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Published in IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution
Received on 4th March 2013
Revised on 15th April 2013
Accepted on 23rd April 2013
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0154

ISSN 1751-8687

Fault ride through capability for grid interfacing large

scale PV power plants
Mohamed Shawky El Moursi1,2, Weidong Xiao2, Jim. L. Kirtley Jr1
1
EECS Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
2
Electrical Power Engineering Program, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, PO Box 54224 Abu Dhabi, UAE
E-mail: mshawky@mit.edu; melmoursi@masdar.ac.ae

Abstract: Integration of dynamic grid support is required for distributed power systems that are interconnected with medium
voltage grids. This study proposes a comprehensive control solution to enhance fault ride through (FRT) capability for utility-
scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants. Based on positive and negative sequence control schemes and PV characteristics, the
approach alleviates dc-bus double-line-frequency ripples, reduces voltage stress on inverter power switches and DC-link
capacitors, and minimises undesirable low-order voltage and current harmonics that are presented on the ac side. The study
proposes a new feature to achieve superior FRT performance by using the overload capability of grid-tied inverters. A weak
electric grid is used for the test case including a wind turbine induction generator, diesel engine driven synchronous
generators and various loads. A comprehensive simulation verified the capability of the proposed control schemes for
mitigating the voltage dip, enhancing the voltage response and further improving the stability of interconnected distributed
generation in reaction to severe unbalanced voltage conditions because of asymmetrical grid faults.

1 Introduction Various solutions have been presented in the literature for

With the increasing number of PV generation plants
connecting to the transmission networks, the function of
dynamic network support is becoming important. In 2008,
the German association of energy and water industries
(BDEW) guideline recommends the functions of grid
management and integration of dynamic grid support,
including active power throttling, reactive power
contribution and ‘fault ride through (FRT)’ for generating
plants connected to medium voltage grids [1–3]. The
BDEW represents the German association of energy and
water industries. In July 2012, the European network of
transmission system operators for electricity submitted the
final package of ‘network code for requirements for grid
connection applicable to all generators’ to the cooperation
of energy regulators. It is generally considered as a
comprehensive solution and framework guideline for
adopting future generator technologies. The code covers the
unit of so called power park module, which includes the
inverter-based solar power systems. The FRT capability of
power park module (PPM) is defined in Fig. 3 which
includes the pre-faulty and post-fault conditions for
different generation capacities [4]. For American Standards
[5], the requirement of low-voltage ride through (LVRT) is
recommended and discussed in [6]. In a summary, the
large-scale PV power system should stay connected and
contribute to the grid in case of severe grid voltage
disturbance since the disconnection may further degrade
voltage restoration during and after fault conditions [7].
the dynamic grid support corresponding to the FRT
function, which is also named as ‘LVRT’. In [8], a
non-linear feedback controller is introduced to ensure that
the current levels are constrained to an allowable level.
However, the feedback linearisation approach indicates an
implementation complexity, which is addressed in [9]. A
coordinated control scheme is presented in [10, 11] to
support FRT functions. The approach is based on the large
scale two-stage power interface and maintains the inverter
DC-link voltage. The study does not consider the
single-stage PV inverters, which are commonly utilised
[12]. In [13], the technique of the power line carrier
communications is presented to determine the operating
state from the anti-islanding protection or the FRT function.
In [14], the FRT is achieved using a current source inverter
in series with AC capacitors to reduce AC input voltage.
Both implementations in [13, 14] add cost to the existing
systems.
Since the FRT has been investigated for wind power
systems, a comparison study is presented in [15] analysing
three control strategies for FRT. The work mainly focuses
on designing the current controllers that are based on
symmetrical components and proposing the linear quadratic
regulator to achieve better control performance. Using
negative sequence current injection is studied in [16] to
achieve both islanding detection and unbalance FRT. The
study does not consider the impact of time delay composed
with the extraction technique of the positive and negative
components and the neutralisation of the DC-link voltage

IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036 1027
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ripples. A positive and negative reactive current injection
method is introduced in [17] to attain FRT functions. The
compensation of the proposed method reduces the negative
sequence voltage component, boosts the positive sequence
voltage component, and adjusts the level of positive and
negative sequence reactive current in order to contain the
ampere rating of the converter power transistor and reduce
the risk of overcurrent tripping of converter. However, the
approach can affect the FRT performance and cause
additional voltage stresses on inverter power switches and
the DC-link capacitors because of the applied control
constraint and existing DC-bus voltage ripple, respectively.
The study [15–17] focuses on general FRT functions, but
does not consider the specific features of PV power
generation.
Fig. 1 Control diagrams of PV power interfaces
This paper presents a comprehensive FRT scheme based on
computation of positive and negative sequence voltage and a Two-stage with IDCL
b Single-stage without IDCL
current complex amplitudes that is applicable for the
majority of conventional PV power systems without
increasing the system complexity and additional cost. It single-stage operation shown in Fig. 1b, the DC connection
focuses on transient management to coordinate and control is located at the PV array terminals, the MPPT operation
the PV front end power interface (PVFEC) and the grid regulates the PV voltage and determines the extracting
side converter (GSC) to achieve full FRT functions for current directly. The GSC also performs other grid-tied
symmetrical and asymmetrical grid faults. The effectiveness functions to meet PCC requirements.
and performance of the positive and negative sequence
control schemes (P&NSCS) for controlling PV grid-tied
inverter is evaluated by using PSCAD simulation. 2.2 FRT reaction at the PVFEC

FRT capability is essential for grid-connected PV power

2 PV power interfaces and control
Utility interactive PV systems can be classified into two
typical topologies, the two-stage with intermediate DC-link
(IDCL) and single-stage without the IDCL. The two-stage
conversion topology comprises the PVFEC for DC/DC
conversion, the IDCL and the GSC for DC/AC grid-tied
conversion. The single-stage structure omits the IDCL,
shifts the DC-link to the PV array terminals, and uses the
GSC to extract the maximum solar power directly. In this
paper, the case study is based on a two-stage power
conversion interface with the IDCL. Without losing
generality, the FRT solution for single-stage topologies is
addressed in this section.
2.1 Control of grid-tied PV inverter
A PV power system is controlled by the algorithms of
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and grid current
regulation to achieve efficient solar energy harvest and
ensure high power quality at the point of common coupling
(PCC). Fig. 1 illustrates the control block diagrams of PV
power interfaces with and without the IDCL.
Owing to the high-capacitance nature of the IDCL shown
in Fig. 1a, the dynamic interaction of the PVFEC and GSC
can be decoupled. The first control loop conducts
the operation of MPPT and allows the PV array to inject
the maximum power to the IDCL through the PVFEC. The
second control loop regulates the IDCL voltage and
determines the amount of active power to be injected into
the grid. The power balance between the PV generation and
the GSC extraction determines the variation of the IDCL
voltage, VDC. The active power can be represented by the
grid current since the grid voltage is generally steady. For
grid-connected operation, the GSC conducts the phase
current regulation and other grid-tied functions including
power quality assurance and voltage support etc. For
plants to permit a continued operation through severe grid
voltage disturbances. Even though faults are far away, the
PV plant can induce serious voltage dips at the PCC. At the
moment, the MPPT function is disabled while the active
power injection should be regulated according to the fault
severity level. Shown in Fig. 1, the limiters are
implemented in the control loops between the control
references and the commands to the power interfaces. In
Fig. 1a, the limiter takes action when a fault is detected at
the PCC. The limiter function is expressed as (1), where ŭ,
u and vg are the control reference, the switching duty cycle
and the grid voltage, respectively. For the single stage PV
system shown in ^ Fig. 1b, the limiter function is expressed
as (2), where I d and Id∗ represent the control set point
determined by the MPPT and actual control command to
regulate the active power injection, correspondingly. When
the grid voltage, vg, is lower than 0.7 pu, the control
scheme disables the MPPT operation and stops the active
power injection
⎧

