Performance Study of Photovoltaic Generator with

Three-Level NPC Inverter-Connected to the Grid

Sara Elbadaoui,1, a) Ahmed Abbou,1, b) Abdessamade Bouaddi,1, c) and Yassine
Zahraoui2, d)
1) Electrical Engineering Department, Mohammed V University, Mohammadia School of Engineering, Rabat, Morocco
2) Electrical Engineering Department, Hassan II University, Higher National School of Arts and Crafts, Casablanca, Morocco
a) Corresponding author: sara_elbadaoui@um5.ac.ma
b) Electronic mail: abbou@emi.ac.ma.
c) Electronic mail: bouaddi@emi.ac.ma.
d) Electronic mail: yassine.zahraoui1-etu@etu.univh2c.ma

Abstract. This paper is designed to analyze a detailed model of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system based on a controlled
DC/DC boost inverter and the multilevel neutral point-clamped (NPC) inverter. The modeling of the system is established to be
able to carry out a frequency analysis. Then, the synchronization of the converter to the network is ensured by a phase-locked loop
(PLL). The regulation strategy ensuring stability and robustness is presented. Particular attention will be paid to the sizing of the
elements of the control. The simulation results show the validity of voltage and current correction, and their synchronization with
the network, and show that the THD is in compliance with the prevailing standards under variable climate conditions. The converter
is able to operate under abnormal voltage and frequency condition, its response in fault conditions is fast, and the steady-state does
not suffer from any static error. All simulations have been realized in MATLAB/Simulink environment.

INTRODUCTION

Energy consumption is increasing at a steady rate as fossil fuel resources are diminishing, and many countries are
launching incentives, in parallel with the opening of energy markets to develop decentralized production based on re-
newable energy. There are other renewable energy sources, but wind and photovoltaic systems have recently attracted
a lot of attention [1]. Photovoltaic solar energy has been quickly developing for several years since it is an endless
source that is non-polluting, silent, and does not disturb nearby residents [2].

Small power installations connected to the low voltage (LV) grid and solar farms directly connected to the medium
voltage (MV) grid have gradually emerged as a result of solar energy’s rapid expansion [3]. However, the connection
of PV systems to the distribution network can have some impacts on the electrical grid: impacts on the change of
power flow (bidirectional), the voltage plan, the protection plan, the quality of the energy, or grid planning . . . On the
other hand, the characteristics, operation, and disturbances of the distribution networks can influence the operation
of PV systems [4] [5]. It is then necessary to properly design the inverters allowing the electrical interfacing of the
source to the network, and above all, to properly size its control. This is the general issue of the project presented
here; namely the optimal design of an inverter control strategy to ensure good interconnection with the distribution
network [6].

A three-level inverter will be used to interface a photovoltaic system to the distribution network. The study of multi-
level inverters is attracting increasing attention in medium voltage and high power applications such as renewable
energy sources, in particular in the development of solar energy chains connected to the grid. The great interest given
to these converters is attributed to the advantages they offer, such as the improvement of the waveform of the output
voltage, the reduction of the harmonic content compared to conventional standard two-level inverters, the increase in
power rating and decrease in stress on switches. However, the main drawback of these multilevel converters lies in
their control [7] [8]. Three main topologies are used: neutral point clamped (NPC), flying capacitor and cascaded
H-bridge converters. Among them, the NPC topology is the most widely used due to its simple construction and the
requirement of a single DC source [9].

Particular attention will be paid to the size of the control elements; this work introduces methods in order to finally
obtain a set of optimal values. The studies and tests carried out here are tested under the MATLAB/Simulink environ-
ment.
 The rest of this article is organized as follows. After the introduction in Section 1, Section 2 presents a detailed
description of the model system. The simulation results of the proposed control method are presented and discussed
in section 3, and the conclusions of the paper are presented in section 4.

DESCRIPTION OF DETAILED SYSTEM

Before attacking the analysis and system modeling, we must show in detail the necessary converters required as shown
in Fig. 1. There is at first a photovoltaic generator, followed by a DC/DC converter with the MPPT, a multilevel
DC/AC inverter with VSC control, a filter, a transformer, and ultimately the network.

FIGURE 1: Detailed model of a grid-connected photovoltaic system with a three-level inverter.

Description of Photovoltaic Generator

We start by choosing the temperature and irradiation range for our PV generator, such that the temperature varies be-
tween 25◦ C and 50◦ C and the irradiation between 210 and 1000 W /m2 . The characteristics of the SunPower-SPR330
modules, the array consists of 66 strings of 5 series-connected modules connected in parallel to provide a power of
one hundred kilowatts (100 kW ).

