Investigation of the behavior of a three phase grid-connected photovoltaic system to control active and reactive power

In this paper, a photovoltaic (PV) system, with maximum power point tracking (MPPT), connected to a three phase grid is presented. The connection of photovoltaic system on the grid takes place in one stage using voltage source inverter (VSI). For a better utilization of the photovoltaic system, the control strategy applied is based on p-q theory. According to this strategy during sunlight the system sends active power to the grid and at the same time compensates the reactive power of the load. In case there is no sunlight (during the night for instance), the inverter only compensates the reactive power of the load. In this paper the use of p-q theory to supply the grid with active power and compensate the reactive power of the load is investigated. The advantage of this control strategy is that the photovoltaic system is operated the whole day. Furthermore, the p-q theory uses simple algebraic calculations without demanding the use of PLL to synchronize the inverter with the grid. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.