Being Good Citizens of

the Grid
Claude Colp
Applications Engineer
[email protected]
@ClaudeColp

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 Introduction
1. Company Overview

2. Relays 27, 59, 81, ect.

3. Effective Grounding

4. Power curtailment

5. Power Factor

6. Reactive power support

Solectria Renewables
Lawrence, MA
7. Solectria’ s work at ESIF

8. Reactive power support

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 Company Overview

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 25 Year Development History
• Inverter power stage technology developed over 25 years of automotive and
military applications
• Proven reliability in harsh conditions

Efficient
EV Drives Commercial, Utility-Scale, and
Residential PV Inverters

Compact
Low Cost

Powerful

Reliable
Rugged

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 Solectria History
• 1989 – Solectria Corporation founded Yaskawa Electric Acquires Solectria
Renewables as wholly owned subsidiary
• 2005 – Solectria Corp. EV division sold to Azure
Dynamics ARCCOM (AFDI String Combiner)
Introduction
• 2005 – Solectria Renewables founded
• 2014 – Solectria became wholly owned Introduced the SGI 500XTM & SGI 750XTM
External Transformer
subsidiary of Yaskawa Electric PVI 3800-7600TL,
1Ph
Introduced SGI 500 Premium Efficiency model transformerless
with 97.5% CEC efficiency – highest in the industry inverters

Disconnecting String Combiners

Introduced

New SolrenView GUI PVI 14-28TL, 3-phase

Introduced transformerless inverters

Solectria divests
vehicle products to
Azure Dynamics Introduced PVI 50/60/75/85/100KW
& Premium Efficiency Models
PVI 13-15KW Capacity Expansion
UL Listed to 200MW

Original 10kW SolrenView Web

UL Listed Monitoring Introduced Capacity
Expansion
to 350MW

PVI 60/77/90KW
UL Listed 60/82/95KW SGI Series SGI 500XT transformerless
UL Listed UL Listed 600V DC inverter introduced
Solectria
Renewables
Founded
Solectria PVI 3000-5300
Corporation Introduced Capacity Expansion to
Founded MSS 800MW
Introduced

1989 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

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 Yaskawa and Solectria

Yaskawa Electric Corp:

• $3.6 billion Japanese firm focused on motor drives, automation controls and other electrical components
• Company founded in 1915
• 5th largest Japanese inverter supplier, but no U.S. presence
• Global leader in quality
• Manufacturing locations in strategic PV markets
• Track record for technological advancement and leadership
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 Yaskawa and Solectria

So what does this mean for our customers?

 Immediately enhanced bankability
 Warranty backing by bigger company
 Solectria is 100% wholly owned subsidiary
 Same team in place as before (sales, marketing, customer
services, executives)
 Same manufacturing locations and product offerings
 Potential for new market entry in the future
 Access to world class quality systems

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 2014 Company Highlights
• Introduction of three-phase string inverters
• Introduction of ARCCOM arc fault detection and rapid
shutdown combiner boxes for 600VDC and 1000VDC central
inverters
• Introduction of SGI 500XTM and SGI 750XTM
• Acquisition of Solectria Renewables by Yaskawa Electric
Corp.

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 Protective Relaying

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(Digital) Protective Relays
“Microprocessor based devices that that control PV plant
in response to voltage and current measurement”
USED WITH:
… Interconnection Breaker
… Instrument Transformers
Potential Transformers (PTs) … for measuring Voltage
Current Transformers (CTs) … for measuring Current
…Sometimes
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)… for Powering Relay
when grid goes down (not required in all systems)

“I thought inverters had voltage/frequency trip setpoints??!!

 They do. Required when utility desires Additional or
Redundant protection
Made by companies like SEL, ABB, Cooper, GE, …
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ANSI Device Numbers
“Standard numbers used by utilities/relay companies to
indicate protective function”

From PVI 50-100 Installation Manual

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Example One Line
…Showing Protective Relay w/
ANSI Device Numbers

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 Utility Control
What is SCADA?
“Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition”
= Control and Monitoring
What would utility want to control?
 On/Off (Remote shut down)
 Ramp rate
 Real Power/Reactive Power/PF
How is this implemented?
 Control of Interconnection Breaker
 24V Remote Shutdown
 Shunt Trip
 Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, DNP3
Utility usually interfaces with inverters
through RTU’s, Protective Relays, Plant Controller

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Example One Line
…Showing the pieces
INVERTERS
INVERTERS
INVERTERS

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 Effective Grounding
of PV inverters

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 Non-Grounded Synchronous DG
CB
Distribution
CLOSED
OPEN
Feeder

SLG
Load Fault

VV
a b= =VV
b c==V173%
c = 100% Sync. Gen.

Consider an islanded operation where the grid is disconnected and a single line to
ground fault is applied to the island.
Generator neutral shift generates the over-voltages on unfaulted phases.
Single phase loads can be damaged from the overvoltage.
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 Solidly Grounding Synchronous DG
CB
Distribution
CLOSED
OPEN
Feeder

SLG
Load Fault

VaV=b =VbVc==V100%
c = 100%
Sync. Gen.

