Harmonic Current Distortion Using the Linear Quadratic Regulator for a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison between a proportional-integral controller, low pass filters, and the linear quadratic regulator in dealing with the task of eliminating harmonic currents in the grid-connected photovoltaic system. A brief review of the existing methods applied to mitigate harmonic currents is presented. The Perturb & Observe technique was employed for maximum power point tracking. The PI control, low pass filters, and the linear quadratic regulator are discussed in detail in terms of their control strategies. The grid current was analyzed in the system with all three of the controllers applied to control the voltage source inverter of the solar photovoltaic system connected to the grid through an L filter and LCL filter and simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The simulation results obtained have proven the robustness of the linear quadratic regulator over other methods. The technique lowers the grid current total harmonic distortion from 7.85% to 2.13%.