Design of active and reactive power control of grid tied photovoltaics

Solar Energy which planet's most plentiful and one of the best renewable energy source. Photovoltaics as a power source is good option since long time. Photovoltaics have been touted as clean sources of energy that can replace the coal powered plants. But the effective use of these solar energy and to optimize the efficiency of solar panel system is still challenging. Microgrids are localised grids which have their own generation sources along with the utility grid. This enables microgrids to achieve self-sustenance without having to rely on the utility for power. This project's objective is To demonstrate the capability of introducing a robust self-healing grid which can work as an islanded or non-islanded mode of operation using photovoltaics as distributed generation sources. These sources should also be capable of regulating the voltage and frequency of the grid at the feeder level. This research work is focused to design an algorithm for optimization of the extraction of the power. It is needed to develop a maximum power point tracking algorithm. This is achieved by using a boost converter which is cascaded by another buck converter which aims at battery charging. This is followed by an inverter which converts the DC voltage into 3 phase AC which is tied to the utility grid. This inverter is also able to control the voltage and be able to synchronize its output to the grid. After simulating the photovoltaic system with its components several results were noted; The maximum power point tracking algorithm was able to extract the power at an efficiency of around 94% and the battery charging algorithm was able to charge the battery at any required current. The inverter was able to synchronize its output to the grid using a PLL system and was able to regulate the active and reactive power output as desired by the grid.