A Grid-Supporting Photovoltaic System Implemented by a VSG with Energy Storage

Abstract

Conventional photovoltaic (PV) systems interfaced by grid-connected inverters fail to support the grid and participate in frequency regulation. Furthermore, reduced system inertia as a result of the integration of conventional PV systems may lead to an increased frequency deviation of the grid for contingencies. In this paper, a grid-supporting PV system, which can provide inertia and participate in frequency regulation through virtual synchronous generator (VSG) technology and an energy storage unit, is proposed. The function of supporting the grid is implemented in a practical PV system through using the presented control scheme and topology. Compared with the conventional PV system, the grid-supporting PV system, behaving as an inertial voltage source like synchronous generators, has the capability of participating in frequency regulation and providing inertia. Moreover, the proposed PV system can mitigate autonomously the power imbalance between generation and consumption, filter the PV power, and operate without the phase-locked loop after initial synchronization. Performance analysis is conducted and the stability constraint is theoretically formulated. The novel PV system is validated on a modified CIGRE benchmark under different cases, being compared with the conventional PV system. The verifications demonstrate the grid support functions of the proposed PV system.