In the ideal case, a PV cell can be modeled by a current generator in parallel with a diode. In this configuration, the
current injected by the source is representative of the irradiation and PV cell surface.

Fig. 2 below shows a real model with two resistors, Rs in series which shows the voltage drop caused by connection
contacts between the different cells and Rsh in parallel characterizes the leakage current in the diode [10].

FIGURE 2: The equivalent electrical circuit of a solar PV cell.

 The current and voltage formula is obtained by application of Kirchhoff’s current law:
Vpv + Rs I pv Vpv + Rs I pv
I pv = I ph − Io [exp(q ) − 1] − (1)
KT α Rsh
where:
Io : Saturation current of diode
T : Cell temperature
α: Diode saturation constant (between 1 and 2)
q: Load electron (q=1.16 × 10−13 (in ◦C))
K: Boltzmann constant (K=1.38 × 10−23 (in KJ ))

DC/DC Converter

The DC/DC converter allows either to lower (buck) or to increase (boost) the output voltage of the PV generator. In
our case, we will use a booster, which allows increasing the PV voltage in the maximum power before giving it to the
inverter in Fig. 3.

FIGURE 3: Boost circuit with MPPT control.

Fig. 4 depicts the basic boost converter circuit consisting of a switch (the IGBT in our model), an inductor and a
capacitor. The boost operates in continuous mode to an input filter C1 , L, and an output filter, which is C2 .

FIGURE 4: DC/DC Boost inverter circuit.

The boost will be controlled by an MPPT algorithm. In the literature, we find different types of algorithms per-
forming MPP research [11], in our detailed model, the MPPT is controlled with Incremental Conductance IC, and an
integral regulator technique for switching the duty cycle, which allows generating the voltage necessary to extract the
maximum power. In order to have an increased voltage reaching up to 500V [12].

DC/AC Multilevel Inverter Control

Inverter is used to convert DC voltage to AC voltage; we start to say multilevel inverter has all inverters with more
than two levels and it is able to generate a voltage output in staircase pattern [13].
 For multilevel inverters, we find three famous topologies: flying capacitor inverter, H-bridge inverter, and NPC
(Neutral Point Clamped) inverter, the latter is the most used with a photovoltaic system and that we will choose for
our detailed model [14].

Fig. 5 shows a three-level NPC inverter circuit with a DC input bus consisting of two capacitors in series (C1 and
C2 ), forming a midpoint denoted n which allows the inverter to access a level of additional voltage compared to the
classic two-level inverter.

FIGURE 5: Three-level NPC inverter.

The total DC bus voltage is Vdc , under normal operating conditions; it is uniformly distributed over the two capaci-
tors which then have a voltage V2dc at their terminals.

Each of the three legs (A, B and C) of the inverter is composed of four IGBT controlled switches (a1 , a2 , a11 , and
a22 for leg A) controlled in a complementary manner, and two hold-down diodes connected to the middle point of the
DC bus. The voltages between the fictitious neutral and the outputs of the inverter can only take two discrete values
depending on the control of the switches.

In the case of the NPC inverter, the number of levels is determined by the cells number of half-legs +1. In other
words, if N is the total number of cells in series on one leg and n the number of output voltage levels on one phase of
the inverter, then n= N2 +1 levels, and 6×(n-2) hold-down diodes [15].

The switching states of the NPC inverter are given in Table I. The inverter terminal voltage is +Vdc when the upper

TABLE I: Switching states of an NPC inverter.

Switching status leg A

Switching state Van
a1 a2 a11 a22
P 1 1 0 0 +Vdc/2
O 0 1 1 0 0
N 0 0 1 1 -Vdc/2

two switches are turned ON (state P), while the voltage is -Vdc when the lower two switches are turned ON (state N).
Furthermore, the inverter terminal voltage is 0 when the inner switches are turned ON (switching state O). an VSC
is used to help the system maintain a constant output voltage during changing weather conditions. To achieve this,
Proportional Integral (PI) controllers are used due to their simplicity and robustness.

In our work, a PWM control strategy is used to generate the switching signals [16].
 Filter and transformer

To avoid the propagation of the components due to the switches it is necessary to add a filter, we chose to put the
first-order filter like L and connect it with our transformer.

A three-phase transformer voltage step-up coupled in delta/star is installed before the grid attack. The synchroniza-
tion of the system output wave with the network voltage is a major issue in the development of transition strategies
between the connected and disconnected modes of the network.

