively stable
technology like Thin-film PV. The experts suggested a fairly uniform
low portion should be allocated to Concentrating PV and Third Gen-
eration PV. Organic PV was more controversial; the experts on average
suggested it should receive a higher portion of the budget, although
there were large differences in the experts’ opinions reflecting the
heterogeneity of views. While experts indicated that Third Generation
and Organic PV should receive a relatively high share of basic research
funding, they also indicated the need to work ‘‘out of the lab’’ to test
efficiency, to improve lifetime and to bring down costs via “learning-by-
doing” processes.
3.2. Future PV cells efficiency
In Goetzberger et al. (2002) the authors put a future module upper
efficiency limit (to 2060) of 42%, while in Hoffmann (2006) the authors
wrote that the new concepts (Dye cell and plastic cells) will have effi-
ciencies in the range 30–60%.
Up to 2030, commercial technologies such as Crystalline Silicon,
Thin Film and other new concepts will be developed leading to flat
plate efficiencies in the range 10–25% and 35% for concentrators. In
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Solar Energy 163 (2018) 545–551
2030, PV systems will have an expected lifetime of up to 40 years. PV
modules and systems will be exclusively based on abundant and non-
toxic materials or fully closed cycles, and the energy payback time of
systems will be less than one year. After 2030, PV cell efficiency will
increase to reach 30–50%, allowing very efficient use of the available
area (PV-TRAC, 2005).
4. Technical influencing factors for new PV inverters
4.1. Future power electronic devices
Today, the dominant power electronic semiconductor material is
Silicon (Si). Si will not be discontinued or replaced anytime soon
(Hudgins, 2013) for at least the next ten years (Gammon, 2013).
4.1.1. Near term trends
In the imminent future the following trends in power electronic
device construction are predicted to occur (Hudgins, 2013):
A. Improved material quality/interface: Material defects are one of the
main causes of device failure. These defects will be reduced in
number by the adoption of improved materials. The defects are
exacerbated by energy from high electric fields, high current den-
sities, increased temperature and stresses at material layer inter-
faces; improving the quality of interfaces between layers will help
reduce the number of failures.
B. Adoption of specific converter topologies: the adaptation of device
performance to specific converter topologies offers a potential for
improvement. For example, using soft switching converters in
medium voltage applications provides improvements when power
devices are designed for this operation type.
C. Reduction in chip thickness: A general design trend is to reduce the
power device thickness. This has occurred for all device families. By
improving the handling and fabrication of devices, minimal
amounts of semiconductor material will be used producing an im-
provement in thermal performance, in turn permitting controllable
operation near maximum junction temperature.
D. Better control of material type: This will improve the material type
(including doping impurities) and also the geometry within large
device structures such as super junction MOSFETs, through better
control of buffer layers, field-stop layers and better position-de-
pendent carrier lifetime control.
E. Nanotechnology improvements: The continuing improvement in
nanotechnology, particularly using lasers to excite precision che-
mical bonding will usher in a new era of fully controllable 3-D de-
sign. This will create power switch devices that are unimagined
today. Future device geometry and material layers/structure pro-
cessing will be fully automated and controllable in robotic fabrica-
tion plants.
F. Other trends: Another characteristic desired for future devices is
fully controllable (on-state and off-state) bidirectional switches, so
that future devices can be externally commanded to conduct current
or to withstand voltage.
4.1.2. Long term trends
Future control and gating signals may evolve to be photonic in
nature instead of electronic, providing secure communication and very
high noise immunity. Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules
will be developed with integrated drive circuits that include sensing
and protection functions for low power converters. These will be de-
veloped further into integrated circuits for high power converters.
Future improvements will push developing power devices such as
IGBTs towards press pack packaging, eliminating solder joints and wire
bonds and improving device reliability (Hudgins, 2013).
F. Obeidat
4.2. Future power electronic materials
There are five basic requirements for improving power transistor
performance and increasing sales. These include providing a lower on-
resistance, a faster switching speed, a better thermal conductivity, a
smaller size and a reduced cost of the transistor (Lidow et al., 2015).
