Review of Ship Microgrids: System Architectures, Storage Technologies and Power Quality Aspects

Published by Shantha Gamini Jayasinghe1,*, Lasantha Meegahapola2, Nuwantha Fernando2, Zheming Jin3 and Josep M. Guerrero3

1Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania, Launceston 7250, Australia,
2School of Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne 3001, Australia; lasantha.meegahapola@rmit.edu.au (L.M.); nuwantha.fernando@rmit.edu.au (N.F.)
3Institute of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220, Denmark; zhe@et.aau.dk (Z.J.);joz@et.aau.dk (J.M.G.)
*Correspondence: shanthaj@utas.edu.au; Tel.: +61-363-249-752


Abstract: Ship microgrids have recently received increased attention, mainly due to the extensive use of power electronically interfaced loads and sources. Characteristics of these microgrids are similar to islanded terrestrial microgrids, except the presence of highly dynamic large loads, such as propulsion loads. The presence of such loads and sources with power-electronic converter interfaces lead to severe power quality issues in ship microgrids. Generally, these issues can be classified as voltage variations, frequency variations and waveform distortions which are commonly referred to as harmonic distortions. Amongst the solutions identified, energy storage is considered to be the most promising technology for mitigating voltage and/or frequency deviations. Passive filtering is the commonly used technology for reducing harmonic distortions, which requires bulky capacitors and inductors. Active filtering is emerging as an alternative, which could be realised even within the same interfacing converter of the energy storage system. The aim of this paper is to investigate recent developments in these areas and provide readers with a critical review on power quality issues, energy storage technologies and strategies that could be used to improve the power quality in ship microgrids. Moreover, a brief introduction to ship power system architectures is also presented in the paper.

Keywords: energy storage; frequency variations; harmonics; power quality; ship microgrids; voltage variations

1. Introduction

Ship power systems have significantly evolved over the last century with complex network architectures and power electronically interfaced multifarious high power loads and sources. With these developments, modern ship electrical power systems have become more or less similar to terrestrial microgrids [1]. The common characteristics between the two types of microgrids include islanded operation, increased use of power electronic converters and network architectures. Therefore, technologies developed for islanded microgrids can be extended for ship microgrids as well. Nevertheless, due to the presence of large dynamic loads and various operating scenarios, power management and control of ship microgrids have become more complex compared to terrestrial microgrids [2].

Large dynamic loads in ship microgrids demand significant changes in the supply within a short time which lead to large deviations in the voltage and/or frequency. The common approaches of mitigating these deviations are the over design and maintaining a spinning reserve. These methods introduce additional weight, increase the cost and require more space. Energy storage systems (ESSs) have been identified as a promising alternative that can be used to handle transients in an efficient and effective manner in ship microgrids compared to the over design and having a spinning reserve. The current practice in the maritime industry is to use ESSs as the emergency power supply. However, they could also be designed to smoothen transients and thereby reduce voltage and/or frequency deviations in ship microgrids. Moreover, ESSs can be used for shaving the peak-load, energy recovery during regeneration and providing ancillary services to the main generator [1–4].

Power electronic converter systems found in propulsion motor drives, pumps, fans and generating sources introduce waveform distortions, mainly in the form of harmonics. Distortions created by high power converters with passive front-end interface or low frequency devices are more significant compared to low power converters. As majority of the power converters in ship microgrids are of these types, the effect of waveform distortions is much more severe compared to that of the terrestrial microgrids. The traditional approach taken to mitigate these harmonic distortions in ship power systems is the use of passive filters, which require bulky inductors and capacitors. Nowadays, the trend is to use active filters which are based on power electronic converters. Modern ESSs are equipped with bi-directional power electronic converter systems, hence they can control both active and reactive power instantaneously. Therefore, there is a possibility of using those interfacing converters as active filter as well to reduce waveform distortions.

The aim of this paper is to critically review the capabilities and characteristics of the energy storage technologies in terms of power quality improvement, and recent developments in power quality improvement strategies in ship microgrids. The rest of the paper is organised as follows: Section 2 presents an overview of ship power system architectures, loads and sources. A comprehensive analysis on power quality issues in ship power systems and associated standards are presented in Section 3. The potential use of energy storage systems as a solution to the identified power quality issues are discussed in Section 4. Finally, conclusions drawn from the study and authors opinions on future developments in the use of energy storage as a solution to power quality issues are presented in Section 5.

2. Ship Power System Architectures, Loads and Sources

2.1. Ship Power System Architectures

2.1.1. Traditional Ship Power System Architectures

Traditional ac ship power systems are based on the radial power distribution architecture and having separate generators for propulsion and service loads. The SS Canberra, ocean liner, is a good example for this architecture. Single line diagrams of her power systems are shown in Figure 1. The propulsion system is powered by two steam-turbine-coupled 32.2 MW generators, while the service loads are supplied by four steam-turbine-coupled 1.5 MW generators. This approach helps prevent transients and oscillations in the propulsion power system propagating into the service power system. However, in this system, the excess capacity of the propulsion power system at low speed or when the ship is not moving is not usable. Therefore, the utilization of available resources is very low in this approach and it results in low efficiency in the overall system [5–8]. In addition, with the growth of the power demand in service loads in modern ships maintaining two large power systems is not efficient and economical.

Recent developments in power electronics have enabled more controllability in ac propulsion systems, and thus the use of a common power system for both propulsion and service loads have become possible [1–4]. This architecture is known as integrated power system (IPS). A simplified representation of an IPS architecture with radial power distribution is given in Figure 2. The IPS architecture is considered to be first used in the Queen Elizabeth II(QEII). The QEII ocean liner consisted of steam-turbine-driven alternators which were fitted with diesel generator sets at a later stage [9].The distribution system of QEII operated at 10 kV. Transformers were used to step down this voltage to a low voltage to accommodate service loads. This IPS architecture continued with modifications such as separate high voltage and low voltage busses for port-side and starboard-side. As the IPS architecture allows more flexibility in ship design, reduction in number of prime movers and increase in the overall efficiency, it has become the popular choice, especially in cruise ships, ferries and large vessels [1,9].

Figure 1. Traditional segregated ship power system with a propulsion power system and a service power system (ST—Steam Turbine, G—Generator, M—Motor and L—Load).
Figure 2. Radial power distribution for integrated propulsion system (IPS) architecture
( T – Transformer).

As the propulsion loads and service loads are connected to the the same power system, power quality issues have become more significant with the IPS architecture. Some of these issues are similar to those present in terrestrial microgrids as well, and thus technologies used to address issues in terrestrial microgrids can be adopted in ship microgrids as well. Those issues and potential solutions are discussed in Section 3.

2.1.2. Modern Power System Architectures

While the radial power distribution has been widely adopted in ship power systems, the need for a more complex power systems that can offer higher survivability, reliability and efficiency have recently gained priority. The zonal electrical distribution (ZED) is emerging as one of the most suitable candidate power system architecture to achieve these objectives [10,11]. Figure 3a,b show a simplified diagram of an ac ZED system proposed in [10] and a dc ZED system considered by the Electric Ship Research and Development Consortium (ESRDC) [2,12], respectively. In contrast with radial power systems, zonal power systems achieve high survivability by separating the distribution system into zones and maintaining independent power sources in each zone [10–12]. In the event of a fault, it can be isolated by opening appropriate switches and thereby potential blackouts can be avoided. For example, a fault in Zone-1 can be isolated by opening the two supply switches. A fault in any point in the distribution cable system itself can also be isolated by opening any of the adjacent circuit breakers. If the fault is in a zonal load, it can be isolated by opening the load terminal breaker. Under such conditions, power distribution to any of the other loads can be continued via redundant paths with minimal impact on the power disruption to the other loads.

ZED systems require comprehensive understanding of load profiles and complex communication and coordination strategies [9–12]. Moreover, advanced fault detection, identification and isolation algorithms are essential for the successful implementation of ZED systems in ship microgrids. Communication technologies such as controller area network (CAN), local area network (LAN) based systems [11], protection algorithms and monitoring systems, e.g., multi-functional monitoring (MFM)systems and complex decision making algorithms, such as graph theory based techniques [11] area few examples that show the direction of technology development in ZED based ship power systems.

Figure 3. (a) AC zonal electrical distribution system (ac-ZEDS); (b) dc zonal electrical distribution system (dc-ZEDS) (GT—gas turbine, G—generator, M—Motor and L—load).

2.1.3. Comparison of ac and dc Power Systems and Impact on Power Quality

Traditional ship power systems are based on low voltage ac (LVAC) power distribution. Recently, medium voltage ac (MVAC) distribution systems ranging from 3.3 to 13.8 kV have become popular, especially in large ships [13–15]. These systems operate at a fixed frequency and the propulsion motors are directly connected to the fixed frequency systems resulting in fixed-speed operation of the motors. In this fixed-speed operation, pitch angle control is used to vary the propulsion power, which is inefficient at low load conditions [13]. With technology development, it has been possible to use variable-speed drives to control the speed of the propulsion motor with a fixed pitch propeller. In addition to the propulsion drives, other loads have also experienced enhanced performance with the application of the power electronic technology. As a result, recent developments in maritime power systems have seen certain advantages in the use of variable-speed drives (VSD). Since the majority of VSDs use the ac-dc-ac power conversion architecture, a dc distribution can eliminate the front-end ac-dc rectifier and thereby reduce poser losses, cost, weight and volume of the converter system.

The use of ac power has advantages such as the possibility of using brushless ac machines for loads without the need of control electronics and ease of protection during faults due to zero voltage arc extinguishment. However, the use of ac power also leads to the need of bulky transformers for step-up or step-down of voltages and relatively lower efficiency due to reactive power transfer. With modern power electronic loads, the number of power conversion steps may also increase significantly and hence pose a disadvantage. AC power systems require stringent fixed frequency and hence the prime movers have to run at the given speed under varying loads which may not yield optimum operation all the time. Furthermore, ac power systems also require multiple generator synchronization and hence encounter difficulties in immediate re-engagement of isolated systems in contrast with dc power system in a ZED based architecture. Such limitations have hindered the enhancement of survivability of the power system and power quality enhancement under faulty conditions. As a result, the dc power systems have been widely researched as an alternative to ac power systems.

The use of dc power for maritime power systems involves medium voltage dc (MVDC) having voltages from 1 kV up to 35 kV [13–16]. DC power systems enable weight savings with the use of different types of electrical machines for power generation e.g., high-speed machines with low weight, volume and high power density and elimination of low frequency transformers [17,18]. In addition, enhanced control of power flow, bi-directional power flow, ease of integration of energy storage, ease of engagement and disengagement of different parts of the system and absence of synchronization are some of the other advantages of having dc distribution in ships [13–17]. Moreover, the absence of harmonic issues is another advantage of dc systems over ac systems. Nevertheless, dc ship power systems and associated technologies are still at the development stage, and thus can be considered as an expanding area of research in the field of transportation electrification.