⎨ 0, Vg , 0.7 pu
u
 (1)
⎩ ũ, Vg ≥ 0.7 pu
⎧

⎨ 0, Vg , 0.7 pu
Id∗ 
 (2)
⎩^
I d, Vg ≥ 0.7 pu
2.3 Simulation model for PV power
The operation of the grid-connected PV power plant is
simplified as an equivalent dynamic diagram including the
controller, PV array, PVFEC and GSC, as shown in Fig. 2.
The GSC is modelled as a controllable voltage source

1028 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
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Table 1 Model symbols and parameters of the PV front end
converter

Input capacitor Cpv = 10 mF

Inductor L = 10 mH
DC-link capacitor Cdc = 58.5 mF
DC-link voltage rating Vdc = 1.13 kV

Table 2 PV model parameters

electron charge q = 1.6 × 10 − 19 C
shunt resistance Rsh = 1000 Ω
ideality factor A = 1.5
a
STC Short circuit current ISCS = 2.5 A
Fig. 2 Simplified equivalent circuit including the DC/DC PVFEC a
STC temperature TCS = 298 K
and the DC/AC GSC for PV plant simulation Boltzmann constant k = 1.38 × 10 − 23 J/K
series resistance Rs = 0.02 Ω
a
STC Saturation current Is = 1 × 10 − 9 A
temperature coefficient αT = 0.001
connected to the grid through line resistance Rf and a
STC solar irradiance ESTC = 1.0 kW/m2
inductance Lf. The PVFEC is based on a non-isolated DC/
DC boost converter since it is widely utilised and shows STC = Standard Test Condition
advantages over other topologies [18]. The symbol
definition and values of the PVFEC refer to Table 1. The
PV array is represented by a standard single diode model. d-axis is fixed to the source voltage Vs
The details of parameter estimation and model construction
are discussed in [19]. The I–V characteristics for the PV v
d isd −Rf /Lf isd 1 vsd − vcd
cell is illustrated as Ipv = f (Vpv, Ipv, Ee, ΔT ), where the = +
symbols, Ee and ΔT, represent the solar irradiance and the dt isq −v −Rf /Lf isq Lf vsq − vcq
temperature difference between the cell temperature (TC) (4)
and the STC temperature (TCS). The term ‘STC’ is defined
as solar irradiance of 1000 W/m² and cell temperature of
where ω represents the grid frequency, and the subscripts d
25°C.
and q of the current and voltage refer to the transformed
The mathematic representation of the solar cell model is
variables in the d and q frames. Other symbols refer to the
shown as (3), where symbols, iph and is, represent the
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 2. The active power
photon current and diode saturation current,
exchange from AC to DC or vice versa to regulate the
correspondingly. Other parameter definition and values are
capacitor DC-link should be balanced and expressed as
summarised in Table 2. The cell model can be aggregated
to form a PV array by multiplying the voltage by the
3 
number of series connection and the current by the number Pac = vcd isd + vcq isq (5)
of parallel connection. Shown in Fig. 2, the controller 2
commands the whole system operation by sending the dVdc 3 
control signals, the pulse-width modulation (PWM) duty Pdc = Cdc × Vdc + Idc × Vdc = vcd isd + vcq isq (6)
cycle (1-d) and voltage reference (Vabc) to the PVFEC and dt 2
GSC, respectively
When the GSC is assumed to be ideal, the AC and DC
variables can be expressed as (7) and (8)
   