4.2.1. Silicon carbide
Carbon (C) is an abundant element and there is 3.5 times more
carbon than silicon in the world. Both SiC and C are suitable materials
for future devices (Hudgins, 2013). SiC devices are likely to be deployed
in the 500 V to 6.5 kV market in applications such as automotive
equipment, photovoltaic converters and power factor corrected power
supplies. SiC devices could also be used in 10–20 years at the higher
voltage, higher current end of the market (Gammon, 2013). It is ex-
pensive currently to produce devices from SiC wafers as they cost 50
times the price of Si wafers (Gammon, 2013). SiC has the benefit of a
high thermal conductivity and a high operating temperature, up to
1000 °C (Gammon, 2013). Thus SiC can more easily dissipate the heat
generated in power switching events and during conduction than can Si.
The biggest challenges preventing the use of SiC power devices at
temperatures exceeding the current Si limit of 175 °C are device
packaging, wire bonding, device mounting and the module itself; all
needing the same temperature rating (Gammon, 2013).
4.2.2. Gallium Nitride
GaN power electronic devices are produced as an epitaxial layer on
a holding wafer formed from sapphire, silicon or silicon carbide. GaN
has a wider bandgap and a higher critical field level than SiC giving it a
huge potential in the power market, although SiC has a lower mismatch
between its buffer layer and substrate material (Hudgins, 2013;
Gammon, 2013). However, GaN substrates are becoming available
which should reduce interfaces detrimental to device performance in
the near future (Hudgins, 2013). Another drawback for GaN is its
thermal conductivity which is higher than SiC. Consequently, at high
temperature and high power GaN devices perform poorly, and self-
heating effects can lead to thermal runaway especially on sapphire
substrates (Gammon, 2013).
GaN technology is currently producing transistors that have lower
on-resistance, have faster switching, and are smaller than Si devices.
The size advantage comes from a smaller device area due to the effi-
ciency of the GaN semiconductor and the reduction in surrounding
package size. However, smaller is not always better. As a system
shrinks, there is a greater challenge in removing heat (Lidow et al.,
2015).
4.2.3. Diamond
One of the best materials for future power devices is diamond (C)
because it has a high bandgap 73% wider than that of SiC (4H). It has
one of the highest thermal conductivity and electron and hole mobility
values for any material generally considered for power devices
(Hudgins, 2003). Hydrogenated diamond surfaces, which exhibit a
negative electron affinity (NEA), are also shown to be useful in vacuum
field emission devices (Hudgins, 2013). But the main drawbacks are
that diamond material and its device fabrication technology are much
less mature and developed than for SiC and GaN. Also the coefficient of
thermal expansion (CTE) for diamond is very low, and relatively large
activation energies are required for common impurity dopant species
such as boron and phosphorous (Hudgins, 2013).
4.3. Future PV inverter topologies
In order to increase the deployment of PV technology certain re-
quirements must be taken into account when designing and manu-
facturing the PV inverters. These requirements are:
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4.3.1. Cost reduction
PV inverter price is around 8%-12% of the total PV system cost (Xue
et al., 2011). Impressive progress has been made in the last decade in
reducing both PV inverter and PV module/cell costs (Raugei and
Frankl, 2009; Fraunhofer ISE, 2015b). In 1990, the PV inverter cost was
1 EUR/Wp and this was reduced to almost 0.1 EUR/Wp in 2014. Further
to the cost reduction, inverter efficiency and power density have in-
creased. Inverter size has been decreased by using newer power semi-
conductors (e.g. improved silicon and silicon carbide devices), higher
switching frequencies and higher voltage levels. Historical curves tra-
cing the growth of other products can be used to predict the future
prices of PV parts (Fraunhofer ISE, 2015b). In 2013 the cost of in-
verters > 500 kW was around 100–120 EUR/kW. It is predicted that
this cost will be around 21–42 EUR/kW by 2050. Also PV modules will
decrease from approximately 550 EUR/kW today to either
140–210 EUR/kW by 2050 in a breakthrough scenario, or to
270–360 EUR/kW in a worst case scenario. With respect to lower power
PV inverter costs, these will fall from 110 EUR/kW today to
23–39 EUR/kW by 2050 (Fraunhofer ISE, 2015b).
4.3.2. Higher reliability target
PV inverter topology and the electronic components used inside the
PV inverter (e.g. capacitors, transistors, etc.) play a main role in PV
inverter reliability. All manufacturers tend to use electronic compo-
nents which have a high efficiency and low failure rate, and can work in
high temperature conditions.