2.2. Loads in Maritime Power Systems and Their Impact on Power Quality

Typical shipboard electrical loads include propulsion loads, pumps and compressors for heating ventilation and air conditioning, control and communication systems in the bridge and hotel loads. Other types of loads may vary depending of the functionality of the vessel. For example, in aircraft carriers [16], additional loads may include lifting systems for aircrafts. These different loads also demand power from the ship microgrid. Generally, their dynamics and characteristics should be taken into consideration at the power system design stage. In a radial power system, the aggregated load is considered for determination of design parameter of the system. For example, the required total capacity will consider load factors for determination of switchgear and cables. The power quality can also be analysed by consideration of worst-case scenarios of operation. However, in the case of using ZEDs, the utilization of different components of the system is complicated [7]. The use of stochastic methods is a solution proposed in literature to evaluate the power system operation under a range of operating conditions and estimate corresponding load profiles [1]. Such techniques can also be extended for the analysis of power quality to guarantee high quality power in all operating scenarios.

The placement of the loads on a power system impacts the power system operation and power quality. This is especially true for loads that demand high power such as the propulsion loads or pulsed power loads in naval applications. The time constants of the loads characterize the rapidness of power demand. Table 1 outlines typical time constants of common loads in ship power systems [5,19].Load management in a complex ship microgrid having components with such a wide range of time constants is a challenging task. Strategies based on time constant are becoming popular as promising load management methods for ship microgrids [20].

Table 1. Time constants of different components of a marine electric power system [5,19].

The simplified representation of an IPS shown in Figure 2 can be used as an example system to discuss further on the time constants of different components and their implications. In this system, four steam-turbine-driven generators are used as the sources. The starboard and port propulsion motors are fed through power electronic converter systems. Depending on the required power level, propulsion motor could be chosen as either an induction motor (up to 5 MW) or a synchronous motor (above 5 MW) [13]. Permanent magnet (PM) motors are also increasingly being used in electric ship applications [15]. Irrespective of the type of the motor, its dynamics are affected by the rotor time constant. A typical fixed-pitch, variable speed, propulsion drive system in an ac ship includes a back-to-back converter structure for rectification of the ac power to dc and then inversion to produce variable voltage and variable frequency output to the motors. The rectifier stage is not required in dc ships and thus only the inverter stages are used to control the propulsion motors. The typical time constants of the propulsion drive system based on industrial drives up to 20 MW is identified in [17]. The propeller run-up time depends on the size and inertia of the propulsion system and can be found to be within the range of 1–60 s. Following propeller run-up, the ship run-up time is from60 to 500 s [17]. While these are comparatively longer time transients, the short-term transient that impact the power system include the dynamics of the machine and the pulse width modulation (PWM)drive. The PWM switching transients in the range of 100 ns to 1μs are filtered within the power electronic converter itself. However, the dynamics of electrical machines are in the range of 1ms to 1s and thus they will significantly influence the ship power quality depending on the ability to supply rapid changes in power demand.

In electric ship technologies, the propulsion load is accommodated via the electrical power system. As a result, the propulsion system dynamics significantly impact the ship microgrid and its power quality. The priorities to deliver power to each of these loads differ depending on their functionality. For example, the propulsion load demand may have high priority due to manoeuvring requirements as the inability to achieve the rapid response may result in momentary loss of ship control. However, the simultaneous delivery of a pulsed power load requires rapid delivery of power with a low time constant, and momentary shift of power for the pulsed power load will not significantly impact the high time constant loads, such as propulsion motors. Therefore, control strategies for coordinated control of different loads with differentiation of their response is found to be an essential feature in modern marine power systems, especially those that are equipped with high energy detection systems and pulsed power weapons.

The pulsed loads in ships are generally defense equipment such as electromagnetic weapons and high energy detection systems [21,22]. The authors of [22] have examined the impact of pulse loads on the power system. In this study, pulse loads of 30 MW × 0.1s and 50 MW ×1s are simulated and it is shown that the system performance and transient conditions under pulsed power loads heavily depend on the system control parameters, power system topology and the location of the pulsed power load. A generic pulsed power load is studied in [21,22] and is modelled as a current sink. The time constants are in the order of 100μs. (e.g., 76.9μs used in the system studied in [21]).

2.3. Power Sources in Ship Power Systems

The power sources applied in electric ships vary with size and application and the power levels may vary from 60 kW [18] to 120 MW range. Moreover, the use of energy storage is shown to reduce the generator capacity requirement. In [23], the authors investigate a full electric ship in simulation capable of 1.16 MW power output out of which 500 kW is generated by gas turbine (GT) generators and the remaining power is managed with the use of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and ESSs. On the other extreme, the authors of [16] investigate shipboard power systems for an aircraft carrier “capital ship” with generation capacity of 120 MW. In contrast, the power sources include diesel generator and gas turbine engines [24,25]. Medium power applications such as electric ferry ships may involve the power generation capacities in the order of 10 MW, e.g., 12 MVA system in [26]. Such examples demonstrate that the maritime power requirements significantly vary depending on the functionality of the ship.

Due to the high-power demands in naval and commercial shipping, nuclear power for marine power has been of interest since mid-20th century and has been applied for propulsion in the past[27,28]. However, nuclear powered IPSs have not appeared to have achieved popularity to date. In contrast, diesel electric and gas turbine electric systems have been widely adopted for power generation in ships. Integration of renewable energy sources has also been investigated in the past. For example, in [29,30] approximately 1% of power is generated by PV in the electric ship. In order to increase the penetration of renewable energy sources in marine power systems and also to accommodate the rapid varying loads, ESS based solutions found to be the key enabling technology. The use of ESS in ship microgrids is discussed in detail in Section 4.

3. Power Quality Issues and Regulations Applicable to Ship Microgrids

According to IEC standard 61000-4-30 power quality is defined as “characteristic of the electricity at a given point on an electrical system, evaluated against a set of reference technical parameters” [31], and this definition could be equally applicable for ship power systems. The main power quality issues in ship microgrids are listed in Table 2. According to Table 2, majority of the power quality issues can be attributed to the changes in voltage waveforms which are due to cyclic or non-cyclic load transients in the ship microgrid. In addition, frequency variations and harmonics are also becoming important power quality issues due to the increasing trend in deploying power electronically interfaced loads and generation sources in ship microgrids. It must be noted that both the frequency variations and the harmonic issues are present only in ac microgrids; however, voltage variations present in both ac and dc microgrids. With the growing more-electric trend, these power quality issues in ships are becoming an important area that requires standardization. In response to this need, ship classification societies have taken initiatives to define regulations for power quality in order to minimize the associated risk for ships, crew, cargo and seas. Table 3 shows the regulations imposed by classification societies for voltage and frequency variations for ac ship distribution systems [3].Electrical equipment on-board supplied from the main or emergency systems should be able to operate satisfactorily under these variations in voltage and frequency. The values in Table 3 are unified and unchanged for many years.

Table 2. Classification of Power Quality Issues in Ship Power System/Microgrid.

Table 3. Acceptable ranges of voltage and frequency variations in ac distribution systems.

Until recently, waveform distortion has not been taken seriously compared to voltage and frequency variations which changed after accident on-board of Queen Mary II. QMII is an all-electric cruise vessel with four diesel engines (4×16.8 MW) and two gas turbines (2×25 MW). The propulsion system consists of four pods each rated at 21.5 MW. In addition, there are three thrusters, 3.2 MW each, which are used to support manoeuvring of the ship. A thyristor based load commutated inverter(LCI) system is used to drive the high-power motors. Harmonics generated by these converters are suppressed by two passive harmonic filters (HFs) [5]. The accident on-board QMII occurred in September 2010, caused by the catastrophic failure of an aged capacitor and explosion in the aft harmonic filter room. According to the report of Marine Accident Investigation Branch, after several seconds the vessel blacked. It was concluded that “most likely that the disruption within the aft HF at the time of the accident caused general instability in the electrical network which could not be contained and led to the generators shutting down” [6]. As a result of accident, the importance of regulations on waveform distortion was highlighted and thus classification societies imposed an 8% limit for the total voltage harmonic distortion (THDV) in ship electrical distribution systems. Some classification societies, for instance DNV GL [7] or ABS [3], added additional requirements related to single harmonic content in the voltage waveform. According to these requirements, no single order voltage harmonic shall exceed 5%.

In addition to the standards and rules for civil or commercial ships, there are rules concerning navy vessels as well. For example, STANAG 1008 applies for the electrical power plants in NATO naval vessels. According to the STANAG 1008 the THDV factor should be less than 5% (up to voltage harmonic of 40th order) and no single order voltage harmonic shall exceed 3%. Moreover, the effect of operation of user equipment and resulting minimum harmonic distortion in the electrical power system is also taken into consideration in STANAG 1008. If rectifiers or power electronic converters are connected to the shipboard power system, power of the largest single distorting load Pdistort and the sum of the power of all loads ∑Pdistort which distort the current waveform should be determined and compared with the short circuit power of the generation capacity approximated as:

Ssc = 100 × Sn/x′′d% (1)

where Ssc represents the equivalent short circuit power of the supply system in kVA, Sn is the nominal apparent power of the feeding generators in kVA. x′′d% is the equivalent sub-transient reactance of the feeding generators as a percentage. The subsequent actions depend on results of the comparison which is shown in Table 4. If harmonics would be above permitted values, then measures should betaken to reduce the harmonics (multi-pulse rectifiers, filters, etc.).

Table 4. The STANAG 1008 requirements regarding maximum power of distorting loads, which does not require further detailed analysis.

4. Energy Storage Solution for Power Quality Improvement

4.1. Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) for Ship Microgrids

Different energy storage technologies are presently integrated into ship microgrids to manage the energy balance and provide auxiliary services to the ship power system. These energy storage technologies could be mainly categorised into four types: electrochemical devices (e.g., batteries, fuel cells), electrostatic devices (e.g., supercapacitors), electro-mechanical devices (e.g., flywheels), and electromagnetic devices (e.g., superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems). The energy density and power density are the two key features that could be used to characterise an energy storage system. The energy density is defined as the energy stored per-unit weight, hence energy density signifies the relative size of the storage system. The power density is defined as the amount of power that could be obtained for a per-unit weight. Figure 4 illustrates the power and energy density characteristics of different energy storage technologies suitable for ship microgrids.

Figure 4. Power Density vs. Energy Density for Different Storage Technologies.

According to Figure 4, each technology has unique characteristics in terms of the power density and energy density and hence the technology selection should be carefully conducted considering the key performance requirement of the microgrid. Table 5 lists the advantages and challenges associated with each energy storage technology.