Grounding the generator neutral prevents over-voltages on unfaulted phases.

Effective Grounding allows 125% over-voltage and impedance grounding

(for protection relay coordination)

𝑋0 𝑅0
< 3, <1
𝑋1 𝑋1 Ref: IEEE Std. 142, IEEE Std. C62.92 series

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 Does same happen with PV inverters?
CB
Distribution
CLOSED
OPEN
Feeder

SLG
Load Fault

VaV=b =VbVc==V100%
c = 100%
PV Inverter

Even without the inverter neutral grounding (3-wire connection), over-voltage

will not be generated if the load is predominantly wye-connected.
In contrast to the synchronous generator, a PV Inverter is a current source and
no overvoltage will be generated due to the neutral shifting.

“… When the inverter-based DG is isolated from the utility voltage source, there is no
derived neutral shift.”
- Dr. Michael Ropp, 39th Annual Western Protective Relay Conference, Oct. 2012.
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 PV inverter with pure delta loads
CB
Distribution
CLOSED
OPEN
Feeder

SLG
Load Fault

VV
a b= =VV
b c==V173%
c = 100% PV Inverter

Solectria’s simulation results showed a negligible voltage rise in unfaulted phases with
50% delta load and 50% wye grounded loads. With 80% delta-connected load, phase
voltages went up to 120%, which is still less than the maximum over-voltage with the
effective grounding. (125%)
In practical cases, most of the loads will be wye grounded in 3-phase 4-wire system.

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 Effective Grounding
 Several utilities require effective grounding by meeting X0/X1 ratio

1.5 < X0/X1 < 2.5

NGRID, HECO, XCEL, PEPCO, BGE, Indianapolis…

 Some utilities use separate guidelines for inverter based distribution

generation(DG) which makes more sense as the inverter characteristics is
quite different from the rotating machine type generators

XDG0 = 0.6*Zbase +/- 10%

GMP, Hydro One…

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 Suggested Design Practice
Case 1. PV plant effective grounding with one or multiple inverters (universal solution)

Grounding
Bank

51G

 Minimal hardware and installation cost

 Need to coordinate with the main circuit breaker
 Can be used with any medium voltage transformer configuration

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 Effective Grounding
PVI 3ɸ-String Inverters
 Require grounding transformer for
effective grounding,
 Zig-Zag or Yg-Δ

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 Grounding bank (transformer)

Grounding
bank

51G
PV Inverter

 A grounding bank is a small special transformer configured in Zig-Zag or Delta-Wye.

 A grounding bank is external to PV inverters and provides effective grounding, so
that it does not impact the inverters transformer life.
 A single grounding bank can provide effective grounding for a large PV plant, which
minimizes the installation cost.
 For a SGI 500kW inverter installed at 480V distribution feeder, grounding bank cost
can be several $K.

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 Suggested Design Practice
Case 2. PV plant effective grounding with grounding inductor and a dedicated wye-delta MV Transformer

Grounding
inductor

51G

 Can be used with a wye-delta medium voltage transformer only

 Can be effectively grounded with a grounding bank also
 Minimal hardware and installation cost

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 Effective Grounding Summary
 Most 3-phase 4-wire systems support single phase loads, which puts the
effective grounding requirement for PV inverters in question.

 Many utilities request effective grounding with a controlled impedance for

relay protection coordination.

 Solectria provides impedance tables for all commercial and utility scale PV
inverters to help customers design an effectively grounded PV system.

 Effective grounding using Zig-Zag transformer is a universal solution for

ungrounded DG.
 Many Solectria inverters have an internal wye-delta isolation transformer with
a neutral connection which can be used to provide effective grounding. When
used, neutral over-current protection is strongly recommended.

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 Power Curtailment

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 Power Curtailment

80kW  50kW  80kW

90

80

70
Power in KW

60

50
Pcmd
40
Pout
30
50 60 70 80 90 100
percentage

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 Advantages of Power Curtailment
• 100kW interconnection Limit

700k
W

~50k
W
750k
W

PLC

Monday through Friday

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 Advantages of Power Curtailment
• 100kW interconnection Limit

70kW

~100kW
170k
W

PLC
23% limit

Saturday and Sunday

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 Case Study – Xcel Energy
Product: 504, PVI 82KW – SCADA controlled, VAR supports
System Size 30 MW

Modules Amonix

Installer Amonix, Cogentrix

Location Alamosa, CO

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 Reactive Power

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 Inverter Capacity for VARs

• Inverter and AC interconnection have to be sized to carry

both real and reactive current

Example: 500kVA @ 0.95 PF

156 kVAr
475 kW

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 Inverter Capacity for VARs

• Inverter and AC interconnection have to be sized to carry

both real and reactive current

Example: 500kVA @ 0.95 PF

156 kVAr
475 kW

475 kW

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 Inverter Capacity Allocation for VARs

• Inverter and AC interconnection have to be sized to carry

both real and reactive current

Example: 500kVA @ 0.95 PF

156 kVAr
475 kW
475 kW

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 Inverter Capacity Allocation for VARs
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

Q Reactive p.u.
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8
P Active p.u.

