POWER QUALITY ASPECT OF

SOLAR POWER
JWG C4/C6.29
Members
J. Smith, Convenor US
S. Ronnberg, Secretary SE
A. Blanco DE
M. Bollen SE
Z. Emin GB
D. Ilisiu RO
L. Koo GB
J. Meyer DE
D. Mushamalirwa FR
P. Ribeiro BR
N. Wilmot AU

Copyright © 2016
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permitted by law”.

ISBN : 978-2-85873-375-0
 Power Quality Aspects of Solar Power

Power Quality Aspects of Solar

Power
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 7

Background on the Working Group and Scope ............................................................................ 7
Technical Brochure Overview ....................................................................................................... 7
Key Findings.................................................................................................................................. 8
Harmonics ................................................................................................................................... 8
Supraharmonics ......................................................................................................................... 9
Fast Voltage Variations ............................................................................................................ 10
Slow Voltage Variations ............................................................................................................ 10
Overvoltage .............................................................................................................................. 11
Flicker 11
Voltage Unbalance ................................................................................................................... 11
Connection and Disconnection ................................................................................................. 12
Industry Survey on Power Quality Experience Related to Solar PV Installations ....................... 12
Further Work ............................................................................................................................... 13

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 14
1.1 Scope of the JWG ............................................................................................................. 14
1.2 Overview of Disturbances ................................................................................................. 15
1.2.1 Harmonics.................................................................................................................... 15
1.2.2 Supraharmonics .......................................................................................................... 15
1.2.3 Fast Voltage Variations ............................................................................................... 15
1.2.4 Slow Voltage Variations ............................................................................................... 15
1.2.5 Flicker .......................................................................................................................... 15
1.2.6 Overvoltage ................................................................................................................. 15
1.2.7 Connect/Disconnect .................................................................................................... 16
1.2.8 Voltage unbalance ....................................................................................................... 16
1.3 Terminology ...................................................................................................................... 16
1.4 Primary and Secondary Emissions ................................................................................... 17
1.5 Overview of Impacts ......................................................................................................... 17
1.6 PV installation topology .................................................................................................... 19
1.7 Hosting Capacity Approach .............................................................................................. 19
1.8 References........................................................................................................................ 20

SURVEY ON UTILITY’S EXPERIENCES ............................................................................. 21

2.1 Survey participants ........................................................................................................... 21
2.2 General concerns ............................................................................................................. 23
2.3 Monitoring practice ........................................................................................................... 23
2.4 Impact on power quality levels ......................................................................................... 24
2.5 Interferences caused by PV installations .......................................................................... 24
2.6 Application of emission limits ............................................................................................ 24

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2.7 Supporting Comments ...................................................................................................... 25
2.8 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 25
2.9 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 25
2.10 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 25
2.11 References........................................................................................................................ 25

HARMONICS ......................................................................................................................... 27
3.1 Individual PV inverters (unit level) .................................................................................... 27
3.1.1 Small-sized PV inverters ............................................................................................. 28
3.1.2 Medium and large PV-inverters ................................................................................... 32
3.2 Multiple PV inverters (plant level) ..................................................................................... 33
3.2.1 Small PV-inverters ....................................................................................................... 34
3.2.2 Medium and large PV-inverters ................................................................................... 36
3.3 Impact on the network (network level) .............................................................................. 37
3.3.1 Impact on harmonic voltage distortion at the connection point ................................... 37
3.3.2 Impact of small PV plants at weak connection points ................................................. 38
3.3.3 Attenuation of harmonics by distribution transformer .................................................. 39
3.3.4 Impact of distributed PV inverters in low voltage networks ......................................... 41
3.3.5 Impact of harmonic impedance on stability ................................................................. 42
3.4 Emission assessment ....................................................................................................... 43
3.4.1 Calculation of hosting capacity .................................................................................... 43
3.4.2 Emission limits ............................................................................................................. 45
3.4.3 Emission assessment .................................................................................................. 45
3.5 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 46
3.6 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 46
3.7 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 47
3.8 References........................................................................................................................ 47