Table 5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Storage Technologies.

In addition to the energy storage technologies listed in Table 5, there are other storage technologies used in terrestrial microgrids such as compressed-air energy storage (CAES) systems and hydrogen generation and storage. In ships CAES systems are mainly used for powering hydraulic systems and engine start-up, but rarely used for storing electrical energy. This is mainly due to the large volume required. Fuel cells are currently being used as power generation sources in ship microgrids. Nevertheless, hydrogen generation through electrolysis as a way of energy storage and subsequent use in fuel cells has not drawn much attention and thus not explicitly discussed in this paper.

4.1.1. Battery Energy Storage Systems

Battery energy storage is the most commonly used energy storage technology in ship microgrids. The lead-acid, Li-ion, NiCad and NiMH are the most commonly used battery types in battery energy storage systems. However, the lead-acid batteries are rarely being used in energy storage system applications mainly due to their low energy density and low power density. Similarly, NiCad batteries also have low energy density and low power density and thus rarely being used in battery energy storage systems [34].

The most commonly used battery technology is the Li-Ion technology, which has high power density and high energy density in comparison to the other battery technologies available in the market. The Li-Ion batteries are maintenance free and also have the highest lifetime (at 80% depth-of-discharge(DoD)) over other battery types available in the market [37]. The battery technology continues to evolve with the help of nanotechnology, hence more power and energy dense batteries are likely to be manufactured in the future [35]. It must be noted that much higher current could be drawn beyond the rated current, however, it will degrade the battery performance and ultimately the life span. Therefore, ESSs based on battery systems are not suitable for providing rapid power response to mitigate the adverse effects from loads with high ramp rates.

4.1.2. Supercapacitors

Supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitor) have the capability to release or absorb a large amount of power instantaneously than battery energy storage systems. In supercapacitors energy is stored in an electrostatic field and hence the charging and discharging cycles can be repeated without any limit and also it could be charged within a very short time span as oppose to batteries. The supercapacitor structure is different to a conventional capacitor due to its electrostatic double-layer and thinner carbon electrodes. These properties increase the capacitance of supercapacitor compared to conventional capacitor [38]. Even though Supercapacitors are widely used in automotive applications, they are not being heavily deployed in ship microgrids mainly due to relatively high cost and the low energy density. Supercapacitors are commonly used together with batteries in hybrid ESSs, which will be discussed in Section 4.1.5.

4.1.3. Flywheels

n fly-wheel ESSs the energy is stored as kinetic energy within its rotating mass and typically it has high power density than any other energy storage technology used at present. The flywheel is typically coupled with a generator/motor configuration to store and extract energy from the flywheel. At the charging stage, the flywheel is accelerated to store energy as the kinetic energy (usually rotated at 10,000–100,000 rpm) [39], while at the discharging phase it is decelerated to extract the kinetic energy and subsequently converted to the electrical energy. Typically, a power electronic frequency converter is used for advanced flywheel based ESSs to integrate with the microgrid, and it will enable flywheel to operate at a wide speed range. Flywheel-based ESSs can respond rapidly, and its respond time is typically 4–5ms. Hence, they can be used for mitigating power quality issues emanating from large pulse loads in ships. The main disadvantage being the low energy density, flywheel based ESSs cannot be used for delivering power quality and ancillary services for longer durations.

4.1.4. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) Systems

n SMESs energy is stored in a magnetic field created by the superconducting coil. The super conducting coil is maintained below the critical superconducting temperature, by using an external cooling pump. This will make the resistance of the superconducting coil to zero, hence once the potential difference is removed, the current in the superconducting coil keep circulating in the coil without any losses. As the superconducting coil carries the dc current, it also requires a power electronic interface to integrate with the ac network of the ship. Therefore, SMESs are also a flexible energy storage option for mitigating power quality issues in ship microgrids. The SMESs are also capable of delivering power rapidly, hence can be used for mitigating power quality issues due to high pulsed loads. The SMESs are becoming very popular as an energy storage option for naval ships, hence it is vital to further investigate their usage in the context of mitigating power quality issues in ship microgrids.

4.1.5. Hybrid Energy Storage Systems

The hybrid energy storage systems are also proposed and developed in recent years to exploit the advantages of multiple energy storage technologies to fulfil various needs of microgrids [40–42].The most commonly proposed hybrid ESS uses batteries and supercapacitors, hence this ESS has the benefits from high energy density of batteries and high power density of supercapacitors [40,41].Therefore, supercapacitor will provide a transient power response for a short duration to mitigate the transient power quality issues, while the battery energy storage system will provide power quality support long durations.

In comparison to any other single ESS, the hybrid ESS requires complex control architectures [43], since different energy storage technologies have different characteristics, hence they should be optimally controlled to extract the maximum benefit from both energy systems. For example, energy storage system with high power density should be used to compensate for the transient compensation while energy-intensive component should be used for compensating low-frequency component. Various power architectures have also been proposed for hybrid ESSs and these architectures are discussed in [40].

4.2. Managing Power Quality Issues

In terrestrial microgrids, most of the generation sources are based on inverter-interfaced generation sources, and ESSs are also interfaced through power electronic converter systems. Therefore, the output current could be controlled instantaneously to mitigate power quality issues in microgrids. Nevertheless, the rapid response capability of inverter systems is limited by the characteristics of the energy storage devices. As discussed earlier, high power density and rapid response are vital characteristics of ESSs to provide rapid energy needs dictated by the inverter. Therefore, based on nature of the power quality disturbance, appropriate ESS should be selected for the inverter system. This section delineates various strategies used in terrestrial microgrids to mitigate power quality issues.

4.2.1. Managing Voltage Sags/Dips

The voltage sags are closely related to the low-voltage ride -through (FRT) studies in microgrids; hence relevant literature reports strategies that can be used to mitigate voltage sags [44–48], as well as LVRT strategies for microgrids [49–51]. Therefore, both voltage sag mitigation strategies and LVRT strategies are discussed here. Reactive power control is the most commonly used strategies are discussed here.

Reactive power control is the most commonly used strategy for mitigating voltage sags in microgrids, and will also allow microgrid to ride-through faults [46]. This strategy is commonly known as Q/V droop control. Reactive power control/injection could be achieved either using existing power electronics based sources or additional dynamic reactive power devices, such as static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) [44,51]. STATCOM is a system that can combine both active and reactive power capabilities into a single converter to achieve both frequency and voltage regulation and thus becoming popular in modern power systems. In Q/V droop control strategy, the error between actual and reference voltage is calculated (see Figure 5) and then processed through a droop constant (Kv_droop) to generate the reactive power reference (Qref), and based on the voltage error, the STATCOM will inject reactive power to the microgrid to compensate the voltage sag [51].

Figure 5. Q/V droop control strategy.

A unified power quality conditioner proposed in [47] also adopted a similar control strategy for mitigating voltage sags in microgrids. Thus, a similar reactive power control strategy could be also adopted for power electronic interfaced ESSs in microgrids [45]. However, the ESS should be able to release large transient energy for mitigating large voltage sags in the microgrid. Thus, it is essential to select the appropriate energy storage technology (i.e., energy storage technology with high power density) if the ESS is dictated to mitigate voltage sags in the microgrid network. For example, in [50],a supercapacitor-based ESS is proposed for improving FRT capability of the microgrid.

However, effectiveness of the reactive power control strategy for voltage sag mitigation depends on the X/R ratio of the network, since the network voltage becomes less sensitive to reactive power when the network is predominantly resistive. Typically, if the network voltage is less than 11 kV, the X/R ratio becomes less than unity and hence active power becomes more dominant over reactive power when controlling the network voltage. Therefore, it is vital to assess the network impedance characteristics before implementing voltage sag mitigation through power electronic interfaced ESSs.

As delineated in [50], the voltage sags could be symmetrical or asymmetrical, therefore under asymmetrical voltage sags both positive and negative sequence voltage should be compensated in order mitigate the voltage sag and improve the LVRT capability to the microgrid. A negative and positive sequence droop based control method is proposed in [34] to mitigate the asymmetrical voltage sags in microgrids. In this sequence/droop based strategy appropriate proportions of positive and negative sequence active and reactive power are injected to the network to mitigate the voltage sag in the network. As this strategy is developed for a 3-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) based distributed generation (DG) systems, similar strategy could be adopted for an ESS interfaced with 3-phase VSI.

4.2.2. Managing Voltage Unbalance

The voltage unbalance is another major power quality issue reported in ac microgrids. The excessive voltage unbalance could cause induction motor driven pumps to overheat and ultimately lead to immature failure of the motor. The voltage unbalance is mainly caused by the unevenly distributed single-phase loads in the microgrid. Load reconfiguration is one option, however due to the stochastic nature of the loads, load reconfiguration does not always guarantee a perfect distribution of load in all three phases in the microgrid.

Various voltage unbalance mitigation strategies have been proposed for microgrids [52–55] and strategies are mainly implemented at the power electronic converter of the distributed generator. In every strategy, positive and negative sequence voltages are extracted and subsequently positive and negative sequence components are controlled separately to mitigate the voltage unbalance in he microgrid.

In [52], voltage unbalance mitigation strategy was implemented for DGs and active power filter in a microgrid. The hierarchical control strategy is used in [52] in which primary control was used for power sharing among DGs, while at the secondary control voltage unbalance mitigation strategy was implemented. Furthermore, this strategy only activates when the microgrid violates the maximum voltage unbalance factor (VUF) allowed for the microgrid. Voltage unbalance mitigation strategy proposed in [53] deploys a direct voltage unbalance compensation scheme by controlling the negative sequence reactive power in the synchronous reference frame. The advantage of this strategy is that it can continuously control voltage unbalance in the microgrid. Authors in [54] have proposed to control the active and reactive power ripple in order to attenuate the voltage unbalance in the microgrid. A factor called “K” was defined by the authors in order to command active and reactive power ripple from the DG. Therefore, by varying the K factor based on the network characteristics (i.e., X/R ratio)and the unbalance level, voltage unbalance could be mitigated in the microgrid. Since all these strategies are implemented in 3-phase VSIs, these strategies could be adopted for ESSs interfaced with 3-phase VSIs.

4.2.3. Managing Harmonics and Resonance Issues

Due to non-linear power electronic loads connected on-board, ship power network may contain significant harmonics in their network and subsequently may lead to detrimental resonance issues in the network. The most common method of eliminating harmonics is connecting passive filters in series with the harmonic emission source, which could be either a non-linear power electronic load or power electronic based distributed generator. However, the main focus here being reviewing the active harmonic elimination techniques used in microgrids.