4.3.3. PV inverter efficiency
It is expected that PV inverter efficiency will increase in the future
by using new semiconductor material and improved MPPT algorithms
to avoid mismatch and shading issues (Xue et al., 2011). The efficiency
improvement margin is becoming narrower, but research will in-
evitably continue until the efficiency curve becomes flat over the whole
operating range (Ho, 2012).
It has been shown experimentally that an efficiency of 99.053% can
be achieved using SiC IGBTs in the PV boost stage. Further to this, by
replacing the SiC IGBT with a SiC MOSFET the efficiency can be in-
creased further to reach 99.655% (Moudilos, 2015). Using GaN tran-
sistors in a Totem-pole bridgeless boost topology, the efficiency of a
power factor converter (PFC) stage has been shown to exceed 99%
(Persson, 2015).
4.3.4. Architectures and topologies
For research into high power PV inverters the trend is to use multi-
level structures; these structures can produce a better harmonic current
spectrum, use smaller and cheaper filters, allow the removal of the line
frequency transformer (because there is no need to use the transformer
to step up the voltage), reduce connection losses and reduce costs. If
low-voltage, Transformer-less inverters are used, then paralleling must
be employed. By using several inverter output stages with high power
density, a parallel structure enables interleaved PWM techniques and
an increase in switching frequency at the output. For the dc input, a
DC/DC converter or passive Z-source network can be used to provide a
wide MPPT range.
For residential PV inverters, current research efforts are towards
split-phase inverters, various buck-boost topologies and converter-
based power decoupling of single-phase double-line-frequency pul-
sating power from the constant dc power matching MPPT (Xue et al.,
2011).
4.3.5. Multifunctional PV inverters
Fundamentally, the function of PV inverters is to convert the direct
current generated from the PV panels into alternating current as effi-
ciently as possible, and ensure the current is in synchronism with the
grid supply to inject high quality real power into the grid. The PV in-
verter must also undertake other functions such as (http://www.sma.
F. Obeidat
de/en):
a. Power optimization using MPPT: one of the PV inverter functions is
to ensure that the power extracted from the PV module is maximised
despite changes in the ambient temperature, insolation or shading.
At each temperature and insolation level there is for every panel an
optimum current and voltage combination to produce maximum
power which is known as the Maximum Power Point (MPP). Because
PV systems work in continuously changing conditions, the MPP
changes continuously and the PV inverter must use a MPP Tracking
system to ensure the PV system supplies the maximum power.
b. Monitoring and protection: PV inverter controllers need to con-
tinuously monitor appropriate electrical power data (voltage, cur-
rent, frequency, MPP, harmonics, etc.). Should any of these para-
meters deviate from pre-set limits then the controller will disconnect
the PV system from the grid.
c. Reliable operation: one of the advantages of a PV system is that
there are no moving parts which can result in wear and tear, giving
the PV system a high potential mechanical reliability. However PV
inverters contain hundreds of electronic components and all these
components must also have a high reliability. For inverters situated
outdoors, high temperatures can influence PV inverter reliability,
efficiency and performance. Therefore, PV inverters must have a
suitable heat dissipation system to prevent failure.
In addition to the standard functions listed above, other functions
may be incorporated into the inverters so that they become “smart in-
verters” and will be able to work in “smart grids”. A proposed
Multifunctional PV inverter integrated into an industrial grid during a
German research project is described in Geibel et al. (2009). This design
provides additional functions such as:-
• Improvement of Power Quality for sensitive loads within the local
sub-network.
• Improvement of Reliability through UPS functionality for loads in
the sub-network.
• Peak shaving for reduction of demand charge for industrial custo-
mers.
• Ancillary services.
• Harmonic compensation.
• Ability to provide Reactive power.
Other contributions of power electronic converters in future smart
grids include power flow and control, buffering the energy in storage
elements and managing energy flow-in as a customer or flow-out as a
supplier (Ho, 2012).
In a Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) (Geibel et al.,
2009), two back to back AC/DC converters and a transformer are used
to correct for voltage and current harmonic distortion. PV systems can
also be used in conjunction with the UPQC by feeding their excess
power into the DC link and storing the energy in an accumulator bat-
tery. In this way, the PV system can help complement and stabilize the
instantaneous value of the grid voltage (Geibel et al., 2009).