SUPRAHARMONICS ............................................................................................................ 50
4.1 What are supraharmonics?............................................................................................... 50
4.2 Emission – primary and secondary .................................................................................. 50
4.3 Primary emission .............................................................................................................. 50
4.4 Variations in primary emission .......................................................................................... 52
4.5 Secondary emission ......................................................................................................... 54
4.6 Influence of harmonic distortion on supraharmonic emission of PV inverters .................. 54
4.7 Input impedance of PV inverters ...................................................................................... 55
4.8 Hosting Capacity Determinations ..................................................................................... 55
4.9 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 55
4.10 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 55
4.11 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 56
4.12 References........................................................................................................................ 56

FAST VOLTAGE VARIATIONS ............................................................................................ 58

5.1 Characterizing Changes in Active and Reactive Power ................................................... 58
5.1.1 Size and Layout of PV Plant ........................................................................................ 58
5.1.2 Cloud Enhancement .................................................................................................... 59
5.1.3 Fixed-Axis vs Tracking ................................................................................................ 59
5.1.4 Climate Characteristics ................................................................................................ 60
5.1.5 Reactive Power ........................................................................................................... 60
5.2 Single PV installation (Single Point of Connection) .......................................................... 60
5.2.1 Quantifying PV Output Variability ................................................................................ 60
5.2.2 Small-Scale Distributed Systems ................................................................................ 61
5.2.3 Large-Scale Solar PV Systems ................................................................................... 62
5.3 Multiple PV Installations (Multiple Points of Connection) ................................................. 63

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5.4 Hosting Capacity ............................................................................................................... 64
5.4.1 Single PV Systems ...................................................................................................... 64
5.4.2 Multiple PV Systems .................................................................................................... 65
5.5 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 65
5.6 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 65
5.7 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 65
5.8 References........................................................................................................................ 65

SLOW VOLTAGE VARIATIONS........................................................................................... 67

6.1 Impact of PV Installations on Slow Voltage Variations ..................................................... 67
6.1.1 Daily Movement of the Sun ......................................................................................... 67
6.1.2 Weekly Variations ........................................................................................................ 67
6.1.3 Annual Variations ........................................................................................................ 67
6.1.4 Changes in Amount of Cloud Cover ............................................................................ 67
6.1.5 Shading due to Fixed Objects ..................................................................................... 68
6.1.6 Solar Eclipse ................................................................................................................ 68
6.1.7 PV and Electricity Markets........................................................................................... 68
6.1.8 Existing Voltage Control .............................................................................................. 68
6.2 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 68
6.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 69
6.4 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 69

OVERVOLTAGE ................................................................................................................... 70
7.1 Voltage Rise due to PV Production .................................................................................. 70
7.1.1 Overvoltage Protection of PV Installations .................................................................. 70
7.2 Consequences of the Increace in Voltage Magnitude ...................................................... 71
7.3 Hosting Capacity ............................................................................................................... 71
7.3.1 Distributed generation in general ................................................................................ 71
7.3.2 Low-voltage feeders .................................................................................................... 72
7.3.3 PV installations ............................................................................................................ 73
7.3.4 Probability-based limits ................................................................................................ 73
7.4 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 73
7.5 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 73
7.6 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 73

FLICKER................................................................................................................................ 74
8.1 Large-Scale PV Systems .................................................................................................. 74
8.2 Small-Scale PV Installations ............................................................................................. 75
8.3 Operational Considerations .............................................................................................. 77
8.4 Hosting Capacity ............................................................................................................... 78
8.5 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 78
8.6 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 79
8.7 Open Issues ...................................................................................................................... 79
8.8 References........................................................................................................................ 79

VOLTAGE UNBALANCE ...................................................................................................... 80

9.1 Individual units .................................................................................................................. 80
9.2 Multiple units at one location ............................................................................................ 80
9.3 Multiple units at multiple locations .................................................................................... 82
9.3.1 Deterministic approach ................................................................................................ 82
9.3.2 Stochastic approach .................................................................................................... 84
9.4 Hosting capacity ............................................................................................................... 85
9.4.1 Individual units ............................................................................................................. 85
9.4.2 Multiple units ................................................................................................................ 86

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9.5 Single-phase laterals ........................................................................................................ 87
9.6 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 87
9.7 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 87
9.8 Open issues ...................................................................................................................... 88
9.9 References........................................................................................................................ 88

CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTION ............................................................................ 89