A range of harmonic and resonance elimination techniques has been proposed, mainly focusing on terrestrial microgrids [55–62]. The harmonic mitigation strategies are proposed for both voltage and current harmonics in microgrids. The most commonly proposed methods are selective harmonic current injection for current harmonic mitigation [55,56,61], virtual grid impedance [31,32],resistive active power filter [59], repetitive control methods [60], and using additional devices such as D-STATCOM [35].

In selective harmonic current injection, it is required to have a good understanding of the nature of the harmonic currents to inject opposing currents by the VSI to cancel out the harmonics in the microgrid [55–58]. Therefore, in addition to the main load current reference an additional harmonic current is added to the current reference of the battery inverter as stated in [55]. A similar selective harmonic compensation scheme has been proposed in references [56] for the DGs in the microgrid.

In order to share the harmonic current injections equally among all the DG inverters a virtual impedance has also been proposed in this paper.

A virtual impedance is added to the control loop in [58] to attenuate the harmonic current injections by DGs due to voltage distortions present in the network. Since larger the voltage distortion, higher the harmonic current injections by inverter interfaced DGs. In addition, a capacitive virtual impedance has been proposed in order to share the harmonic compensation load equally among all DGs. In [58], a virtual impedance method has also been used for the damping harmonic voltages due to the adverse effect of the grid-side inductor of the LCL filter.

In addition, resistive active filter methods are also proposed in the literature to suppress harmonics in small grids, similar to the size of microgrids. In this proposed active filter, harmonic voltages are extracted in synchronous reference frame and subsequently drive the current regulator to produce a voltage command to suppress harmonic voltages [59]. Furthermore, repetitive control methods have also been proposed for voltage harmonic suppression, and also used D-STATCOMs to suppress harmonics in the network.

4.2.4. Managing Frequency Excursions

In terrestrial microgrids, ESSs play an important role in maintaining the power balance in the microgrid. The ac network frequency is considered as the main indicator for the power balance in ac microgrids, hence the ESSs can be primarily controlled based on the microgrid ac network frequency.

When the ac network frequency increases the ESS could be charged, while ac system frequency decreases it could be discharged to balance the power. The system response during frequency variations can be mainly divided into three types: primary, secondary and tertiary. During the primary response, conventional generators will release the stored kinetic energy within first few seconds, and subsequently the generator governor increases the power output based on the error between the actual frequency and reference frequency. The primary response is vital in maintaining the frequency stability of the ac grid, as the failure to maintain the frequency within a defined frequency band would cause failure in the entire network. However, microgrids are typically comprised of inverter-interfaced generation sources; hence they would not respond naturally to system frequency variations.

In the published literature, various strategies have been proposed to emulate inertial response or frequency response for power electronics based wind generation systems [63–66]. As the ESSs are also interfaced through power electronic converter systems, the emulated frequency response strategies can also be applied to ESS control scheme. This could be achieved by adding an additional control loop to the main active power control loop of the energy storage system to increase the power output in order to mitigate the frequency drop [64].

The use of energy storage technologies for mitigating voltage and frequency fluctuations is well explored in the recent literature [67–69]. In majority of the ac systems, where the grid is considered to be predominantly inductive, the ESSs are designed to exchange active power to regulate the frequency. If there is a sudden change of the load, ESS can acts fast to supply the power deficit or absorb the surplus power and thus the system frequency stays within a predefined range. This approach is commonly known as P/f control.

4.3. Challenges of Incorporating Power Quality Mitigation Strategies to ESSs

Although there is a range of energy storage technologies available for ship microgrids, the main challenge being the accurate selection and design of the energy storage system to counteract the specific power quality issue in the ship microgrid. Traditionally ESSs are chosen based on emergency energy needs and economic considerations, hence the characteristics associated the ESS is treated as a secondary requirement. For example, if a battery based ESS is chosen to mitigate voltage sags caused by high pulsed loads, then the ESS could fail over time due to its incapability to deliver high power at fast ramp rates. Thus, the main challenge is the selection of the appropriate technology to suit power quality issues and other traditional requirements. Perhaps the ESS designer should make a trade-off between the traditional needs and power quality needs when designing ESSs for future ship microgrids. The hybrid energy storage is one of the viable option to fulfil this requirement.

The above mentioned P/f and Q/V control approach is suitable only for more inductive systems [70], which are generally high voltage systems. Nevertheless, low voltage ac power systems, which are commonly found in ships, are more resistive than inductive, and thus a different approach should be used. In such systems, active power has a greater influence on the voltage and thus ESSs are needed to exchange active power for voltage regulation with reactive power exchange being controlled to regulate frequency. In dc ship power systems, the ESSs are used to regulate the voltage by supplying the deficit of power or absorbing the surplus of power. The control of the interfacing power converter is straight forward, as it does not involve synchronization of frequency control. In summary, it is clear that irrespective of the type and characteristics of the power system, ESS should act fast to keep the voltage and frequency within a permissible range.

Power levels of the converters used to drive propulsion motors or other large motors in pumps, fans or thrusters are very high and they work relatively at low frequencies. Consequently, waveform distortion, commonly known as harmonic distortion produced by these converters are very high. A common solution used to reduce harmonic distortion is the use of passive filters which are heavy, bulky, and less reliable, mainly due to the capacitors in these filters. As an alternative, ESS interfacing power converters can be used as an active filter as well and thereby mitigate harmonics produced by large motor drives.

5. Concluding Remarks

With the extensive use of power electronic converters and range of high power rapid response loads in ship microgrids, issues related to power quality are becoming significant. Thus, this review paper categorically analysed the range of power quality issue in ship microgrids and subsequently discussed mitigation strategies using different types of ESSs and various control mechanisms. The majority of ESSs are dc in nature and low in operating voltage levels and thus interfacing dc-dc or dc-ac converters are essential for integrating them to the ship power systems. Since the ESSs are used only as a supporting system their power levels are relatively low and thus high frequency switching is possible in these converters. This allows them to respond fast and reduce waveform distortions.

The mitigation strategies are primarily based on strategies proposed for terrestrial microgrids, as the same strategies could be implemented at the power electronic converter interfaced energy sources. This paper highlights that when implementing these strategies, characteristics of the ESSs should be carefully analysed as the power density and energy density greatly affect the effectiveness of the mitigation strategy. Thus, it is important to select the appropriate energy storage technology considering the type of power quality issue(s) being addressed.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Article Source: Inventions 2017, 2(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2010004 https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5134/2/1/4/htm

Power Quality Impacts in a Typical Microgrid

Published by Arangarajan Vinayagam1, Asma Aziz1, KSV Swarna1, Suiyang Khoo1 and Alex Stojcevski2

1Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong Australia.
2Centre of Technology, RMIT University, Vietnam.


Abstract—Microgrid (MG) power system plays an important role to fulfill reliable and secure energy supply to critical loads of communities as well as for communities in remote area. Distributed Generation (DG) sources integrated in a MG provides numerous benefits, at the same time leads to power quality issues in the MG power distribution network. Power Quality (PQ) issue arises due to the integration of an intermittent nature of Renewable Energy (RE) sources with advanced Power Electronics (PE) converter technology. Also, presence of nonlinear and unbalancing loads in MG seems to affect PQ of the energy supply in power distribution network. In this paper, PQ impacts like; power variation, voltage variation, Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), and Unbalance voltage level have been analysed in Low Voltage (LV) distribution network of typical MG power system model. In this study, development of MG model and PQ impact analysis through simulation has been done in PSS-Sincal software environment. Analysis results from the study can be used as a guideline for developing a real and independent MG power system with improved PQ conditions.

Keywords – microgrid; distributed generation; power quality; renewable energy; power electronics

I. INTRODUCTION

A small entity of electrical network known as Microgrid provides secure and reliable energy supply to the critical loads of communities. It also provides a sustainable and self dependent energy supply to communities in remote area where there is no access or facility for main grid power system. MG should be capable of operating either in on-gird or off-grid mode [1, 2]. MG incorporates several DG sources like; RE, conventional power units, and various types of energy storage options. DG in MG provides several benefits such as; low carbon emission of energy supply, improved efficiency and reliability of energy supply, reduction of power losses in distribution network, and defers enhancement of distribution network infrastructure facility etc. Despite of benefits, DG also creates various PQ issues like; power flow variation which causes voltage and frequency deviations, unbalance voltage and current, poor power factor, harmonic distortions, voltage flicker, voltage sag / swell etc. in the MG distribution network [3, 4]. PQ analysis of MG is essential to quantify the level of PQ issues, in order to develop a real MG model with improved PQ conditions through optimum control measures. Several studies and analysis were carried out by researchers over the PQ issues in MG power network at various conditions. [5] THD analysis was performed through simulation in a typical Photo Voltaic (PV) integrated low voltage distribution network at various conditions. THD voltage and current levels were found high in the following conditions; penetration of PV at higher level, far end feeder, low load, and load operates at leading power factor. [6] PQ issues were analysed in a typical MG power system at various level of RE penetrations and weather conditions through Matlab software simulation. The level of PQ issues was found high, at 66.6%, and 99.9% of RE penetration as compared to 33.3% level. [7] THD analysis was done while integrating PV with linear and non-linear load. At higher PV penetration level with linear load, THD was found high. At 10% of PV penetration with non-linear load (with respect to linear load), THD was around 4% whereas at 15% of PV penetration with non-linear, THD level was found above standard limit around 5.06%. In addition to THD analysis, three PQ indices were applied to evaluate level of power distortion, wave form distortion, and unbalance in the system network. Similarly, in [8] analysed at above 50% of PV penetration, voltage THD level exceeds above standard level, also found that reduction of voltage THD at worst node when penetrating more PV nearby substation as well as with more loops in highly meshed network.

In this study, in addition to THD analysis other PQ factors such as; power variation, voltage variation, unbalance voltage level also have been analysed in a typical MG power system model through software simulation. Development of MG model and impact analysis has been carried out in PSS-Sincal software environment [9]. The output results from this study will aid in developing a real MG model with improved PQ conditions for communities in future. The section II defines the details of MG model and types of analysis, section III explains the analysis results and discussion, and the conclusion of this study and future research work is given in section IV.

II. MG MODEL AND DETAILS OF ANALYSIS

A. MG Power System Model

Development of MG model and specification of its associated elements have been considered as follows; Grid source (100 MVA/66 KV) Solar PV (100 KW each), Diesel generator unit (3.25 MVA/2.4 KV/ power factor: 0.9), three phase linear and non-linear load groups, single phase distributed loads with single phase solar PV (10 KW each), 11KV feeders, main transformer (8 MVA, 66 KV/11 KV), and 4 numbers of distribution transformers (1 MVA, 11 KV/415 V). The details of DG units, 11 KV line parameters, and details of each load groups are shown in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 respectively. The typical schematic diagram of MG model is shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE I. TYPICAL SOLAR PV MG MODEL

TABLE I. DETAILS DG UNITS

TABLE II. 11 KV LINE PARAMETERS

TABLE III. DETAILS OF LOAD GROUPS

B. Power Flow Analysis

Due to an intermittency nature of solar irradiance, variation of solar PV output power can be expected in different timescales such as; in seconds, minutes, and minutes to hourly level. In this study, power variation, and voltage variation level at LV local bus nodes in MG network were estimated as per daily load and solar profile condition through Newton Raphson algorithm method of power flow analysis.

