Transient Stability Enhancement for 20 MW PV Power Plant via Incremental Conductance Controller

Abstract

The inherited uncertainties in the Photovoltaic array (PV) system make it one of the most difficult nonlinear problems in the control theory. In this research work, a practical case study for 20 MW Egyptian PV solar power plant with battery backup system connected to the medium voltage distribution network is presented. This power plant installed in Komombo, Aswan, Egypt. The battery is used to provide the necessary power for the station's monitoring and control devices during the absence of the sun. Also, the battery system improves the steady state and dynamic behavior of PV array system. Proportional-Integral (PI) and Fractional Order Proportional-Integral (FOPI) with Incremental Conductance MPPT algorithm (IC)are used for extracting maximum power from PV power plant. The optimal gains of PI and FOPI based MPPT controllers are attained using Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO). Various types of disturbances are applied to the system to test the robustness of the systems based on the tuned controllers. The performance is promising.