5. Influencing factors
5.1. Storage system
The scale of future PV penetration will be highly dependent on such
as Pumped Hydro Systems (PHS), batteries, superconducting magnetic
energy storage, Hydrogen Pallet Handling Systems (HPHS),
Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), Thermal Energy Storage (TES)
and community Energy Storage (CES), which must be able to store any
excess energy and release it when the PV systems are out of generation
(Rodrigues et al., 2017).
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Solar Energy 163 (2018) 545–551
5.2. Power quality
PV systems always work in continuously changing conditions, and
their output power mainly depends on solar intensity. Changes in in-
solation or partial shading have an influence on the power injected into
the grid (Chicco et al., 2009). Consequently a high penetration of small
PV systems may locally affect power quality, since with a continuously
rapid changing insolation level (e.g. due to movement of clouds), slowly
responding voltage control equipment such as tap changers and swit-
ched capacitors will not respond rapidly, thereby permitting voltage
swells and dips to appear on the grid (Turitsyn et al., 2011).
Mitigation of voltage and power disturbances could in the future be
achieved by using super capacitors in conjunction with PV inverters,
but this will increase the PV system cost by about 20% (Senthilkumar
and Sameeullah, 2014; Khadem et al., 2010) Alternatively other
equipment such as the D-STATCOM (Moreno-Muñoz, 2007) could be
used. Voltage disturbances may cause inverters to malfunction, pro-
ducing energy losses (Senthilkumar and Sameeullah, 2014; Khadem
et al., 2010). Long term operation and performance measurements
show that the efficiency of PV inverters can be degraded due to grid
voltage disturbances and performance of the inverter especially in
winter when the insolation is low (Mondol et al., 2006).
There are several methods used by supply authorities to control the
grid supply voltage. These methods all these methods inject/absorb
reactive power into/from the grid. A synchronous generator can be
used for this purpose but this method is limited geographically, and the
reactive power supplied/absorbed consequently has a limited effect.
Shunt capacitor banks can also be used and these are usually installed
and operated by local utility companies. However the optimal place-
ment and switching of capacitor banks is recognized as an important
and challenging problem in power system design and control. There is
currently much research on inverter based technologies that can dis-
patch or absorb reactive power because this method is more efficient,
flexible, scalable and reliable (Turitsyn et al., 2011).
5.3. Grid codes
Recently, the total installed capacity of PV systems has increased
faster than the development of grid codes that can manage effectively
and efficiently the high penetration of PV systems (Braun et al., 2012).
The available power from installed renewable systems (for both PV &
wind) may exceed the actual consumption in 2020, and if there is no
adequate demand side management or storage systems, then a pro-
portion of conventional power plant may need to be turned off or al-
ternatively a proportion of renewable generation may need to be cur-
tailed (Braun et al., 2009). Because of this risk the need for codes and
regulations to manage and regulate a renewable source power gen-
eration has become necessary for countries having a fast growth in
renewable energy generation. The grid codes specify the desired PV
plant performance under normal and disturbed operating states of the
grid. Under normal conditions PV power plants are required to be
connected and supply maximum power into the grid. Beyond the
normal operation limits, different functionalities must be specified to
manage connection and disconnection of PV system (Xue et al., 2011).
Management strategies vary from country to country. Some countries
still have an approach requiring PV systems to behave as passively as
possible, and others demand an active participation in grid control. This
variety of grid codes causes challenges in learning from ‘best practice’
(Braun et al., 2012).
Several countries such as Germany, Japan, USA, Italy, Belgium and
Australia have their own grid codes (Braun et al., 2012); All these
countries have steady state operation and frequency control regula-
tions. Germany, Japan and USA regulations have active and reactive
power control, while Italy, Belgium and Australia do not have either.
The USA has the IEEE P1547.8 standard which provides flexibility for
interconnecting distributed resources with advanced functionality such
F. Obeidat
as implementation of voltage regulation at the distribution level. In the
Japanese regulations, voltage control in low voltage distribution sys-
tems is activated once an upper voltage limit is reached through control
of reactive power to produce a power factor of 0.85 lagging. Should the
voltage still be out of limit, the PV system active power is reduced.
