Abstract:The traditional configurations of power systems are changing due to the greater penetration of renewable energy sources (solar and wind), resulting in reliability issues. At present, the most severe power quality problems in distribution systems are current harmonics, reactive power demands, and the islanding of renewables caused by severe voltage variations (voltage sag and swell). Current harmonics and voltage sag strongly affect the performance of renewable-based power systems. Various conventional methods (passive filters, capacitor bank, and UPS) are not able to mitigate harmonics and voltage sag completely. Based on several studies, custom power devices can mitigate harmonics completely and slightly mitigate voltage sags with reactive power supplies. To ensure the generating units remain grid-connected during voltage sags and to improve system operation during abnormal conditions, efficient and reliable utilization of PV solar farm inverter as STATCOMs is needed. This paper elaborates the dynamic performance of a VSC-based PV-STATCOM for power quality enhancement in a grid integrated system and low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability. LVRT requirements suggest that the injection of real and reactive power supports grid voltage during abnormal grid conditions. The proposed strategy was demonstrated with MATLAB simulations.

Partial shading is the commonly encountered scenario of building roof-top based PV arrays that mainly occur due to the shadow of the neighbouring buildings and clouds resulting in unexpected losses and deteriorated system performance. The arrays are connected in various configurations to enhance the system performance during shading. In this paper, various conventional and hybrid interconnection configurations based on series-parallel (SP), bridge-linked (BL), and total cross tied (TCT) topologies of the roof-top PV arrays are examined under various partial shading scenarios caused by the neighbouring building and clouds. The investigation is done for a 9x9 roof-top array in MATLAB/Simulink environment considering various comparison parameters. It has been found that during 1.23%, 7.40%, 11.11%, 17.75%, 18.51%%, 22.22%, and 24.69% of total array shading, SP generated the maximum power whereas, during 30.86%, 61.72% shading, TCT has the generated only a slightly higher power as compared to SP. Hence, the study concludes that the configurations have a puny effect on the power generation of the arrays during uneven shading patterns caused by buildings and clouds.

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