A Long Term Evaluation of Photovoltaic Systems under Power Quality Problems

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of a working solar power plant in regards to power quality problem. Instead of focusing on power quality problems that can arise in the grid due to the connection to a photovoltaic power plant, the focus of this paper will be the devices of the power plant. The goal is to understand the impact of power quality events in them, particularly inverters, regardless of their origins - the main grid or the photovoltaic generation. This paper analyzes more than 100 voltage sag events and 30 voltage swell events detected during the operation. It also verifies measurement of voltage THD of approximately 2.2% against IEEE and ICE standards.