In the future with more PV system penetration, it is inevitable that
more functionality will be required for the PV inverter. Smart power
quality functions such as flicker mitigation, active filtering, imbalance
compensation, active load balancing, power factor/reactive power
control, voltage regulation, voltage sag/swell mitigation controls and
harmonic filtering may be required in future for PV inverters connected
to the distribution system. There is also an on-going debate as to
whether renewable generation, such as wind and solar, can/should
provide ancillary services such as primary frequency regulation, spin-
ning reserve, balancing power, and black start capability. If these latter
requirements are imposed then renewable power plants will need
“economical and reliable” storage solutions, which at present are not
commercially viable. Hence, there is ongoing research into finding
technologies/solutions and examining if renewable sources such as PV
can be used to provide such ancillary services (Xue et al., 2011).
Therefore, all these functions need regulations and codes to manage
them and to provide acceptable limits that will allow PV systems to
fulfil grid requirements.
6. Conclusion
This paper reviews the future trends of PV systems technologies.
Three long term road maps for the future development of PV tech-
nology up to 2050 have been described; Very Optimistic, Optimistic and
Pessimistic. Different materials are used for developing PV cells and
modules in order to increase their efficiency, lifetime and reduce cost.
Some of these materials will not be used in the future due to their
drawbacks. There is also a research focus on existing PV materials with
the aim of developing them for future PV systems.
Silicon is presently the dominant material in power electronic de-
vices. Other materials such as Silicon Carbide, Gallium Nitride and
Diamond are being developed. In addition to material development,
future power electronic devices will have improvements incorporated
such as a reduced chip thickness, an adoption to specific converter
topologies, better control of material types, nanotechnology improve-
ments, and in built current bi-directionality.
Certain requirements must be taken into account in designing and
manufacturing PV inverters in order to make PV systems competitive.
Cost reduction, higher reliability, higher efficiency, multi functionality
and new topologies are the main features required for future PV in-
verters. To dispatch the power generated from PV systems over long
distances, and in order to store the surplus power generated in the
daytime to permit use at night, storage systems are required to be
connected into the grid. Future storage systems require new battery
technologies as well as bidirectional inverters.
Some countries have grid codes in order to regulate and manage the
connection of PV systems into the grid in normal and transient opera-
tion, but these codes are not yet developed enough and need updates
because more functionality will be added to the PV inverter.
Future topologies of inverter are likely to remain the same. There is
no replacement for a single- or three-phase inverter. Semiconductor
device materials will improve to provide higher inverter efficiency
through lower conduction and lower switching losses. The inverters
will have a longer life through voltage and current de-rating of devices
to a greater extent than is carried out today. Electrolytic capacitors will
be eliminated from inverters due to their low reliability. These two
factors alone will help immensely to increase the life span of inverters.
At low powers, in the future it is likely that DC/DC converters will
be integrated with each PV panel, along with MPPT, as costs drop.
These converters will produce a high DC voltage. The outputs from the
DC/DC converters will be summed and fed to a single-phase or three-
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Solar Energy 163 (2018) 545–551
phase inverter and then to the grid. This is a cheaper scheme to im-
plement than the micro inverter scheme, since the inverter stage is not
duplicated, and the scheme should be more reliable. Heat sinking re-
quirements for the DC/DC converters may not be needed. If the heat
sinking requirements are needed, possibly the framework of the PV
panels could be used. Battery storage systems will be incorporated into
the PV systems to provide energy when insolation is not available. This
is simple to achieve with the future system described through the in-
corporation of bi-directional DC/DC converters.
Volt Ampere Reactive (VAR) requirements through control of low
power PV inverters are unlikely to be required in the UK, since the
supply system is relatively stiff. A more likely scenario, should VAR
control be necessary, is that low Volt-Ampere (VA) rated STATCOMs
will be situated at substations where extra voltage control is needed.
The STATCOMs will be provided by the RECs, and a tariff will be ap-
plied to PV system owners downstream from the STATCOMs in order to
pay for the provision of voltage control equipment to maintain correct
voltage levels.
For high power central inverters, the three level neutral point
clamped converter is likely to remain the most favoured topology for
many years to come. VAR control of central inverters will be necessary
in future years, and similar regulations to those implemented in
Germany are likely to be adopted here. As with the lower power in-
verters, SiC and GaN semiconductor devices are likely to be used at
these higher voltage and current ratings with resulting efficiency im-
provements.
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