Strategies to Increase the Transient Active Power of Photovoltaic Units during Low Voltage Ride Through

Abstract

Due to a limitation in the magnitude of the three-phase output inverter currents, the output active power of the photovoltaic (PV) unit has been de-rated during low voltage ride through, which brings great instability risk to the power system. With the increase in the penetration rate of new energy, the impact of the power shortage on the system transient stability increases. It is of great significance to analyze the impact of this transient power shortage on system stability. This article explores methods to improve the active power output capability of photovoltaic units during low-breakthrough periods. A transient simulation model of a grid-connected PV generator with low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability is presented, under the condition of meeting the overcurrent capacity of the PV inverter and the requirement of dynamic reactive power support supplied by the PV generator specified in the China grid codes (GB/T 19964-2012) during grid fault. An example system with high PV penetration is built. The change principle and influencing factors of PV transient active power output are analyzed. The simulation model is designed in PowerFactory/DIgSILENT, and several types of three-phase voltage sags are performed in simulation to assess the impact of the active current reference calculation method and the maximum inverter output current (Imax) limit value on the PV active power output. According to the three indexes, namely the maximum active power of PV unit during the fault, the power improvement gradient and the power surge after the fault is cleared. Simulation results showed that using the orthogonal decomposition method to calculate the active current reference can make full use of the current capacity of the converter. Setting Imax to 1.1 rated current of photovoltaic inverter (IN) can reduce the cost-effectiveness ratio of the transient active power output of the PV unit. Therefore, we aim to improve the unit’s transient active power output capacity and realize the optimal effect of improving the transient active power shortage of the system.