10.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 89
10.2 Occurrences for which solar PV are disconnected ........................................................... 89
10.3 Switching of PV installations ............................................................................................. 89
10.4 Transients Due to PV installation connection and disconnection ..................................... 89
10.5 PV installatin energization sequence and inrush current ................................................. 90
10.6 Load rejection overvoltages .............................................................................................. 91
10.7 PV installation de-energization under short-circuit condition ............................................ 92
10.8 Compensation shunt reactor............................................................................................. 93
10.9 Findings ............................................................................................................................ 93
10.10 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 94
10.11 Open issues ...................................................................................................................... 94
10.12 References........................................................................................................................ 94

ANNEX A: QUESTIONNAIRE ON POWER QUALITY ISSUES RELATED TO PHOTOVOLTAIC

INSTALLATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 95

ANNEX B: CLIMATE REGIONS AND IMPACT ON SOLAR VARIABILITY ..................... 98

12.1 References...................................................................................................................... 100

ANNEX C: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EMISSIONS ................................................. 101

13.1 Single-phase diode rectifiers .......................................................................................... 101
13.2 Modern devices .............................................................................................................. 102
13.2.1 Active converters ....................................................................................................... 102
13.2.2 Supraharmonics ........................................................................................................ 102
13.2.3 Wind power plants ..................................................................................................... 102
13.2.4 Distinction between primary and secondary emission .............................................. 103
13.3 A general treatment ........................................................................................................ 103
13.3.1 Two sources and two impedances ............................................................................ 103
13.3.2 Contributions to the emission .................................................................................... 103
13.4 Proposed definitions ....................................................................................................... 104
13.4.1 Primary harmonic emission ....................................................................................... 104
13.4.2 Secondary harmonic emission .................................................................................. 104
13.4.3 Harmonic interaction .................................................................................................. 104
13.5 Some further discussion ................................................................................................. 105
13.5.1 Primary emission ....................................................................................................... 105
13.5.2 Secondary emission .................................................................................................. 105
13.6 Harmonic finger prints ..................................................................................................... 107
13.7 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 108
13.8 References...................................................................................................................... 108

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background on the Working Group and Scope

The Working Group (WG) was formed in 2012 as a joint C4/C6 effort with the first official meeting taking place,
December 2012, following the 4th IRED Conference in Berlin, Germany.

This WG was formed to examine the power quality aspects of solar power in the form of photovoltaic installations
(PVIs), specifically addressing

 Characteristic harmonics (odd harmonics up to 2 kHz for single-phase installations; odd non-triple harmonics
for three-phase installations).
 Low-order non-characteristic harmonics (even harmonics and interharmonics up to 2 kHz, also odd triple
harmonics for three-phase installations)
 High-frequency distortion (frequency-components in the frequency range 2 to 150 kHz)
 Single rapid voltage changes, flicker and other voltage-magnitude variations at time scales below 10 minutes.
 Unbalance due to single-phase installations
 Supply voltage variations at time scales of 10 minutes and longer

Consideration was also given to two additional phenemona that distribution planners have found to be of high
concern:

 Overvoltage occurrences due to normal operation of solar power

 Sudden disconnection of PV installations and the impact of this disconnection on transient and temporary
overvoltages

Since the first meeting, the WG held eight physical meetings alongside various industry conferences (CIGRE, CIRED,
and IEEE PES) as well as multiple virtual meetings.

Technical Brochure Overview

The Technical Brochure (TB) resulting from the WG is divided into ten chapters and three annexes.

Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the work.

Chapter 2 provides a summary of an industry-wide survey of utility power quality experience with solar power.

Chapter 3 provides a summary of characteristic harmonics as well as low-order non-characteristic harmonics emitted
by PVIs.

Chapter 4 provides a summary of supraharmonics (any type of waveform distortion of voltage and current in the
frequency range between 2 and 150 kHz), emitted by PVIs.

Chapter 5 provides a summary of fast voltage variations (time scales less than 10 minutes) induced by variations in
solar active power production of PVIs.

Chapter 6 provides a brief summary of slow voltage variations (time scales of 10 minutes and longer) induced by
variations in production of PVIs.

Chapter 7 provides a brief summary of overvoltages induced by solar power production. While certainly not unique
to solar, this phenomenon is often one of the more critical aspects to consider today regarding grid performance due
to PVIs.

Chapter 8 summarizes the flicker performance from various PV installations according to IEC 61000-4-15 and IEEE
1453 standards.

Chapter 9 summarizes the potential for voltage unbalance due to single-phase connected solar PV installations.