Ipv = iph − is e q Vpv +Ipv Rs /(kA(TCS −DT )) − 1
d isd −Rf /Lf v isd 1 vsd
= +
Vpv + Ipv Rs dt isq −v −Rf /Lf isq Lf vsq
− (3)
Rsh Vdc Md
− (7)
2Lf Mq
where
dVdc 1 3 
= − Idc + Md isd + Mq isq (8)
dt C 4C
E
= e ISCS 1 + aT DT
 
iph
ESTC where Md = 2vcd/Vdc and Mq = 2vcq/Vdc are the modulation
indexes.
To address the balanced and unbalanced fault conditions,
and ΔT = TCS − TC. the proposed transient management scheme employs the
P&NSCS and decomposes the three-phase voltages and
currents into positive and negative sequence components.
2.4 Decoupling in double synchronous reference When the inverter operates at a balanced condition, the
frames negative sequence components disappear, thus the voltage
and current variables are all positive sequence components.
Following the diagram in Fig. 2, the three-phase AC side can Under unbalanced system conditions, the voltage of phase
be expressed as (4) in the d–q reference frame whereas the i ∈ (a, b, c) can be generally expressed as (9) when voltage

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decomposed into the positive- and negative-sequence
components. Therefore the zero-sequence component is
neglected and the voltage on the αβ reference frame can be
derived as

vsb T = VS(+ab) + VS(−ab)

 
V S (ab) = vsa
−
cos vt + f+
   
− cos −vt + f
= V+
s  + Vs
sin vt + f+ sin −vt + f−
  

(13)
Fig. 3 Voltage vectors and axes in double synchronous reference When the voltage vector Vs is written in positive and negative
frame sequence dq frames, the expression is obtained by the
following
harmonics are ignored
v+

V+
Sdq =
Sd +
= Tdq VS(ab) (14)

2p
 v+
Sq
+ +
vsi = Vs cos vt − k +f
3
− v−
Sd


−

2p
 VSdq = = Tdq VS(ab) (15)
+ Vs− cos −vt − k + f− (9) v−
Sq
3
where
where φ represents the phase angle shift and the superscripts
+ and − define the coefficients of the positive and negative

cos(u) sin(u)
+
sequence components, respectively. The coefficient k takes Tdq =
−sin(u) cos (u)
values of 0, 1, 2 for phases a, b, c, respectively. In the
stationary αβ reference frame shown in Fig. 3, the
three-phase voltages and currents are decomposed into and
positive and negative sequence components as

−
 cos(− u) sin(− u)
Tdq =
Fab (t) = Fab+ (t) + Fab− (t) −sin(− u) cos (− u)
  +
  −
= Fab+ ej(vt+f ) + Fab− e−j(vt+f ) (10) Shown in Fig. 3, the transformation between the (dq) + and
   
(dq) − reference frames is given by
where F represents either voltage or current and φ + and φ −
+ − −j2vt
are the phase shift for positive and negative sequence Fdq = Fdq e
components, respectively. Based on the dq reference (16)
− + +j2vt
frames, the voltage and current components become DC Fdq = Fdq e
values, which ease the regulation requirement and allow to
use ordinary linear controllers, such as PI or PID type. The Using the phase locked loop to determine the synchronising
positive and negative sequence components in the phase angle (θ′ = ωt) and assuming the estimation in (17),
stationary αβ reference frame are then transformed into (dq) + the voltage vectors become (18)
and (dq) − reference frames at angular speed ω and − ω,
respectively. Using the non-normalised Clarke
⎧ 
⎨ sin vt − u′  ≃ vt − u′
  
transformation, the voltage vector and transformation matrix cos vt − u′ ≃ 1 (17)
are expressed as (11) and (12), correspondingly. ⎩
(− vt − u′ ) ≃ −2vt

vsa T

⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤  −

 vsa − cos −2vt + f 
⎧
+ 1
⎪ V ≃ V + V
V s(ab) = ⎣ vsb ⎦ = Tabg ⎣ vsb ⎦ (11) ⎨ s(dq+) s vt − u ′ s sin −2vt + f−
⎪
vsg vsc  − (18)
⎪ + cos(2 v t) − cos f 
⎪ Vs(dq−) ≃ Vs + Vs
sin f−
⎩ 
⎡ ⎤ sin(2vt)