 Power factor control = +/- 0.8 (+/- 0.95 prefered)

 Maximum reactive power control = 60%
 May require power curtailment for reactive power control
 May conflict with the islanding detection

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 VAR support
(remote utility option)
1000

800

600

400

200

0
-720 -630 -540 -450 -360 -270 -180 -90 0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720
-200

-400

-600

-800

-1000
voltage current power (rms) real power (rms)

• PPA owned (“in front of the fence”)

o UL1741 enforces a PF > 0.95

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 Reactive Power Control

The waveform shows instantaneous transient response of the inverter

output current (red) from full inductive to full capacitive.

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 DNP3 Compliant Smart Grid Inverters

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 High Penetration Scenario Example:
• 1.7 MW site in Cedarville NJ
• 4.7 miles from substation 12kV feeder, 6MW mid-day load
• Concerns of local overvoltage
• Utility has closed circuit for more PV

1.7 MW
0.5 MW

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 Overvoltage Concerns

3.0% of points
exceed +5% limit

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 The effect of reactive power on
distribution lines

VAR Generation
PCC voltage is being
pushed up.

VAR Absorption
PCC voltage is being
pulled down.

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 Example: PF control

• Feeder could be reopened for PV after PF adjustment to 0.97

• “Flicker” Mitigation (cloud induced voltage transients)

< 0.1% of points

exceed 5% limit

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 Benefit to Utility
Example: Volt-VAR control
• Reduced wear out of electromechanical voltage regulators
• Flatter voltage profile overall

Possible additional
Voltage Regulator
action

Inverter Volt-Var Control

20% PV Penetration
Baseline – No PV

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 Increasing Hosting Capacity with Smart
Inverters
Without Volt/var Control Volt/var Control

Maximum Feeder Voltage (pu)

Maximum Feeder Voltages (pu)

ANSI voltage limit

ANSI voltage limit

5000 cases shown

Each point = highest primary voltage

Increasing penetration (kW) Increasing penetration (kW)

PV Hosting Capacity (kW)
No observable violations regardless of size/location Without Volt/var With Volt/var
1st violation 938 >2500 160% increase in
Primary Voltage
50% scenarios with violation 1323 >2500 hosting capacity
Deviation
Possible violations based All
upon size/location
scenarios with violation 1673 >2500
1st violation 540 880 60% increase in
Primary hosting capacity
Observable violations occur
50% regardless
scenariosof with violation 871 1464
Over Voltage
size/location Matthew
All scenarios with violation Rylander 1173 2418
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www.solectria.com Slide courtesy of Matthew Rylander, EPRI

 Solectria’s Work in this Field

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o Smart Grid Ready Inverter Development
 Implement and test grid support functions on existing
commercial and utility scale inverters.
 Add DNP3 communication capability on to the existing inverters
 Hardware reliability enhancement and efficiency increase
 Cost Reduction

o Plant Master Controller Development

 Support smart grid inverters with the latest DNP3 protocol
 Plant level supervisory controller with customizable system
integration capability
 Secondary protection and preventive maintenance

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 Product Testing

• The Energy System

Integration Facility
(ESIF) at NREL was
chosen to test the SGI
500 features due to its
advanced capabilities

• The EPRI facility in

Knoxville, TN was NREL Test Setup Size
chosen to test the PVI PV simulator 1MW
100KW for their
Grid Simulator 1.2MW
expertise in inverter
testing. Output Power 400kW
Reactive Power + 300kvar

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 Volt-var testing at ESIF
Test # EUT Terminal Voltage EUT Reactive Power Output Ramp Time Reversio PASS
Time Window n /FAIL
Volt % kvar % Max (s) (s) Time (s)
available var
Test 2 432 90 300 100 5 60 Never p
475.2 99 0 100 time
484.8 101 0 100 out
518.4 108 -309 100

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Balanced LVRT/HVRT at ESIF

10% Balanced sag for 120 cycles,

passive LVRT

Balanced voltage swell of 118%;

active ride through trip test
condition
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Unbalanced LVRT (IEEE P1668)
at ESIF
• 89% of Faults are unbalanced faults

Balanced Sag Single phase sag

ZVRT for 120 cycles

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Frequency/Watt at ESIF

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 Watts, Hz and Volts
• Utilities like their “Volts” and “Hz” to stay within boundaries.

• When generation is High (+Watts) system wide frequency rises

(+Hz)
 Functions that control “Watts” depending on “Hz”, such as
Frequency-Watt, are essential for being a good citizen on the grid.

• An increase in generation (+Watts) results in a local increase in

Voltage (+Volts)
 Functions that control “Watts” depending on ”Volts”, such as Volt-
Watt, can be useful to regulate local voltage when the vars are
exhausted.

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 Questions?

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 Thank You!
One size doesn’t fit all,
But one company does

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