Performance Evaluation of Islanded and Grid

Connected Operation of Solar PV-Battery Based

Universal Active Power Filter
Sachin Devassy, Member, IEEE Bhim Singh,Fellow, IEEE
CSIR-CEERI,Pilani Electrical Engg. Dept.,IIT Delhi
Rajasthan-333031, India Delhi-110016, India
Email:[email protected] Email:[email protected]

Abstract—This work presents the performance of solar PV- Seamless transition from grid connected operation to stan-
battery integrated universal active power filter (PV-B-UAPF) dalone operation and vice-versa is off utmost importance
in both grid connected and islanded modes of operation. The in renewable energy systems for automated operation. Var-
system consists of a right shunt universal active power filter
in which the PV array is linked at the DC-bus of the system. ious techniques for seamless transition of grid connected
The battery is connected to the DC-link through a bi-directional inverters has been reported in [8]. The technique involved
converter. The BES enables operation of the system in islanded use of model predictive control frame work to control the
mode. The system is evaluated using Matlab-Simulink software. operation between grid connected and standalone mode of
The system behavior is evaluated under both grid connected and operation. In [9], [10], seamless transition of multifunctional
standalone modes of operation along with transition between
both the modes. The performance is further evaluated under grid connected system has been presented. In grid connected
PCC voltage sags/swells, irradiation variation and load removal mode, the system compensates load current quality issues
conditions. and feeds sinusoidal current into grid at unity power factor
Index Terms—Battery, Universal active power filter, Maximum while in standalone mode, the PV array and battery combine
power point tracking, Power quality, Solar photovoltaic system. to provide desired voltage to the connected local loads. The
research into renewable energy and battery based systems are
I. I NTRODUCTION mainly in shunt connected topology. An Addition of series
compensators, enables protection of sensitive loads from PCC
With advancement of technology particularly in area of voltage sags/swells etc. during grid connected operation.
power electronics, almost all modern devices have power con- In this work, the operation and performance of a single
ditioning system for improved efficiency as well as as smooth phase PV- battery integrated universal active filter (PV-B-
control of the system. These power conditioning systems, UAPF) is presented. The PV-B-UAPF, protects sensitive loads
which essentially involve switching devices and which draw against sags/swells in PCC voltages and also compensates for
nonlinear currents, cause distortion of voltage, maloperation of load current harmonics and reactive power. Apart from this, the
electronic systems etc. [1], [2]. Moreover, modern electronic system also injects PV array power into the grid. The battery is
loads are sophisticated systems, which are sensitive to voltage integrated to the DC-link of the system through a bidirectional
fluctuations and hence need regulated voltage for longevity of converter. The battery system enables operation of the system
the systems. in standalone mode of operation. The performance of PV-B-
Along with good power quality, there has been increasing UAPF system is evaluated using SimPowerSystems toolbox
focus on generating power from renewable energy sources due available in Matlab. The system response is evaluated for
to the increasing pollution as well as depletion in fossil fule mode transition from grid connected mode to vice versa. The
reserves. However, renewable energy sources are intermittent system is also evaluated for its performance in grid connected
sources of energy and integration of storage system is seen mode under various dynamic conditions such as PCC voltage
as a necessary condition particularly when used in critical sags/swells, irradiation variation and load change.
systems in servers, hospitals etc [3]–[5]. The integration of
battery with renewable energy, enables operation of the system II. C ONFIGURATION OF PV-B-UAPF S YSTEM
in standalone mode when there is no grid available, thus Fig.1 presents the configuration of PV-B-UAPF system. The
delivering continuous and clean power to the critical loads. The system consists of single phase right shunt universal active
battery integration also allows the renewable energy system to power filter in which solar PV array is connected at the DC-
feed constant power into grid even in presence of fluctuations bus of the system. The battery is integrated to the DC-link
in PV array power generation [6], [7]. of the system through a bidirectional DC-DC converter. The
978-1-5386-7339-3/18/$31.00 2018
c IEEE PV-B-UAPF system is interfaced to the distribution system
through inductors Lr and Lf . The load is a nonlinear load, I pv Vdc Ib 
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0337  3,  3, %LGLUHFWLRQDO
which consists of bridge rectifier with an R-L load. The PCC  &RQWUROOHU
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Vdc
is linked with the PV-B-UAPF through a controllable power /3) Ib
electronic switch (PES). The PES switch is switched on, once
(a) Control of Bidirectional DC-DC Converter
the system is synchronized with PCC voltage while the its
turned off during standalone mode. The control of PES switch iL