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Chapter 10 summarizes the phenomena that can occur during sudden disconnection and reconnection of solar PV,
particularly transient overvoltages, temporary overvoltage, steady-state overvoltage and inrush currents.

Annex A provides a summary of the industry power quality survey that is referenced extensively throughout the TB.

Annex B provides a summary of climate regions in the US and how this impacts output variability of PV installations.

Annex C provides a brief summary of the differences between primary and secondary emission.

Key Findings
For each of the phenomena considered for PV installations (PVI 1), a number of recommendations, key findings, and
open issues have been drawn by the WG, which are summarized below.

Harmonics

FINDINGS
The harmonic current characteristic of individual PV inverters largely varies between different models and
manufacturers. Magnitude and phase angle of the harmonic currents depend on many impact factors, like supply
voltage distortion, output power or harmonic network impedance. In most cases highest harmonic currents are
observed at 100% output power. Consequently, neither general models, nor simplified constant current source
approaches are sufficient for realistic simulation studies. This issue is also addressed by the CIGRE/CIRED working
group C4/B4.38 on network modelling for harmonic studies.

Harmonic magnitudes and phase angles (phasors) are important for realistic studies of cancellation effects between
PV inverters / PV installations and other installations. If larger PV plants are built using multiple individual PV inverters
of the same model, the harmonic currents of individual PV inverters add up arithmetically up to higher harmonic
orders. The standard summation exponents (e.g. according to IEC 61000-3-6) are not suitable in this case.

PV inverters can have a significant impact on harmonic network impedance. Particular in larger PV installations the
grid-side filter circuits can cause significant resonances at low frequencies. The resonant frequency decreases with
increasing number of inverters. Consequently, input impedances of PV inverters should be considered in harmonic
network impedance studies.

Under specific circumstances PV inverters can get unstable and trip. This has been observed along with high voltage
distortion due to network resonances, which are usually accompanied by high impedances at certain frequencies
around the resonance.

The analysis of network measurements has shown that particular harmonic voltages at orders higher than 25 are
significantly attenuated by the distribution transformers. In case of distributed PV-inverters in LV networks the impact
on the harmonic voltage in the network (decrease, increase or no impact) is usually different for each harmonic order.
It is determined by the existing potential of cancellation with other equipment and a possible filter effect of the grid-
side circuit of the PV inverters.

RECOMMENDATIONS
For realistic harmonic studies the dependency of harmonic currents of PV inverters on supply voltage distortion and
network impedance as well as the input impedance characteristic, which can cause resonances in the networks, has
to be considered.

In case of centrally located PV inverters (e.g. in large PV plants), particularly in case of similar inverter models,
harmonic currents should be added arithmetically independent of the harmonic order. For distributed PV inverters
(e.g. in residential areas) the aggregation with residential equipment should be taken into account.

1 A Photovoltaic installation (PVI) can be a single installation with one inverter, single installation with multiple
inverters, or multiple installations and inverters with multiple points of interconnect.
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 Power Quality Aspects of Solar Power
Particularly in case of a high share of PV inverters in a network or in case of large PV plants the risk of high harmonic
voltages due to instabilities with multiple controllers should be considered.

With respect to standardization testing conditions and emission limits, especially for the small-sized PV inverters for
mass-market applications, should be revised. Setups using only sinusoidal test voltage and no reference impedance
(like in IEC 61000-3-2) do not reflect the real behavior of the inverter in the network and do not consider the different
sensitivities of the PV inverters to supply voltage distortion or network impedance at all. Even the specification of a
defined impedance characteristic for certain frequency ranges could be considered for future revisions of the
respective standards.

Measurements of PV inverters or PV plants in laboratory or field should include harmonic magnitudes and phase
angles. Knowledge about complex harmonic currents (phasors) can significantly improve e.g. studies of cancellation
effects or the separation between customer-side and network-side contributions to the harmonic emission levels.

OPEN ISSUES
More comprehensive knowledge about the harmonic current characteristic of medium-sized and large-sized PV
inverters is needed, particularly in order to improve the accuracy of respective harmonic studies.

Harmonic models for PV inverters require a lot of information from the manufactures, which is usually kept
confidential. Due to this lack of knowledge, suitable, manufacturer-specific harmonic models capable to be used for
studies of harmonic emission, harmonic instabilities or harmonic resonance are still missing. This includes also
aggregated harmonic models, e.g. for representing a PV plant consisting of multiple PV-inverters. Measurement-
based models seem to be a possible approach to improve the model accuracy compared to the simple models based
on constant current sources, however the superposition of the different impact factors, like supply voltage distortion,
network impedance, magnitude of supply voltage and output power of the PV-inverter is still not validated.

