Power electronic converters are used for integrating renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaic into the grid. This integration gives rise to many challenges in power systems, especially regarding power quality. Indeed, integrated systems generate a non-linear current full of harmonics, which degrades power quality. Active power filters are usually used to compensate for these harmonics at the point of common coupling. In the control of active power filters, harmonics need to be extracted from the non-linear current. In this paper, the matrix pencil method―a model-based technique for estimating parameters of exponentially damped or undamped sinusoids in noise―is proposed to extract the reference signal in shunt active power filter applications. The performance of the proposed matrix pencil method is studied for current harmonic compensation and power factor correction under different modulation schemes and two DC links: an external DC voltage source and a capacitor. Using a capacitor for the DC link requires not only including a proportional-plus-integral controller to maintain a constant capacitor voltage, but also accounting for the loss current in the formulation of the matrix pencil method. Compared with the instantaneous reactive power theory and synchronous reference frame, results obtained from simulated data using MATLAB/Simulink under different loading conditions show that the proposed method corrects the power factor and affords a lower source current total harmonic distortion and fast response.
Current distortion degrades power quality and affects system performance, especially for sensitive loads that require pure sinusoidal waves. Owing to its excellent dynamic response, a well-designed active power filter (APF) can achieve a total harmonic distortion (THD) within the acceptable limits defined by IEEE 3002 standards through compensating harmonic distortions. The APF consists of two main modules: a reference signal extraction module and a modulation module. This paper adapts the matrix pencil method, a well-known model-based parameter estimation technique, to the problem of reference extraction. Contrary to conventional time-domain methods such as the synchronous reference frame (SRF) and the reactive power theory (PQ theory) that rely on low-pass filters in their implementations, the proposed method does not use a filter. However, it extracts the reference signal by first decomposing the load current into its constituent frequency components, and then subtracting the pure sine wave synthesized from the obtained fundamental component from the load current. Results on simulated data from MATLAB/Simulink confirm the higher accuracy and fast response time of the proposed method in extracting the reference signal.
Lebanon has been suffering from severe challenges in its electric sector for decades owing to chronic supply shortages and faults in its aging power grid infrastructure. The deplorable situation of the Lebanese electric sector has been made worse by the economic meltdown that started in 2019, which eventually led to total power blackouts across the country. In this paper, we present a case study on the design and implementation of a solar microgrid system for Beirut Arab University, Lebanon. As a first step, simulation software for a microgrid and a distributed generation power system is used to compare different design scenarios. Considering the available installation area and the fact that the greatest demand occurs during the daytime, when both the educational and managerial facilities are running, it is found that a 500-kW photovoltaic system tied to the university’s already present diesel generators is the optimal solution in terms of return on investment. The second step details the actual implementation of the system in the Beirut campus and the evaluation of the system’s performance in terms of diesel cost savings and emissions reduction. We expect that the results of this case study will encourage other institutions and communities to adopt sustainable and renewable energy sources.
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