It is therefore necessary to introduce an element allowing this synchronization, which will provide us with the angle
and the frequency of the network. The most common structures for this application are phase-locked loops or PLL
(Phase Locked Loop) which we will use here [17].

SIMULATION AND RESULTS ANALYSIS

Description of the Simulation Environment

To validate the performance of our system, a model of the detailed system (Fig. 6) is created in MATLAB/Simulink
environment .

FIGURE 6: Detailed model with inverter control.

Simulation is done by considering the specification given in Table II with the following controller parameters:
• PLL controller: PI parameters are K pp =60 and Kip =1400.
• Voltage controller: PI parameters are K pv =7 and Kiv =800.
• Current controller: PI parameters are K pi =0.3 and Kii =20.

The parameters of the system are mentioned in Table II.

TABLE II: Simulation parameters of the system.

Parameter Value
Input Dc voltage Vdc 500V
Capacitors C1 and C2 12000µF
Frequency 60Hz
Sampling time (Ts ) 100µs
 Results Analysis

According to the simulation, It should be noted that the simulation is performed with the chopper switching frequency
of 5kHz, and 1980Hz in the inverter.

The boost succeeds in increasing the output voltage of the PV from 273V to 500V, and the DC boost output voltage
passed through our predefined NPC inverter to become AC as shown on Fig. 7. under solar irradiance and temperature
variation traced in Fig. 8.

Fig. 9(a) shows the generator current; the amplitude of this current fluctuates according to the meteorological
fluctuation noted above, and Fig. 9(b) shows the DC bus voltage; it’s obvious that it’s kept at 500V under various
weather situations before attacking the inverter.

Fig. 10 shows the current injected into the network. We can see that the frequency of the injected current Ig and
the voltage Vg are the same in Fig. 11 (b). The amplitude of current Ig fluctuates with the level of PV power obtained
Fig. 11 (a) Under all meteorological conditions, the injected current stays sinusoidal and in phase with the grid voltage.

Because of the large difference between the maximum current and voltage values in Fig 11 (b), it was suggested
that the current value be multiplied by a coefficient to clearly indicate the synchronization between the two.

In Fig. 12 (a), the harmonic distortion rate of the current is about 2.23%, so it is within the standard < 5%.

In addition, the PV inverter does not disturb the grid voltage, this is justified by the very small distortion rate of the
grid voltage in Fig. 12 (b).

800 600
real voltage V inv
boost voltage
700
400

600
output inverter voltage (V)
real and boost voltage (V)

200
500

400 0

300
-200

200

-400
100

0 -600
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 2.5 2.55 2.6 2.65 2.7 2.75 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) input and output voltage of the boost. (b) Three-level inverter.

FIGURE 7: Output voltages of the boost and the three-level inverter.

 60 1000
Temperature Solar irradiance
900
50

800

40
Temperature (°C)

Solar irradiance
700

30 600

500
20

400

10
300

0 200
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) Temperature. (b) Solar irradiance.

FIGURE 8: Temperature and irradiance variation.

4 600
Id
reference

Id
2 controlled 500

Vd
reference
0 400
Vd
Voltage (V)
Current (A)

controlled

-2 300

-4 200

-6 100

-8 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) Current response. (b) Voltage response.

FIGURE 9: Response of voltage and current under meteorological variation.

4
I grid

0
Grid current (A)

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Time (s)

(a) Injected current into the grid.

FIGURE 10: Injected current into the grid.

 104
100 2
Power Grid current
Grid voltage
1.5

Grid current (A) & voltage(V)

1

50
0.5
Power (KW)

-0.5
0

-1

-1.5

-50 -2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 2.3 2.32 2.34 2.36 2.38 2.4 2.42 2.44 2.46 2.48 2.5
Time (s) Time (s)

(a) Injected power into the grid. (b) Current and voltage synchronization.

FIGURE 11: Response of current, voltage, and power under meteorological variation.

(a) Grid current THD. (b) Grid voltage THD.

FIGURE 12: THD of the grid current and voltage.

CONCLUSION

Photovoltaic panels are designed to produce electrical energy by converting solar radiation using the photoelectric
effect. Of course, research on the development of advanced control systems to increase the operating performance
of PV inverters, in this paper, a model of a photovoltaic generator connected to the grid via DC-DC and DC-AC
converters, a filter are presented with all the necessary details, and the performance of controllers are verified for
variable meteorological conditions. From the simulation results, it is observed that the system response is fast and
control accuracy is achieved. It is also observed that with three-level converters, the current and voltage THDs are
within the norms at the grid input. This model presents a reference for all future studies that will investigate the
different control modes of multilevel inverters.
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