Comprehensive knowledge about the possible impact of PV inverters on the harmonic network impedance,
particularly their contribution to harmonic resonances in public LV grids, is still missing.

General and final conclusions about the impact of PV power on the harmonic levels are not known and might even
not be possible. It strongly depends on the situation, which is e.g. the size of PV installation, the harmonic impedance
at the connection point and the PV inverter models. However, a significant increase of harmonic levels on a large
scale cannot be observed yet.

Supraharmonics

FINDINGS
PVIs are a source of supraharmonics. Measurements show that the emissions from PVIs can be found at frequencies
up to 20 kHz. The emission from PVIs (as well as for other low voltage devices) is greatly affected by neighboring
devices; this has been shown for PVIs connected at the low voltage network in the following ways:

 The presence of neighboring supraharmonic sources can cause secondary emission at the PVI.
 Changes in source impedance due to connection and disconnection of neighboring devices will im pact the
primary emission from a PVI.
 Voltage harmonics (3rd, 5th and 7th) have shown strong correlations with the supraharmonic emission from a
PVI.

RECOMMENDATIONS
More efforts from network operators as well as from the research community should be put towards harmonic studies
covering the whole frequency range up to 150 kHz. Small installations at LV (i.e. roof top installations) and larger
installations at higher voltage levels (i.e. solar plants) need to be treated differently with regards to supraharm onic
interaction. Solar plants are often connected to medium voltage with few other loads connected and any interaction
will likely take place within the plant between inverters. Roof top installations are connected at the customer site of
the meter and therewith close to other LV devices. Possible interaction between the inverter and other devices is
hence more likely to occur for small installations.

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OPEN ISSUES
The lack of a good method to distinguish between primary and secondary emission 2 is a serious barrier when studying
emission from PV installations and other modern types of devices or installations.

It is unclear if the impact from neighbouring devices shown for PVIs connected at the low voltage network will be the
same within large solar plants. The large variation of input impedance of different PVIs indicates that this will be the
case.

Fast Voltage Variations

FINDINGS
Statistics of PV ramping characteristics are provided for various sizes and configurations.

Geographic size and layout have the greatest impact on PVI output variability. The larger PVIs (in terms of capacity
and geographic footprint) exhibit slower ramping compared to their smaller-sized counterparts.

Relating the PVI ramping characteristics to voltage fluctuations is dependent on the grid-connection point of the PVI
and the associated grid impedance (especially the resistance). Simple calculation methods for determining impact
from PVIs connected at a single point of interconnect are provided. Distributed PVI across a network requires more
detailed network modeling.

RECOMMENDATIONS
When examining voltage impacts due to output variability of a PVI, appropriately sized (kVA) PVI data should be
used based upon the PVI under study. For example, utilizing measurement data from a 1 kW system and scaling the
output to a much larger 1 MW system will result in overestimation of PV ramping impacts

The output distribution characteristics provided for various sized PVIs in the report can be used as guidance for
examining the impact of sudden changes in PV output on voltage.

OPEN ISSUES
There are no general aggregation rules for multiple PV systems connected to the same distribution grid.

Slow Voltage Variations

FINDINGS
The presence of PV installations in distribution networks will result in additional contribution to the variations of voltage
magnitude at time scales of 10 minutes and longer. The average voltage magnitude will increase, but the voltage
magnitude will also show more variations. This includes daily variations, annual variations and intra-hour variations
due to passing clouds. Also rare but predictable solar eclipses will result in additional variations in voltage magnitude.

The presence of PV may also lead to an increase or decrease in operations of mechanically-switched regulation
equipment (OLTC, regulators, switched capacitor banks) depending upon coincidence of solar production and load.
When solar and load profiles are non-coincident increased operations are expected. However, when the solar and
load profiles are coincident decreased operations are possible.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Studies are needed to quantify the consequences of coincident and non-coincident solar production and load profiles
on voltage-magnitude variations. A good starting point will be the gathering of long-term data on voltage-magnitude
variations at locations with and without solar power, as well as the analysis of historical data.

2 See Annex C of the TB for further information regarding primary and secondary emissions
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