C. Harmonic Analysis

Harmonics are the frequencies that are integer multiples of fundamental frequency. PE converter and non-linear loads are the main causes for current harmonics domination in MG network. Due to the system impedance, harmonic current injected into the supply system can also cause the rise of voltage harmonics. In PSS-Sincal, voltage and current THD level were estimated on the basis of network impedance between a defined starting and ending frequency at given frequency step. In addition, typical harmonic current data for PV inverter and non-linear load [10] (25% of harmonic current level of Class-A- and Class-D equipment’s) have been considered for this analysis. Typical harmonic current curves for 100KW PV inverter and non-linear load (Class-A and Class-D equipment’s) are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively. THD is the ratio of r.m.s value of sum of all the harmonic components up to a specific order to the r.m.s value of fundamental component. The current THD (THDI) and voltage THD (THDV) are expressed as per in the following equations (1) and (2) [11] respectively.

where Ih1 is the current harmonic fundamental, Uh1 is the voltage harmonic fundamental, Ihn is the highest order of current harmonic, and Uhn is the highest order of voltage harmonic.

FIGURE II. HARMONIC CURRENT CURVE FOR PV INVERTER
FIGURE III. HARMONIC CURRENT CURVE FOR NON-LINEAR LOAD

D. Unbalance Voltage Analysis

Voltage unbalance is a significant PQ issue in the distribution network of MG power system. Voltage unbalance is mainly caused by uneven distribution of single phase loads, single phase DG units, and unequal system impedance in LV network etc. [12]. In PSS-Sincal software, unbalance voltage level can be calculated through the asymmetrical method of load flow analysis. For this analysis, typical unequal distribution of single phase load and single phase solar PV have been considered. Unbalance voltage factor (UVF) has been calculated as per the equation (3) [13] as shown below.

where Vn is negative sequence voltage, Vp is positive sequence voltage.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this section overall simulation results, given in Table 4 and Table. 5 are discussed in detail.

A. Power Variation

Solar disturbance due to the cloud effect can be considered as one of the main reason for power intermittency in PV output. PV power intermittency can be considered in different time scales like; in “second” level causes voltage flicker and in “minute” level affects the regulation of power generation reserve in power system [14]. A typical solar disturbance for each PV (100 KW) with total installed capacity of around 1 MW, connected at LV (415 V) bus node N7 has been considered for this analysis. During this period of solar disturbance from 11 hours to 11:40 hours, each PV output power variation was observed from minimum 0 KW to maximum 73 KW, as shown in Figure 4.

According to daily load profile, an active power and reactive power flow from supply sources (Grid / Diesel generator) are shown in Figure 5. Due to this cumulative effect of power variation from all ten PV units, corresponding power flow variation from grid supply source and diesel generator unit were observed during on-grid and off-grid mode of operation. As shown in Figure 6, power variation was observed from minimum 850 KW to maximum 1600 KW in grid side as well as from diesel generator. This significant power variation creates a situation for an urgent need of power generation reserve and regulation from grid source during on grid mode of MG operation. Similarly, output power variation of solar PV creates a situation for frequent ramp up and ramp down of power requirement from diesel generator, which will lead to increase in wear and tear effect of conventional power unit components, maintenance cost, and thereby reducing the efficiency of diesel generator.

TABLE IV. RESULTS OF POWER AND VOLTAGE VARIATION

TABLE V. RESULTS OF THD AND UNBALANCE VOLTAGE LEVEL

FIGURE IV. PV OUTPUT POWER VARIATION
FIGURE V. POWER FLOW VARIATION (GRID / DG)
FIGURE VI. POWER VARIATION (GRID / DG)

B. Voltage Variation

Variation of output active power disturbs the flow of reactive power causing local variation in voltage level at LV bus node N7. During solar disturbance, a small voltage variation at LV bus node N7 was observed from minimum 97.8 % to maximum 98.1% as shown in Figure 7.

FIGURE VII. VOLTAGE VARIATION AT LV BUS NODE N7

However in case of large level PV integration in a weak network or at peak load with low voltage condition, this voltage variation may reach in a significant level and can affect any sensitive loads connected to that particular bus node.

C. Harmonic Distortion

Voltage and current THD in MG network were analysed with 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100% of PV penetration in reference to the connected total linear load at LV bus node N7, non-linear load at LV bus node N9, and composite load (linear non-linear) at LV bus node N10 respectively. As per the AS4777-2005 standard [15], current THD of inverter up to 50th harmonic order should be less than 5% and compatibility levels of voltage THD as per AS/NZS 61000 [16] should be around 8%.

Both current and voltage THD level exceeds the standard limit for 100% PV penetration at LV bus node N7 as shown in Figure 8. For 70% of PV penetration level, voltage THD value was within the standard limit, whereas the current THD value exceeds the standard limit. Both the current and voltage THD level were well below the standard limit for 50% and 30% of PV penetration level. From the above results, it is clear that the current and voltage THD gets higher as the level of PV penetration increases. This is due to the cumulative effect of harmonic current injection from PV inverters during higher level of PV generation with reference to full load current of linear load at bus node N7.

As per the THD results at bus node N9 shown in Figure 9, current THD values for all the PV penetration levels were significantly high as compared to bus node N7 and also found to be above the standard limit. In 100% of PV penetration level, voltage THD were observed just above standard limit (8.1%) and within the standard limit for other penetration levels. This is due to the effect of only non-linear load (class-A and class-D equipment) connected at bus node N9.

THD results at bus node N10 as shown in Figure 10, clearly indicated that the current THD values were high and above standard limit for all levels of PV penetration (100%, 70%, 50% and 30%) except 20%. Voltage THD values were found to be below the standard limit for all other penetration levels except 100%. Voltage and current THD values at bus node N9 were low as compared to their counterparts at bus node N10. This is due to the effect of composite load where the linear and non-linear loads are distributed in equal (50%) proportion at bus node N10. In this study, harmonic filter (passive or active) was not taken into account in the MG network. Only typical current harmonic data for each PV inverter and non-linear load was considered for this THD analysis study.

Based on the results from Figure 8, Figure 9, and Figure 10, it is clear that the THD reaches in significant level in case of higher level of PV penetration, and amount of non-linear load present in the MG network. This high. level of THD can cause power losses, overheating of conductors, transformers, capacitor banks, motors or generators, and excessive current in neutral line etc. [11] in MG network.

FIGURE VIII. PV WITH LINEAR LOADAT LV BUS NODE N7
FIGURE IX. PV WITH NON-LINEAR LOAD AT LV BUS NODE N9
FIGURE X. PV WITH COMPOSITE LOAD AT LV BUS NODE N10

D. Voltage Unbalance

In this study, unbalance voltage level was estimated with typical uneven distribution of single phase loads and single phase PV generators at LV bus node N8. As per the standard AS/NZS 61000.2 [16], compatibility level of unbalance voltage limit in LV network should be less than 3%. At bus node N8, single phase solar PV and single phase loads were distributed in each phase as follows; 10 KW solar PV and 300 KVA load in phase-A, 100 KW PV and 100 KVA load in phase-B, 200 KW PV and 10 KVA load in phase-C respectively. According to typical daily load profile, each phase voltage level at bus node N8 are shown in Figure 11. As per the daily voltage profile, it was observed that during peak load period (12:30 hrs), the voltage level difference between phase-A and phase-B, C was more compared to that of low demand period (05:30 hrs). As shown in Figure 12 that the Voltage level in phase-A was low around 96.2% (399 V), whereas in phase-C was around 99.4 % (413 V). Through this analysis that the unbalance voltage level at bus node N8 was estimated and found within standard AS/NZS 61000.2 [16] limit of around 1.48%. However, this value may vary according to load condition as per voltage profile shown in Figure 11 and also it can increase further above the standard limit in case of any large LV distribution network with the uneven impedance level, uneven distribution of single phase loads and PV generation in LV network etc. This excessive unbalance voltage can have a significant impact on de-rating of the induction motor with increased heating and losses, increased thermal stress for variable speed drive (VSD) electronic components with the addition of triplen harmonic current etc. [12].

FIGURE XI. UNBALANCE VOLTAGE PROFILE AT BUS NODE N8
FIGURE XII. UNBALANCE VOLTAGE AT BUS NODE N8
IV. CONCLUSION

In this paper, PQ issues like power variation, voltage variation, THD, and unbalance voltage level were analysed and quantified through the simulation of typical MG model in PSS Sincal software environment. These PQ issues arise mainly due to the integration of an intermittent nature of DG sources with PE converter technology and presence of unbalanced / non-linear loads in the MG network. From this simulation results, it can be concluded that the power variation from solar PV output due to solar disturbance causes corresponding effect of power flow variation in both the grid source and diesel generator unit during on-grid as well as off grid mode of MG operation. PV output power variation also causes local voltage variation at LV bus node N7. Voltage and current THD were observed in an increasing trend with increase of PV penetration levels for all bus nodes N7, N9 and N10. As compared to bus node N7 where linear load connected that the current THD were observed in significant level and found to be above the standard limit at bus node N9 and N10. This is due to the effect of non-linear and composite load connected at bus node N9 and N10 respectively. The unbalance voltage level at N8 was around 1.48%, this is due to an uneven distribution of the single phase loads and PV generation at bus node N8. Results from this analysis study will be helpful to develop MG model with improved PQ conditions by implementing appropriate control measures in MG network. Considering the findings of this study, future research work for MG model will focus in the following directions;

  • Integration of energy storage with implementation of PQ compensating techniques
  • Implementation of optimum control and operating strategies
V. REFERENCES

