Parametric Analysis of Photovoltaic Inverters Under Balanced and Unbalanced Voltage Phase Angle Jump Conditions

With growing interest in renewable energy, more photovoltaic (PV) inverters and other distributed energy resources (DERs) are being connected to the grid. Grid interconnection standards such as IEEE Std. 1547 have been developed to define acceptable DER electrical behavior, that are evaluated with stringent compliance test protocols like IEEE Std. 1547.1. Executing IEEE Std. 1574.1 compliance tests for a given DER can be challenging because it requires adjusting the testing platform and verifying measurement data. The System Validation Platform (SVP) is a highly versatile platform that can automate interconnection standard certification experiments. This paper illustrates the ability of the SVP to automate phase-angle change ride-through (PCRT) variation 1 tests. To demonstrate this capability, the IEEE Std. 1547.1-2020 voltage PCRT test protocol was performed for an unbalanced phase jump event. A parametric analysis was performed to summarize the recovery time of the RMS current and phase angle alignment of the commercial PV inverter under test. To understand DER behaviors for other phase jump events, the PV inverter was subjected to a wider range of phase jump angles from 10° to 120° at increments of 10°. Trip times were calculated for the PV inverter.