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III. C ONTROL OF PV-B-UAPF SYSTEM
(d) Control of Series Compensator
There are three major subsystems to be controlled in PV-B-
UAPF system, namely, bidirectional DC-DC converter, shunt Fig. 2. Control Structure of PV-B UPQC
converter and a series converter. The shunt converter operates
both in standalone and grid connected mode while series
mode in standalone mode of operation. The switching between
converter operates only in grid connected mode. The operation
standalone mode of operation and grid connected operation
of these subsystems as well as synchronization operations are
is based on decision (D) which in section III-E. These are
explained in the following sections.
operation of shunt compensator is elaborated as follows.
A. Control of Bi-Directional DC-DC Converter 1) Grid Connected Mode of Operation: Fig.2(b) presents
The bi-directional converter integrates the battery energy the operation of compensator in grid connected mode of
storage to DC-link of the system apart from operating the PV operation. The major function of shunt converter in grid
array at its maximum power point. The control structure of connected mode is to feed power into grid at unity power factor
bi-directional converter is presented in Fig.2(a). There are two and compensate for load current harmonics. The instantaneous
control loops for the DC-DC converter, which is outer voltage load power is evaluated as
control loop and inner current control loop. The reference for pL = vL .iL (1)
the DC-link voltage is obtained from maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) algorithm. The reference DC-link voltage The average load power (PL ) is obtained by filtering the
∗ instantaneous load power pL using a moving average filter
(Vdc ) is compared with the sensed DC-link voltage (Vdc ).
The difference between the reference and sensed DC-link [11].
voltage, is given to a proportional integral controller which The power to be fed into grid is evaluate as,
generates reference current for bi-directional converter (Ib∗ ).
The difference between the reference and sensed current (Ib ) is Pgrid = PL − Ppv (2)
given to PI controller, which generates appropriate duty cycle The magnitude of PCC voltage (Vs ) and template (us ) of
then used to modulate bi-directional converter switches. PCC voltages, are obtained through PLL which is used to
B. Control of Shunt Active Filter evaluate reference grid current as follows.
The shunt active filter operates in current control mode in 2Pgrid
Is∗ = (3)
grid connected operation while it operates in voltage control Vs
 The reference grid current (Is∗ ) is multiplied with template to PI controller. The output of PI controller is the change in
(us ) to generate instantaneous currents which are then com- frequency Δω which is added with load frequency ωL . The
pared with sensed currents in a hysteresis controller to generate integration of the frequency gives the phase information which
gating signals for the shunt converter. is then used to generate reference for load voltage. This results
2) Standalone mode of Operation: In standalone mode in load voltage and PCC voltage to be in same phase.
of operation, the shunt converter operates in voltage control
E. Control Logic for Synchronization
mode. The battery provides the extra power required by the
load or stores the excess power in case of light load conditions. The control logic for synchronization is presented in
The control structure of shunt compensator is presented in Fig. Fig.3(b). The synchronization control requires three specific
2(c). There two control loops namely outer voltage control conditions to be met which can be adjusted based on user
loop and inner current control loop. The reference load voltage requirement / available standards. The phase difference be-
is generated by multiplying the reference magnitude (VL∗ ) tween the load voltage during standalone mode of operation
with the sine of phase (θ) generated. The generation of θ is should match with PCC voltage with a tolerance upto 3deg.
explained in section III-D. The error between the reference The frequency difference between PCC voltage and reference
load voltage and sensed load voltage is fed to PI controller. of 50Hz should be within 0.3 Hz. The magnitude difference
The output of PI controller is instantaneous load reference between the PCC voltage and reference magnitude should
current (iL ∗) which is compared with sensed load current in be within 0.2pu. The difference in voltage is compensated
hysteresis controller to generate appropriate gating signals for further by series compensator in grid connected mode. All
the shunt converter. the conditions are averaged over three cycles to prevent any
error due to transients. The output of all decisions are given to
C. Control of Series Active Filter an AND logic, which gives synchronization decision (D). The
The control of series active filter is presented in Fig. 2(d). decision D is one for grid connected mode of operation. Once
The series compensator operates in grid connected mode to D is one, the PES is closed through appropriate control signal
protect sensitive loads against sags/swells in PCC voltages. and the system changes operation to grid connected mode.
The reference load voltage is multiplied with PCC voltage
templates to generate instantaneous reference load voltage S 
∗
(vL ). The reference and sensed series compensator voltages
are obtained as follows 325 T
∗ ∗