 2 1 √ −1/2
 −1/2
√
T abg = ⎣ 0 3/2 − 3/2 ⎦ (12)
3 Therefore the AC side of the inverter model shown can be
1/2 1/2 1/2 expressed in the (dq) + and (dq) − reference frames as
The decomposed voltage components are usually expressed +
as V0, V1 and V2 for zero, positive and negative sequence d isd −R/L v i+
sd
+
1 vsd
+
Vdc Md
= + −
components, respectively. The zero sequence component is dt i+
sq −v −R/L i+
sq L v+
sq 2L Mq+
always real and the negative sequence component is
−
complex conjugate of the positive sequence components d isd −R/L v i−
sd
−
1 vsd
−
Vdc Md
and therefore superfluous. However, the −ve component = + −
dt i−
sq −v −R/L i−
sq L v−
sq 2L Mq−
phasor is independent of +ve component. An unbalanced
three-phase variable with non-zero-sequence can be (19)

1030 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
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3 Grid side inverter and transient defined as
management ⎧ 
 + 2 2
Iq+ref , + +
⎪
Since the GSC is modelled as a controllable voltage source, as ⎪
⎪
⎪ Irating . Idref + Iqref
shown in Fig. 3, the three-phase output is directly generated
⎨
+
Iqref 
from the Park transformation, which neglects grid harmonic 
2  
2
+ 2
⎪
⎪ +
 +
 + 2 +
injections. The AC current is decoupled into two control ⎪
⎪
⎩ Irating − Idref , Irating ≤ Idref + Iqref
loops, where the exchange of active power and reactive
power is regulated by controlling the direct and quadrature (20)
current, respectively.

When the magnitude of current reference combining both d

3.1 Positive and negative sequence voltage
controllers
Fig. 4 illustrates the PV inverter control diagram comprising
both positive and negative sequence loops and employing
the grid voltage synchronous reference frame in order to
manage active and reactive power regulation through dq
currents separately. For positive sequence components, the
desired positive sequence grid voltage is utilised to generate
the q-axis current reference and the DC-link voltage is
maintained by controlling the d-axis current to regulate the
active power. To maximise the solar power generation, the
real current regulation is given higher priority, whereas
+
the magnitude of the reference signal, Iqref , is constrained
by the inverter rated capacity. Therefore a switching
+
mechanism for the command Iqref is illustrated in Fig. 4 and
+
and q frames is under the capacity limit of Irating , the
+ +
q-frame current command Iqref follows Iq ref , which is the
output of the primary voltage control loop. In case that it is
+ +
higher than Irating , the q-frame current command Iqref follows
the current limit, which is determined by the available
active power and the capacity limit, as shown in Fig. 4 and
expressed in (20). The reference currents are compared with
the measured currents and the error signals are then fed into
the current regulators to produce the output voltages
reference so as to control the current flowing through the
converter filter. For negative sequence components, the
controller regulates the converter negative sequence voltage
to zero, as shown in Fig. 4. Hence, the terminal voltage
becomes balanced and the unbalanced voltage shows no
direct effects on the DC-link voltage. The control strategy
neutralises the DC-link voltages ripples to alleviate DC-bus
double-line-frequency ripples that exist under unbalanced