[1]N. Hatziargyriou, Microgrids : Architectures and Control: Jhon Wiley & Sons, 2013.
[2]S. Chowdhury, S. Chowdhury, and P. Crossley, Microgrids and active distribution networks: Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009.
[3]T. Ackermann, G. Andersson, and L. Söder, “Distributed generation: a definition,” Electric power systems research, vol. 57, pp. 195-204, 2001.
[4]W. El-Khattam and M. Salama, “Distributed generation technologies, definitions and benefits,” Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 71, pp.119-128, 2004.
[5]R. Torquato, F. C. Trindade, and W. Freitas, “Analysis of the harmonic distortion impact of photovoltaic generation in Brazilian residential networks,” in Harmonics and Quality of Power (ICHQP), 2014 IEEE 16th International Conference on, 2014, pp. 239-243.
[6]M. Farhoodnea, A. Mohamed, H. Shareef, and H. Zayandehroodi, “Power quality impact of renewable energy based generators and electric vehicles on distribution systems,” Procedia Technology, vol. 11, pp. 11-17, 2013.
[7]Z. Liu, X. Xu, H. A. Abdelsalam, and E. Makram, “Power System Harmonics Study for Unbalanced Microgrid System with PV Sources and Nonlinear Loads,” Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, vol. 3, p. 43, 2015.
[8]M. Begovic, J. Zhang, D. Novosel, and N. Cho, “Harmonic Distortion in Microgrids and Distribution Systems with Photovoltaic Generators,” in System Sciences (HICSS), 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on, 2015, pp. 2586-2594.
[9]SIMENS. PSS Sincal-Siemens, Power Technologies International-2013. Available: http://www.simtecgmbh.at/sites_en/sincal_information.asp
[10]EPSMA. Harmonic Current Emissions Standard-61000-3-2,, European Power Supply Manufacturers Association-2010. Available: http://www.epsma.org/pdf/PFC%20Guide_November%202010.pdf
[11] D. J. C, Power System Harmonics and Passive Filter Designs: Wiley, 2015.
[12]V.J.Gosbell. Voltage unbalance, Power quality centre, Integral-energy-2002. Available: http://www.elec.uow.edu.au/pqaustralia /main/ images /stories/pqrctechnotes/technote6.pdf
[13]V. J. Gosbell, H. Herath, S. Perera, and D. Robinson, “Sources of error in unbalance measurements,” 2002.
[14]CSIRO. Solar Intermittency: Australia’s Clean Energy Challenge-June-2012.Available: https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP121914&dsid=DS1
[15]Standard-Australia. AS 4777.3-2005, Grid connection of energy systemsvia-inverters-2005, Available: http://www.saiglobal.com/pdftemp/previews/osh/as/as4000/4700/4777.2-2005.pdf
[16]Ausgrid. Network Standard, NS238-Network Supply Quality-2014. Available:http://www.ausgrid.com.au/~/media/Files/Network/Documents/NS%20and%20NUS/NS238.pdf


Source: International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering (SEEE 2015)

How do Harmonic Mitigating Transformers save energy?

Published by Mirus International Inc., [2010-01-08] MIRUS-FAQ001-B2, FAQ’s Harmonic Mitigating Transformers, 31 Sun Pac Blvd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada. L6S 5P6.


Harmonic Mitigating Transformers save energy by reducing losses in the following ways:

1. Zero phase sequence harmonic fluxes are canceled by the transformers secondary windings. This prevents triplen harmonic currents from being induced into the primary windings where they would circulate. Consequently, primary side I2R and eddy current losses are reduced.

2. Multiple output HMT’s cancel the balanced portion of the 5th, 7th and other harmonics within their secondary windings. Only residual, unbalanced portions of these harmonics will flow through to the primary windings. Again I2R and eddy current losses are reduced.

3. Many HMT designs are highly efficient at 60Hz as well as at harmonic frequencies. Energy Star compliant models meet NEMA TP-1 energy efficiency minimums at 35% loading. This is typically achieved by reducing core losses to further improve efficiencies under lightly loaded conditions. For optimum energy efficiency performance, Mirus’ Energy Star compliant Harmony Series HMT’s are designed to meet NEMA TP-1 minimum efficiencies not only at 35% but in the entire operating range from 35% to 65%.

Figure 14-1: 75 kVA Transformer losses at various loading conditions with non-linear K-9 load profile.

Figure 14-1 provides an example of the energy savings that can be realized when HMT’s are used in lieu of conventional or K-rated transformers. A K-9 load profile, typical of a high concentration of computer equipment (Ithd = 83%), was selected for the analysis. Losses were calculated for various types of 75 kVA transformers at varying load conditions. In the graph, Conv is a conventional delta-wye transformer, K-13 is a K-13 rated delta-wye and H1E is a Harmony-1E single output Energy Star compliant HMT.

Figure 14-2: Energy Efficiencies for various types of 75 kVA transformers supplying linear (K-1) loads and non-linear (K-9) loads under varying load conditions.

The chart shows how energy savings become more and more substantial as a transformer’s load increases. This is logical since it is the load losses which are most affected by the harmonic currents and these are proportional to the square of the current (I2R and I2h2). Figure 14-2 further emphasizes how transformer efficiencies are affected by non-linear loading. It compares the performance of various types of transformers with linear loading (K-1) and non-linear loading (K-9). The efficiencies of the conventional and K-13 transformer are much lower when they are subjected to a load with a K-9 profile, especially under the heavier loading conditions.

Determining the amount of energy savings associated with a reduction in harmonic losses requires information on the Electric Utility rate and the load’s operating profile. These parameters can vary quite substantially depending upon the location of the facility and the specific application. Table 14-1 shows the energy savings that can be realized when a Harmony-1E HMT is compared with a typical K-13 transformer. As in the previous examples, the transformers are 75 kVA and the non-linear load profile is that of a typical K-9 load.

Table 14-1

Table 14-1: HMT energy savings and payback estimate comparing a 75 kVA HMT to a K-13 transformer in a typical office environment with a high concentration of computer equipment

The monetary savings are based on the equipment operating 12 hours per day, 260 days per year at an average Utility rate of $0.07 per kWhr and assumes that additional cooling energy is required by the building’s air conditioning system to remove the heat produced by the transformer losses. The calculation is as follows:

Annual Consumption = (Total losses in kW) x (hrs/day) x (days/yr) + (NL loss in kW) x (24 – hrs/day) x (365 – days/yr)) $/yr Savings = (H1E Annual Consumption – K13 Annual Consumption) x 1.35 x (rate in $/kWhr)

This previous example could be typical of an office environment with a high concentration of computer loads and with the transformer located in air conditioned space. The requirement to cool the heat produced by the transformer’s losses is typically 30% to 40% of the power in the losses (thus the 1.35 multiplier in calculation of $/yr Savings). Paybacks were calculated based on estimated transformer costs and would result in recovering the Harmony-1E premium many times over based on the transformer’s life expectancy of 30 to 40 years.

Table 14.2 provides another example. In this case, a lower harmonic content K4 load profile was used with the equipment operating 24 hrs/day, 365 days a year and the transformer located in air conditioned space. An example of such a location might be a Broadcasting Facility or Data Center. As can be seen, paybacks are even more attractive.

Table 14.2

Table 14-2: HMT energy savings and payback estimate comparing a 75 kVA HMT to a K-13 transformer in a typical Broadcasting Facility or Data Center

In summary, the inherent ability of Harmonic Mitigating Transformers to cancel harmonic currents within their windings can result in quantifiable energy savings when compared with the losses that would exist if conventional or K-rated transformers were used. If we consider the average premium cost of an HMT over a K-13 transformer, the typical payback in energy savings is 1 to 4 years when loading is expected to be in the 50% to 65% range.


Harmonics and Harmonic Mitigating Transformers (HMT’s) Questions and Answers

This document has been written to provide answers to the more frequently asked questions we have received regarding harmonics and the Harmonic Mitigating Transformer technology used to address them. This information will be of interest to both those experienced in harmonic mitigation techniques and those new to the problem of harmonics. For additional information visit our Website at www.mirusinternational.com.

What is Portable Appliance Testing and Why is PAT Test Done

Published by Carelabs, Carelabs is authorized provider of Electrical Installation’s Study, Analysis, Inspection, and Certification services in UAE. Website: carelabz.com


Image: Carelabs – PAT test

Portable appliance testing (commonly known as “PAT”, “PAT Inspection” or (redundantly) as “PAT Testing) is the term used to describe the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use. The formal term for the process is “in-service inspection & testing of electrical equipment”. Most electrical safety defects can be found by visual examination but some types of defect can only be found by testing. However, it is essential to understand that visual examination is an essential part of the process because some types of electrical safety defect can’t be detected by testing alone. 

It’s a myth that all portable electrical appliances in a low-risk environment, such as an office, need to have a portable appliance test (PAT) every year. The law simply requires employers to ensure electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger – it doesn’t state what needs to be done or how often. 

The frequency of inspection and testing depends upon the type of equipment and the environment it is used in. For example, a power tool used on a construction site should be examined more frequently than a lamp in a hotel bedroom. For guidance on suggested frequencies of inspection and testing, see: Maintaining portable and transportable electrical equipment. 

Why PAT is Done? 

The key word is liability. An employer or manufacturer should show as much concern about safety as does the legal system. The liability is with the employer or owner of a place of business, or public place, to ensure that all electrical equipment accessible by employees or the public is maintained in a safe condition. The liability is with the manufacturer of electrical equipment to ensure that the equipment is safe for those who operate it. The best way to ensure electrical safety is by routine visual examination, electrical testing and documentation. 

The NFPA standard states that “Electricity is widely recognized as a serious workplace hazard, exposing employees to electric shock, burns, fires, and explosions. Underlying causes are listed as work involving unsafe equipment and installations, workplaces made unsafe by the environment, and unsafe work performance. Hazards stemming from faulty equipment are further identified as faulty insulation, improper grounding, loose connections, defective parts, ground faults in equipment, unguarded live parts, and underrated equipment.” 

Health and safety regulations require that electrical appliances are safe and maintained to prevent harm to workers. Many equipment manufacturers recommend testing at regular intervals to ensure continual safety; the interval between tests depending on both the type of appliance and the environment in which it is to be used. Some equipment is just more likely to sustain damage than others. Handheld types are handled and moved more than other types and this can lead to rough handling, which often results in damage and early life failure. The legislation deems that any competent person can perform it by using a PAT instrument or tester. The visual examination of each appliance in addition to the actual PAT test should be performed only by someone who is deemed competent. 

Testing equipment has been specifically developed for PAT inspections, based on the testing equipment used by manufacturers to ensure compliance with the British Standard Code of Practice and European product standards relevant to that type of appliance. This in turn allows testing and the interpretation of results to be de-skilled to a large extent (citation needed). The inspection of the appliances can largely be carried out in-house in many organisations. This can result in cost savings and more flexibility as to exactly when a PAT is carried out. 

What is Done During PAT? 

A relatively brief user check (based upon simple training and perhaps assisted by the use of a brief checklist) can be a very useful part of any electrical maintenance regime. However, more formal visual inspection and testing by a competent person may also be required at appropriate intervals, depending upon the type of equipment and the environment in which it is used.  

Testing involves a visual inspection of the equipment and any flexible cables for good condition, and also where required, verification of earthing (grounding) continuity, and a test of the soundness of insulation between the current carrying parts, and any exposed metal that may be touched. The formal limits for pass/fail of these electrical tests vary somewhat depending on the category of equipment being tested. 

