Design and Analysis of Grid-Tied Photovoltaic (PV) Systems under Uncertain Weather Conditions

Abstract

Considering the rapid growth in global energy demand, renewable energy resources (RERs) particularly solar PV is the prominent need of modern power systems to mitigate the global energy crisis. PV is considered as one of the most useful RER, since it is inexhaustible, abundant, and clean. Besides, the power efficiency of Solar PV is highly affected by variations of solar irradiance and temperature of the solar cells. Hence, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller is used to control the switching duty cycle of the power converters which ultimately maximize the output power of the PV array. In this paper, case study of 240-kw solar PV array is performed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Simulation is performed on ‘SunPower SPR-400E-WHT-D’ PV array which is comprised of 88 parallel strings and 7 series connected modules per string. The impact of variable weather conditions (irradiance and temperature) is analysed. Moreover, the 240 kw PV array is connected to 20 KV grid using boost converter and Voltage Source Converter (VSC). In this way, the inverted AC output power is coupled with AC grid. This bidirectional output power with unity factor can be utilized by industrial / commercial consumers to fulfil their energy demands.