Fig. 4 Positive and negative sequence controller for PV inverters

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grid conditions. The mitigation of the DC-bus voltage ripple
also eliminates undesirable low-order harmonics in the
voltage source converter (VSC) AC-side voltages and
currents. In the negative sequence loop, the negative
sequence converter current is measured and compared with
the desired value, which is determined from the voltage
regulators. The negative sequence voltage reference is set to
zero to generate the negative sequence current reference.
Similarly, the current reference signals are utilised for the
negative sequence current regulator to produce the voltage
reference. The control outputs of both positive and negative
sequence control loops are added together for the
three-phase PWM generator.
The overloading capability is considered in the controller
design by releasing the current limiters and the priority of
the overloading is chosen to regulate the negative sequence
voltage and current. Thus, based on the maximum
allowable overloading current of the VSC, the upper
limitation for the negative sequence current and the positive
sequence current can be limited.
3.2 Dynamic circuit of the capacitor DC link
The DC circuit of the PV inverter is controlled based on the
principle of power balance. The voltage controller of the
capacitor DC-link considers the instantaneous positive and
negative sequence active powers to maintain the DC-link
voltage at the desired voltage. The positive and negative
sequence active power equations are expressed as
3 + + 
PS+ = vSd iSd + v+ +
Sq iSq (21)
2 Fig. 5. The performance and the transient behaviors of the
Fig. 5 Single-line diagram of the utility-scale PV power system interconnection with the medium voltage grid
1032
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3 − − 
PS− = vSd iSd + v− −
Sq iSq (22)
2
The DC power is equal to the AC instantaneous power which
is the sum the positive and negative instantaneous powers
PS = PS+ + PS− . Hence, the resultant power is divided by
the measured DC voltage to determine the controlled
current signal of current source. The double-line-frequency
components Pd and Pq are filtered using the notch filters to
minimise the ripple in the DC voltage. Therefore the
capacitor DC-link is maintained at constant voltage based
on the DC voltage regulators of the positive and negative
sequence controllers as shown in Fig. 4.
4 Evaluation
The case study is based on an utility-scale (3.3 MW) PV
power system connected to a distribution system, and
includes other distributed generation sources including a
2.4 MW wind turbine using squirrel cage induction
generator comprising a STATCOM and a 0.9 MW diesel
generator, as shown in Fig. 5. Each grid-tied inverter is
rated as 0.11 MW. The PV plant is composed of 30
inverters and so has a total capacity of 3.3 MW. When the
fault happens, the meteorological parameters are 1000 W/
m2 solar irradiance and 50°C cell temperature. The MPPT
follow the simple algorithms presented in [20]. The PV
arrays are connected to the medium voltage bus via a 0.69/
25 kV transformer, and the distribution system is connected
to transmission grid through 25/132 kV substation
transformers. The distribution system load is mixed with
static and dynamic load of induction motors as shown in
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
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PV plant are investigated in response to severe asymmetrical
and symmetrical grid faults. The PV plant is interconnected to
a weak grid with the level of SCR = 5 and X/R = 8. For
comparison, the PV plant operation is analysed under the
same circumstances with consideration of the following
control schemes: (i) without FRT capability; (ii) positive
sequence controller of the PV inverter; (iii) P&NSCS of the
PV inverter. The objectives of the reported cases are to
demonstrate the FRT capability of the PV plant for
supporting the grid.
4.1 Double-line-to-ground fault
The effectiveness of the proposed controllers is evaluated using
PSCAD/EMTDC. To illustrate the improvement, the simulation
results are compared with the reported three methods when
the system is simulated under a double-line-to-ground fault
for 400 ms duration as follows: (i) without FRT capability;
(ii) FRT with employing positive sequence control scheme;
(iii) FRT with employing P&NSCS.
The simulation shows that the P&NSCS demonstrates the
effective operation and superior performance in response to
the unbalance voltage condition, as illustrated in Fig. 6.
During pre-fault period, the PV plant is operated on the
positive-sequence controller. Hence, the negative sequence
compensation for voltages and currents are zero, as shown
in Figs. 6a–c.
When the fault happens at t = 12 s, the negative sequence
controller is activated and provides the voltage and current
compensation showing on the negative dq synchronous
− − − −
frame, as VSd , VSq , VdS and VqS , respectively. The extracted
positive and negative sequence components for the voltages
and currents are regulated to achieve the proper
compensation at the terminal of the GSC. The positive
Fig. 6 Measured signals of the PV inverter controllers in response
of the double-line-to-ground fault
a Voltage in dq frame
b Negative sequence current in dq frame
c Negative-sequence voltage compensation
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sequence voltage is controlled to follow the reference value
1.0 pu and the negative sequence voltage component is
regulated to zero. Consequently, the oscillatory power terms
Pcos and Psin are cancelled, whereas cosine and sin terms
are equated to zero.
When the voltage dip is detected and Vpcc < 0.7, the
PVFEC is operated at non-MPPT mode, which regulates the
active power delivered to the grid. The voltage of IDCL is
maintained within the limit by the DC voltage regulators.
During the unbalanced faults, the negative sequence voltage
is measured and compared with the desired value, which is
set to be zero, for the mitigation regulator to generate the
shunt compensation current reference. The P&NSCS can
handle the unbalanced grid disturbances since the control
scheme includes both positive and negative sequence
compensation. The instantaneous positive and negative
sequence components are extracted from instantaneous
voltage values. Thus, the PI controller is used to handle the
first-order term, control the output current and regulate the
negative sequence voltage components to zero. It should be
noted that the DC-link measured voltage is fed into a filter
that eliminates double-frequency oscillation induced by the
negative sequence power. Without negative sequence
currents appearing at the grid terminal, the voltage will
become balanced, so that the unbalanced voltage dip shows
no direct effects on the PV plant as the terminal voltage is
maintained over 0.7 pu. Shown in Fig. 7b, the PV array
delivers the generated active power to the electric grid when
the P&NSCS is adopted, which is different from the case
study by employing only positive-sequence control or
without FRT scheme.
The simulation results demonstrate the superior
performance of the P&NSCS for delivering the active
power supply to grid during the fault and maintaining the
grid voltage with ΔV1 = 0.45 pu compared with the PV
plant without FRT, as shown in Fig. 7a. The variations of
active power and reactive power are shown in Figs. 7b and
Fig. 7 Measured signals
a Voltage at PCC
b Active power of PV array
c Reactive power of PV array with the IDCL capacitors
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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013