$EV !SX ³
vse = vL − vs (4)
Vs
vse = vL − vs (5) vs Ts 'T 'Z L
3//  VLQH 3, 
 
&RQWURO
The error between the reference series compensator volt- TL /RJLF
∗
ages (vse ) and sensed series compensator voltages (vse ) are vL
3// ZL
given to proportional resonant (PR) controller which gener-
ates appropriate control signals for series compensator. The (a) Phase Generation for Shunt Compensator in Standalone Mode
control signals are given to PWM modulator which generates
'T R
gating signals for the series compensator. The system goes to $EV 0HDQ

standalone mode of operation when the PCC voltage sag/swell

is below/above a predefined limit. During standalone mode of +]
'HFLVLRQ '

operation, the series compensator is bypassed by turning both IJULG  $EV +] 0HDQ $1'

the top switches of the system. The voltage of the load is then ' *ULG
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controlled by the shunt compensator. 
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0RGH

$EV SX 0HDQ
D. Grid Synchronization Control for PV-B-UAPF 
9V
The phase generation for standalone mode of operation for
PV-B-UAPF system is presented in Fig. 3(a). When the grid (b) Syncrhonization Decision Generation
is not available, the control logic switches to independent Fig. 3. Synchronization Control of PV-B-UPQC
phase generation which is obtained by integrating the reference
frequency of 2π50 radians/s. When the grid becomes available
or the difference between the grid voltage magnitude and IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
reference grid voltage magnitude is less than 0.2 pu. The logic The PV-B-UAPF system behavior is evaluated through
switches to match the phase of load voltage with that of PCC simulation in Matlab-Simulink software. The simulation pa-
voltage. This is done as follows, the load voltage phase (θL ) rameters is given Appendix. The PV-B-UAPF system and load
and PCC voltage phase (θS ) are estimated through the use are interrconnected with the PCC through a power electronic
of phase locked loop (PLL). The difference between θs and switch (PES) which is switched on during grid connected
θL is smoothened using a sine function which is then given mode and switched off during standalone mode to isolate
system from the grid. The system is tested for steady state Initially the system is operating in the standalone mode of
performance and dynamic performance and transition from operation and control Decision D is 0. The shunt compensator
islanded to grid connected mode of operation. of PV-UAPF tries to match phase of PCC voltage, once the
phase, frequency and magnitude are meeting the requirements
A. Performance of PV-B-UAPF System under Synchronization of synchronization logic, the decision (D) is set to 1, which
Operation closes the PES switch and the PV-B-UAPF system starts
feeding power into grid. It is see that while the load current
Fig.4 presents the operation of the system during synchro- is nonlinear and contains harmonics, the grid current contains
nization operation. The signals presented, are PCC voltage only fundamental component and is at unity power factor.
(vs ), load voltage (vL ), series compensator voltage (vse ), DC- In standalone mode, the battery is charged by PV array
link voltage (Vdc ), phase angle of load and PCC (θL , S), power as load power requirement is lesser than PV array
synchronization control decision (D), grid current (is ), load generation. In grid connected mode the battery system supplies
current (iL ), PV array current (Ipv ), PV array voltage (Ppv ), minimal amount of power corresponding to loss components
battery current (Ibt ), battery voltage (Vbt ). in PV-B-UAPF system.
From t = 0.4s to 0.5s, the PCC undergoes a sag of 0.2pu, the
500 series compensates the sag and regulates the load voltage by
v s (V)

0 injecting appropriate voltage. However, when the sag exceeds

-500 0.2 pu as seen from t=0.5 s to 0.55 s, one can see that the
500 control decision D becomes 0, the system turns to operate
v L (V)

0 in standalone mode. Once the grid parameters become close

to nominal, the control decision D becomes 1 and system
-500
200 operates in grid connected mode.
v se (V)

0 B. PV-B-UAPF Behavior under Varying Solar Irradiation

-200 Condition
500 Fig. 5 presents the PV-B-UAPF system behavior under
V dc (V)

400 varying solar irradiation conditions. The signals captured are

300
200 PCC voltage (vs ), load voltage (vL ), DC-link voltage (vDC ),
phase angle of load and PCC (θL,S ), synchronization con-

L,S

5 trol decision (D), grid current (is ), load current (iL ), shunt
0 compensator current (iSH ), PV array current (Ipv ), PV array
2 power (Ppv ), battery current (Ibt ), battery voltage (Vbt ) and
1 irradiation intensity (G).
D

0
-1 The system is operating in standalone mode at start. Hence,
50 the control decision D is 0. As the PV array power generation
is (A)