PAT can be done by hiring an external company, like Carelabs, to test all the electrical products in a business or it can be done in-house by a competent person. In a low-risk environment most dangerous defects can be found simply by checking the appliances for obvious signs of damage such as frayed cables. 

The dangers of contact with live electrical parts need no explanation to an electrician. However, the environments in which the majority of portable appliances are used are not necessarily where operators would be aware of the dangers or the implications of damage to equipment. The point of routine visual inspection and electrical testing is to identify potential hazards and actual dangers before they turn into an accident.  

The hazards that must be identified include:  

  • Personal exposure to live conductors — electrocution.  
  • High current faults causing excessive heat — fire.  
  • Intermittent connection — arcing causing heat and potential ignition.  

These hazards can be identified by performing in-service:  

  • Regular electrical tests.  
  • Visual examination.  
  • Combined visual examination and electrical tests. 

Various people have responsibility for electrical equipment, including:  

  • Property owners, equipment owners, company owners, directors, and line managers etc.  
  • The person undertaking the formal visual examination and electrical testing.  
  • Maintenance managers.  
  • Operators of the equipment. 
What Needs to be PAT Tested? 

Determining what needs to be PAT tested is not as difficult as it sounds. For the purpose of legislation, portable appliances include all equipment that is not part of a fixed installation but is meant to be connected to a fixed installation or generator. Any appliance that uses a flexible cable or plug and socket qualifies as a portable appliance. In other words, if you have an appliance that has a plug that is intended to be connected to a wall socket or generator, it qualifies as needing to be PAT tested. 

This can include items such as electric drills, monitors, printers, PCs, kettles and larger items like photocopiers, vending machines and others. So a cordless power tool would not need to be PAT tested but their battery chargers that plug into the wall for power do need to be tested. 

All IT equipment should be tested, including power cords to this equipment although they are required to be tested separately from the equipment that they power, because they are held to a different standard. Electrical cable extensions are the most commonly tested items as they are among the most common sources of safety hazards. All of your 110 volt equipment in addition to all 3 phase equipment should also be tested. 

PAT Testing Regulations 

Conforming to PAT testing regulations will help you to ensure that the portable appliances in your business are safe and help you to avoid violations. PAT testing legislation was put into effect to ensure that all companies conform to the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, Electricity at Work Regulations of 1989, Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulations of 1998 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations of 1999. 

The current law requires that all employers maintain portable appliances and ensure their safety. PAT testing law requires that all landlords, employers and even self-employed individuals make sure that their portable electrical appliances are safe and are suitable and used for the purposes intended. These appliances should always be maintained properly and remain in good working order. 

The guidelines are designed to make certain that this equipment is kept protected and is preserved through regular maintenance as well as inspections and periodic testing. Damage and fault can occur with all electrical equipment use which makes it essential that these items are tested regularly for safety. According to PAT testing legislation, a competent person is someone who has experience or knowledge of being able to check and test appliances for safety purposes. Those with knowledge of electricity in general as well as anyone who has experience in electrical work can be deemed capable. It is imperative that employers, landlords and self-employed individuals follow the rules to ensure that their workplaces are safe. Testing can be done by any number of PAT testing companies or individuals can obtain certification to perform their own testing by successfully completing coursework in this field. 

Frequency of PAT Testing 

In order to determine how often you should have your appliances tested, you should bear in mind a few different factors: 

  • Equipment that is used more should be tested more frequently. This equipment is likely to suffer less damage than that used regularly. 
  • If people using equipment report any damages as they become noticeable, there is less chance of a major hazard. If equipment regularly receives damage or abuse that is not reported then inspections and testing are required more frequently. 
  • The type of equipment in question is a major factor in determining PAT testing frequency. Hand held appliances are more likely to become damaged than those that are stationary. Class 1 appliances carry the greatest risk of danger and should be tested more often. 

Portable appliance testing is the visual examination and electrical testing of portable electrical equipment used in industrial, commercial or public access areas and locations (including rented property) to ensure they are safe to use, and cannot present an electrical hazard to the operator or anyone in their vicinity. Among the issues that can arise are: 

  • Exposure to live, conductive parts due to damage to the outer casing of the equipment.  
  • Worn and/or frayed power cord.  
  • Defective, lose or missing earth/ground connections.  
  • Failure to identify and correct problems such as those listed above can result in the electrical equipment becoming a shock hazard or a fire risk.  

Many of these problems can be identified visually, but still often go unreported. Internal faults often go undetected. Portable appliance testing involves performing a series of tests that, taken together, are designed to identify any faults or product defects that would otherwise not be detected. In addition to protecting personnel, regular safety checks of electrical equipment tend to increase the operational life of equipment. 

How PAT Testing is Done? 

Visual Examination 

Visual examination is vital and always precedes electrical testing. It often reveals major defects that would not be revealed by testing alone.  

Categories of in-service visual examination and electrical testing are divided into three types:  

1. Operator Checks (no records if equipment is OK).  

All users of equipment must understand how important operator checks are. Some equipment and environments may demand special needs but generally the following list is a typical checklist that operators should be using. 

  • Check the condition of the appliance/equipment (look for cracks or damage). 
  • Examine the cable supplying the item, looking for cuts, abrasions, cracks, etc. 
  • Check the cable sheath is secure in the plug and the appliance. 
  • Look for signs of overheating. 
  • Check that it has a valid label indicating that it has been formally inspected and tested and the date of the next inspection and/or test. 
  • Decide if the item is suitable for the environment in which it is to be used, for example 230 V appliances should not be used on a construction site, unless protected by a 30 mA RCD. 
  • If all these checks prove satisfactory, check that the appliance is working correctly. 
2. Formal Visual Examination (recorded) 
  • Check cable runs to ensure that cables will not be damaged by staff or heavy equipment. 
  • Make sure that plugs, sockets, flex outlets, isolators, etc. are always accessible to enable disconnection/isolation of the supply, either for functional, maintenance or emergency purposes. For example, in many office environments, socket outlets are very often obscured by filing cabinets. 
  • Check that items that require clear ventilation, such as convector heaters, VDUs, etc., are not covered in paper, files, etc., and that foreign bodies or moisture cannot accidentally enter such equipment. 
  • Ensure that cables exiting from plugs or equipment are not tightly bent. 
  • Check that multi-way adaptors/extension leads are not excessively used. 
  • Check that equipment is suitable for both the purpose to which it is being put and the environment in which it is being used. 
  • Ensure that accessories/equipment are disconnected from the supply during the inspection process, either by removing he plug or by switching off at a connection unit or isolator. 
  • Take great care before isolating or switching off business equipment. Ensure that a responsible person agrees that this may be done, otherwise this may result in a serious loss of information, working processes, etc. 
3. Combined Visual Examination and Electrical Testing (recorded): 

At periodic intervals, the portable appliances are tested to measure that the degree of protection to ensure that it is adequate. At these intervals, a formal visual inspection is carried out and then followed by PAT testing. Note the inside of the plug should be checked unless it is moulded or there is an unbroken seal covering the screws (bad internal wiring or an unsuitable fuse would cause the item to be classed as dangerous). 

Frequency of Visual Examination and Electrical Testing depends on a number of factors. No strict test schedules exist. If the cable passes your visual inspection, use a standard test lead (included with most PAT testers) to perform the following testing procedures: 

Earth Bond/Continuity Test  

Earth bond/continuity tests only apply to Class I equipment and are used to confirm the existence of a safety return path. The purpose of the test is to ensure that the ground terminal has a low resistance connection to the conductive metal casing of the appliance. An effective connection to the system ground within the fixed installation of the premises ensures safety. There are two methods available and different circumstances will require each method:  

Testing is performed using an ohmmeter or PAT tester; 

  • Using the ohmmeter to produce a reading 
  • Using a PAT tester under the following conditions 
  • 12V maximum, test current range 100mA to 200mA – commonly known as “earth continuity test” or “screen test” 
  • 12V maximum, test current 10A – commonly known as “routine test” 
  • 12V maximum, 1.5 times rated current of appliance or 25A, whichever is greater – commonly known as “type test” or “bond test”
Low Current Continuity Test:  

A continuity measurement should be made using a short circuit test current between 20-200 mA between exposed conductive parts of the equipment and the earth pin of the plug (or earth/ground-terminal of the supply). This test is performed using the earth bond lead. The maximum value of resistance should be noted while flexing the asset supply cable and a visual examination of the power cable terminations at both ends should be made. Any fluctuation in the reading should be investigated to identify the cause. The test current is so low that there is no risk of damaging earth connections that may exist for functional, rather than safety, reasons. This low-current test is sometimes referred to as a “soft test.”  

High Current Bond Test

A continuity measurement using a test current of max 26A for between 5 to 20 seconds. This test is used where the user has concerns that a ground may be maintained by a few strands of wire or where poor surface contact by the probes or clips could give a misleading reading. The bond test should be connected between exposed earthed/ grounded conductive parts of the equipment and the ground pin of the plug (or ground-terminal of the supply). This is done by connecting the earth bond lead to the exposed metalwork. The maximum value of resistance should be noted while flexing the asset supply cable and a visual examination of the power cable terminations at both ends should be made. Any fluctuation in the reading should be investigated to identify the cause. 

Insulation Test  

The insulation test is used to confirm that there is separation between the live conductors (live and neutral) and any accessible conductive parts. Generally, insulation testing is carried out by applying a known test voltage (500 V DC) and measuring the resistance. On sensitive equipment (IT for example) 500 V may cause damage, and so be unsuitable. Therefore, it may be substituted with a low-voltage (250 V) insulation test, a touch current test or an alternative leakage current test. Appliances must not be touched during an insulation test because, if a fault exists, the exposed metalwork may rise to the test voltage, although this voltage in itself is not dangerous. It is performed using an ohmmeter or portable appliance tester by applying a nominal voltage to the live conductors (active and neutral) of an appliance, and placing 0 volt reference on the earthed parts of a Class I appliance or the external metal parts of a Class II appliance.

The test method varies, depending on whether the appliance is Class I or Class II. For a grounded (Class I) appliance, the insulation test is carried out between the earth pin and the combined live and neutral pins of the plug. Megger PAT testers make these connections for you. A Class II appliance is slightly different as there is no connection to the plug earth pin. This time a connection is made between the combined live and neutral pins and any metal parts or dirty/conductive areas of the casing which may involve several tests. The connection method is the same as that used for the earth bond/continuity return, using the same lead. 

Differential Leakage Test  

The differential leakage current (also called protective conductor current) test measures the difference in current between the live and neutral conductors and determines if any current is flowing to earth. Normally, appliances should have no, or very little, earth leakage current. Class II (double insulated) appliances could exhibit earth leakage through their mountings or by operator contact. During the test, the actual mains voltage is measured at the appliance socket. To ensure that the equipment is safe even when the mains supply rises to its maximum permitted value, the PAT calculates and displays the leakage current that would flow at this value. 