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7c, respectively. The PV array voltage follows the MPPT
voltage in case of employing the P&NSCS as illustrated in
Fig. 8a. The positive sequence controller demonstrates
lower performance for maintaining the grid voltage and
injecting active power during the fault.
During the fault, the PVFEC is modulated to reduce the active
power to zero to protect the DC-link from overvoltage condition
in case of W/O FRT as well as positive sequence controller as
shown in Fig. 8b. However, the positive sequence control
show a better performance of voltage response and minimum
voltage dip than that of the PV power system without FRT
implementation as shown in Figs. 7a and 8a. The shunt
compensation via the PV inverter is capable of supplying
desired amount of reactive power to support the deteriorated
grid voltage so as to stabilise the system. Nevertheless, when
a serious fault happens, the upper limitation of the injected
reactive current leads to the dissatisfaction of reactive power
from the shunt compensation that aims to build up the voltage
across the grid impedance.
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shown in Figs. 9a and 9b. The fast recovery results in
slightly higher voltage shooting shown on the DC-link than
the test case without FRT operation. However, the DC-link
voltage is well controlled within the limit, as shown in Fig. 9e.
Therefore the Vpv deviates from the MPPT voltage during
the fault as shown in Fig. 9d. The simulation results
demonstrate the superior performance of the positive-
sequence controller to maintain the grid voltage by ΔV =
0.3 pu subject to the limitation of the inverter rating current,
as shown in Fig. 9a. Further, it improves voltage response
and voltage recovery showing that the recovery time is 180
ms faster than the case without FRT support.
4.3 FRT with overloading capability of PV inverter
The voltage support and system stability can be improved by
increasing the instant reactive power compensation from PV

4.2 Three-phase-to-ground fault

The PV power system is examined in response to a
symmterical grid fault to demonstarte the effectiveness of
the proposed FRT control scheme. A three-phase-to-ground
fault is simulated at the grid at the instant t = 12 s for a
duration of 150 ms to verify the effectiveness of the FRT
enhancement of positive sequence controller whereas the
negative-sequence components for voltage and current are
zero. Fig. 9 illustrates the simulated waveforms to verify the
FRT effectiveness against the three phases to ground fault.
When the voltage sag is detected < 0.7 of the grid voltage
as shown in Fig. 9a, the PVFEC is modulated to reduce the
active power delivered to the grid to zero as show in
Fig. 9b to avoid the overvoltage on the DC-link as shown
in Fig. 9e. When the fault is cleared and the grid voltage
regains 0.7 pu, the positive sequence controller shows faster
terminal voltage recovery through injecting active power to
grid in comparison with the case W/O FRT operation, as