0 is more than the load demand, the remaining power is used to

charge the battery. At t=0.65s to t=0.75s, the solar irradiation
-50
50 changes from 1000W/m2 to 200W/m2 . As the PV array
iL (A)

0
power is reduced, the battery now supplies remaining part of
the load power, which can be observed from Ibt changing from
-50
-ve (charging mode) to +ve (discharging mode).
40
Ibt (A) P pv (kW) Ipv (A)

At t=0.8s, the PCC voltage becomes available, the shunt

20
compensator now tries to match the phase with PCC volt-
0 age. Once phase matching occurs, along with matching of
20
frequency, and voltage magnitude, the D becomes equal to 1,
10 result in closing of PES switch. The PV-B-UAPF system now
0 operates in grid connected mode, drawing active power from
20 grid to fed load demand along with compensating load current
0 harmonics. The Bi-directional converter maintains the DC-
-20
link voltage in both standalone and grid connected mode of
300 operation. In grid connected mode, the battery power supplies
V bt (V)

200
100 only the loss component of PV-B-UAPF system and hence
supplies negligible current.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Time(s)
C. PV-B-UAPF Response under Step Variation in Load
Fig.6 presents the PV-B-UAPF response under step variation
Fig. 4. Synchronization Performance of PV-B-UAPF system in load. The signals captured are vs , vL , vDC , is , iL , iSH , Ppv ,
v s (V)
500 500

v s (V)
0 0
-500
500 -500
v L (V)

0 500

v L (V)
-500 0
v DC (V)

400 -500
300
200

v DC (V)
400
300
3L,S

5
200
0
2 50
1

is (A)
D

0 0
-1
20 -50
is (A)

0 50

iL (A)
-20 0
50
-50
iL (A)

0
-50 50

iSH (A)
0
iSH (A)

20
0 -50
-20
20
P pv (kW)
40
Ipv (A)

20 10
0 0
20
P pv (kW)

30
10
Ipv (A)

20
0 10
20 0
Ibt (A)

0 20
-20
Ibt (A)

300 0
G(W/m2 ) V bt (V)

200
100 -20
300
V bt (V)

1000
250
500
0 200
0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
Time(s) Time(s)

Fig. 5. Behavior of PV-B-UAPF system under irradiation variation Fig. 6. Behavior of PV-B-UAPF system during Step Change in Load

Ipv , Ibt , Vbt . At t=0.5s, there is a step change in load of 50%. standalone mode and grid connected mode has been evaluated
It can be observed that the DC-link voltage is maintained at its along with mode transition. The system is able to seamlessly
nominal value. There is an increase in is fed into grid, which is change from grid connected mode to standalone mode and
due to more renewable power available for grid under reduced vice versa. The battery integrated with the system stablizes the
loading condition. voltage under standalone mode of operation. The bidirectional
Fig. 7 presents Harmonic spectra and total harmonic distor- converter maintains the DC-link voltage under both standalone
tion (THD) of grid current and load current under steady state. and grid connected mode of operation.
The load current is a single phase nonlinear load having square
wave shaped current with total harmonic distortion (THD) of ACKNOWLEDGMENT
about 40.4%. However, the grid current THD is 1.36%, which This work has been suported under J.C. Bose Fellowship,
meets requirement of the IEEE-519 standard. Grant Number: RP03128 and project UKICERI Grant Num-
ber:RP03391.
V. C ONCLUSION
The performance of a solar PV and battery integrated A PPENDIX
universal active power filter has been evaluated under both Simulation Parameter
steady state and dynamic conditions. The system behavior in Supply System: 220 V, 50 Hz, Single Phase Supply;
 100 Battery Parameters:
Nominal Voltage: 240V; Rated AH: 210 Ah, Rs =0.011Ω
Fully Charged Voltage: 261 V; Cut-off Voltage: 180 V
i (A)

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(b) Harmonic Spectra and THD of Load Current

Fig. 7. Steady State performance of PV-UPQC

Source Impedance :0.2 mH,0.04Ω;

Load: Rectifier with R-L 10Ω,100mH;
DC-link Voltage : 700 V;
PI Gains of Voltage Loop of Bidirectional converter:
Kpdc = 2,Kidc = 10;
DC-link Capacitor : 5 mF;
Filter Inductor (Lr): 2 mH;
Filter Inductor (Ls): 2 mH;
Ripple Filter:20μF,5Ω;
Standalone Mode:
PI Controller gains: Kp =10, Ki =100;
PV Array Parameters:
Ppv = 8.31 kW, Vmpp = 377 V, Impp = 22.05 A,
Voc = 471.9 V,Isc = 23.52 A;