Analysis results of output power loss due to the grid voltage rise in grid-connected photovoltaic power generation systems

This paper describes the connected photovoltaic (PV) power generation system's grid overvoltage protection function and summarizes the occurrence of the output power loss due to the grid voltage rise. Power injection from the PV system will raise the voltage at the power distribution line. A power conditioning subsystem (PCS) needs to regulate its output if the voltage becomes higher than the upper limit in order to avoid the overvoltage at the power grid. Thus, a PV system cannot generate electricity under the high grid voltage. There are 553 residential PV systems installed in Ota, Japan, for the demonstration research project of clustered PV systems. Measurement data of these 2.1-MW grid-connected PV systems are used for the analysis. Only the limited number of PV systems experienced a significant amount of output energy loss due to the high grid voltage in a particular day, whereas the other system's outputs also raise the grid voltage. The causes of this maldistribution of the output energy loss are the difference of the line impedance, the difference of the starting voltage of the PCS's grid overvoltage protection function, and the imbalance of the load in single-phase three-wire power distribution systems. The present control of the PCS successfully avoids the overvoltage on the grid but cannot share the loss.