Fig. 9 Simulated waveforms of the PV power systems generating

0.11 MW power
a PCC voltage
b Active power
Fig. 8 Operation of boost converter and inverter DC-link voltage c Reactive power generated by the PV system
a voltages at MPPT point and PV voltage d Voltages at MPPT point and PV voltage
b DC link voltage e DC link voltage

1034 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013 doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0154

system with employing the short-term overloading capability
of the VSC [21]. Thus, the VSC with different ranges of
overloading capability is implemented and examined in
response to three -phase-to-ground faults at t = 12 s for a
duration of 150 ms, as shown in Fig. 10. Consequently, the
PV inverters with the over loading capability achieve better
voltage support showing the reduced voltage dip with the
magnitudes of ΔV2, ΔV3 and ΔV4, for 150, 200 and 280%
overloading capability, respectively. Applying the
overloading capability of the inverter can speed up the
voltage recovery after the fault condition. Shown in Fig. 10,
the Δt indicates the improvement of the recovery time by
comparing with the case without FRT. Furthermore, the
implementation of the overloading capability significantly
improves the system stability of interconnected diesel
generator and SEIG-WT.
Fig. 11 shows the speed variations for diesel generator and
SEIG-WT in response to the three-phase to ground faults. As
the study case for the three-phase to ground fault, the negative
sequence controller is not considered in case of balanced
system condition. Therefore the controller considers only
positive sequence control layer and the simulation results
are evaluated with respect to the case W/O FRT
implementation. The simulation demonstrates the FRT
Fig. 10 Voltage support with employing the overloading
capability of PV inverter in response three-phase-to-ground fault
for duration of 150 ms
Fig. 11 Measured generator speed of
a Diesel generator and
b SEIG-WT
When the system is subjected to three-phase to ground fault for duration of
150 ms
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0154
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www.ietdl.org
performance in the cases of employing positive sequence
controllers, and without FRT. Without any FRT
implementation, the magnitudes of generator speeds
oscillation reache ± 0.085 pu. and ± 0.065 pu. for the
SEIG-WT and diesel generator correspondingly. The
oscillation amplitudes are significantly reduced within the
limits of ± 0.036 and ± 0.016 pu. for SEIG-WT and diesel
generator, respectively, with very fast damping when the
P&NSCS is applied. Shown in Fig. 11, the FRT
performance is better than the case that only the positive
sequence control is utilised. The evaluation illustrates the
effectiveness of the P&NSCS for improving the system
stability and damping characteristics of the generator speed.
5 Conclusion
This study follows the positive and negative sequence control
approach and PV characteristics to enhance FRT capability
for utility-scale PV power plants. The proposed strategy
alleviates DC-bus double-line-frequency ripples, reduces
voltage stress on inverter power switches and DC-link
capacitors, and minimises AC-side low-order voltage and
current harmonics. Applying the overload capability of
grid-tied inverters is also presented for achieving superior
FRT performance, but avoiding additional cost to the
overall system. A comprehensive simulation is conducted to
evaluate the control performance in enhancing the stability
of interconnected distributed generation in reaction to
severe balanced and unbalanced voltage conditions. The test
system comprises a 3.3 MW PV plant, a 2.4 MW
self-excited induction generator, and a 0.9 MW diesel
generators, which are interfaced with the weak electric grid.
It shows that the proposed control schemes is simple and
functional for mitigating the voltage dip, enhancing the
voltage response, and further improving the stability of
interconnected distributed generation in response to severe
unbalanced voltage conditions because of the asymmetrical
grid faults.
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7 Appendix
The simulation parameters are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 9, pp. 1027–1036
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2013.0154