Leakage Current Test  

It is performed at rated voltage with values not exceeding 5mA for Class I appliances or 1mA for Class II appliances. 

Alternatively, measure insulation resistance values are not less than 1MΩ for Class I and Class II appliances at 500 V d.c. or alternatively, to avoid the equipment apparently failing the test because the metal oxide varistors (MOVs), or electro-magnetic interference (EMI) suppression has triggered, for equipment containing voltage limiting devices such as MOVs, or EMI suppression, at 250 V dc. 

Leakage current testing is performed using a PAT by applying a nominal voltage to the live conductors (active and neutral) of an appliance, and placing 0 volt reference on the earthed parts of a Class I appliance or the external metal parts of a Class II appliance. 

Load Test  

The load test (also called the operational or VA test) measures the power consumption of the equipment when running. Measuring the load (VA) of an appliance is a good indication of its operating condition. By setting a load VA limit in the instrument’s test groups, an appliance can be assessed automatically for excessive load. The load VA limit is usually set based on the rating plate on the appliance. When using the Megger portable appliance testers, which power up the equipment for you, a functional test is carried out during the “load” test. This test will determine:  

  • If the asset functions correctly  
  • The VA rating of the appliance  

The results of this test can be a good indicator of future problems and potential failures in an appliance.  

Problems like worn bearings on a drill would probably result in increased current drawn from the supply and therefore an increase in the VA reading. Care should be exercised when electrical… 

Polarity Check 

In countries where the sockets are polarised, polarity testing is a simple test that can be carried out using a polarity tester to determine whether the active and neutral of the plug end are correctly connected to the corresponding terminals at the socket end 

Note: The earth is tested during the earth continuity test. In the UK, as per BS7671, the phase (‘Live’ or ‘Hot’) cable should connect with right hand side terminal of the socket (if we face the socket outlet). 

Flash Testing  

Flash testing measures the leakage current when high test voltages are applied to an asset. The flash test provides a high ac test voltage (2500 V or 3000 V) and measures the leakage current. This test can be destructive and is usually only used on equipment that has been repaired. It is not generally used for “in-service testing” of electrical equipment. 

Labelling 

Any equipment that requires visual examination and electrical testing must be clearly labelled. The label must consist of a unique identifier for the equipment, the date it was tested, the re-test date and an indication of its state. A failed asset does not need the dates on, just clear identification that it has failed. Labels may either be filled in by hand or printed. Printed labels often consist of a bar code for the identifier making them easy to read with a suitable barcode scanner. This is a great time saver with an instrument that supports it such as the PAT400 Series by Megger. Labels should be manufactured so they can… 

Documentation  

The following records should be established and maintained:  

  • A register of all equipment  
  • A record of formal and combined visual examinations and electrical tests  
  • A register of all faulty equipment  
  • A repair register  

All of these records can be stored on paper or electronically, as long as reasonable precautions are taken with regard to the safeguarding of the data. Whichever method is chosen, previous test results must be available to the test operative. Our company maintains the following paper or electronic records Copy of the formal visual examination and combined visual examination and electrical test results and register of all equipment repaired. 

Report 

On completion of the testing you will be issued with a safety certificate and a detailed report that provides information on each individual item.  All items that pass the inspection & testing will be labelled with a safety sticker and a unique barcode number that helps us keep track of all portable appliances in your company.


Source: https://carelabz.com/what-pat-test-why-pat-test-done/

Wind Energy Conversion System from Electrical Perspective — A Survey

Published by Hyong Sik Kim, Dylan Dah-Chuan Lu, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Email: hkim4210@uni.sydney.edu.au

Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 2010, 1, 119-131 doi:10.4236/sgre.2010.13017 Published Online November 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/sgre). Received October 20th, 2010; revised November 14th, 2010; accepted November 20th, 2010.


ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the wind energy conversion system (WECS) with the three main electrical aspects: 1) wind turbine generators (WTGs), 2) power electronics converters (PECs) and 3) grid-connection issues. The current state of wind turbine generators are discussed and compared in some criteria along with the trends in the current WECS market, which are ‘Variable Speed’, ‘Multi-MW’ and ‘Offshore’. In addition, the other crucial component in the WECS, PECs will be discussed with its topologies available in the current WECS market along with their modulation strategies. Moreover, three main issues of the WECS associating with the grid-connection, fault-ride through (FRT) capability, harmonics/interharmonics emission and flicker, which are the power quality issues, will be discussed due to the increasing responsibility of WECS as utility power station. Some key findings from the review such as the attractiveness of BDFRG are presented in the conclusion of this paper.

Keywords: Wind Energy, Wind Turbine Generators, Power Electronic Converters, Grid Connection, Brushless, Reluctance, Pulse-Width Modulation, Fault Ride Through Capability, Voltage Dip, Harmonics, Flicker, Power Quality, BDFRG

1.Introduction

Green house gas reduction has been one of the crucial and inevitable global challenges, especially for the last two decades as more evidences on global warming have been reported. This has drawn increasing attention to renewable energies including wind energy, which is regarded as a relatively mature technology [1]. It recorded 159 GW for the total wind energy capacities in 2009, which is the highest capacity among the existing renewable energy sources with excluding large-scale hydro power generators as shown in Figure 1 [2].

Figure 1. World renewable energy capacities in 2009 (based
on [2]).

Also, its annual installation growth rate marked 31.7% in 2009 with its growth rate having been increasing for the last few years, which indicates that wind energy is one of the fastest growing and attractive renewable energy sources [3]. The increasing price competitiveness of wind energy against other conventional fossil fuel energy sources such as coal and natural gas is another positive indication on wind energy [4]. Therefore, a vast amount of researches on WECS have been and is being undertaken intensively.

WECS consists of three major aspects; aerodynamic, mechanical and electrical as shown in Figure 2. The electrical aspect of WECS can further be divided into three main components, which are wind turbine generators (WTGs), power electronic converters (PECs) and the utility grid.

Figure 2. Wind energy conversion system (based on [5,6]).

There are many review papers on those electrical aspects available; however, there seem small amount of investigation and discussion on some newer concepts of WGTs as well as PECs along with its modulation strategies. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to review these three important electrical aspects of WECS with some of the newer concepts for WTGs, PECs with their modulation strategies, and some of the grid connection issues that have risen as the penetration of wind energy on the utility grid has been increasing rapidly in the last few years [4].

The structure of this paper is as follows: wind turbine generators are firstly discussed in Section 2, followed by PECs and their modulation strategies in Section 3. Then, grid connection issues of WECS will be addressed in Section 4. In Section 5, the discussion on these three components is presented and followed by the conclusion in Section 6.

2.Wind Turbine Generators

2.1. Wind Turbine Generators in the Current Market

WTGs can be classified into three types according to its operation speed and the size of the associated converters as below:

  • FSWT (Fixed Speed Wind Turbine)
  • VSWT (Variable Speed Wind Turbine) with:
    • PSFC (partial scale frequency converter)
    • FSFC (full scale frequency converter)

FSWT including SCIG (Squirrel-Cage Induction Generator), led the market until 2003 when DFIG (Doubly Fed Induction Generator), which is the main concept of VSWT with PSFC, overtook and has been the leading WTG concept with 85% of the market share reported in 2008 [4]. For VSWT with FSFC, WRSG (Wound Rotor Synchronous Generator) has been the main concept; however PMSG (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator) has been drawing more attention and increasing its market share in the past recent years due to the benefits of PMSG and drawbacks of WRSG [7].

Since there is much literature available on these WTG concepts in the market such as [6 13], the following section will only address the two newer concepts of WTGs, which are BDFIG (Brushless Doubly Fed Induction Generator) and BDFRG (Brushless Doubly Fed Reluctance Generator), followed by the discussion with the comparison of them to the existing concepts.

2.2. Two Newer WTG Concepts

2.2.1. BDFIG

BDFIG is one of the most popular VSWT with PSFC types in the current research area due to its inherited characteristics of DFIG, which is the most popular WTG type at the current market, along with its brushless aspect that DFIG do not possess. As shown in Figure 3, BDFIG consists of two cascaded induction machines; one is for the generation and the other is for the control in order to eliminate the use of sliprings and brushes, which are the main drawback of DFIG.

Figure 3. The conceptual diagram of BDFIG.

This brushless aspect increases its reliability, which is especially desirable in offshore application [14,15]. Other advantages are reported in [6,16,17] including its capability with low operation speed. On the other hand, BDFIG has relatively complex aspects in its design, assembly and control, which are some of the main disadvantages of BDFIG [8].

2.2.2. BDFRG

There is also another brushless and two-cascaded-stator concept of VSWT with PSFC type in the research area, which is BDFRG. As shown in Figure 4, one distinct design compared with BDFIG is its reluctance rotor, which is usually an iron rotor without copper windings, which has lower cost than wound rotor or PM (permanent magnet) rotor.

Figure 4. The conceptual diagram of BDFRG.

This design offers some advantages on top of the advantages of BDFIG including higher efficiency, easier construction and control including power factor control capability as well as the cost reduction and higher reliability including its “fail-safe” operating mode due to its reluctance rotor [18-21]. Due to its very high reliability, reluctance generators have also been of interest in aircraft industry where design challenges such as harsh environment operation and stringent reliability exist [22, 23]. On the other hand, some of the drawbacks for BDFRG exist such as complexity of rotor deign, its larger machine size due to a lower torque-volume ratio and so forth [20,24,25].

2.3. Comparison of WTG Concepts

The advantages and disadvantages of the six concepts, the four existing in the current market and the two newer concepts discussed in the previous section are summarised in Table 1 [6-21,24,25].

Based on the information in Table 1, Table 2 represents a comparison of those six concepts with respect to the five criteria; energy yield, cost, reliability, grid support ability and technical maturity. For energy yield, PMSG has the highest rating followed by the other VSWT concepts and SCIG has the lowest energy yield with 10-15% lower value than PMSG [26] due to its fix speed aspect. However, SCIG has the lowest cost followed by BDFRG, and WRSG has the highest cost due to its large size wound machine. It is interesting when ‘energy yield per cost’ is considered based on the estimated levels on energy yield and cost in Table 2. The highest value is achieved by neither PMSG nor SCIG; BDFRG achieves the highest estimated levels on ‘energy yield per cost’, which is supported in [19]. Reliability is closely related to the existence of brushes and sliprings, which is the main drawback of DFIG. The reason BDFIG is rated as ‘Medium-High’ despite of its brushless aspect is because it is new and has design complexity, which brings down reliability as the case of the newer German WTGs compared with older Danish WTGs reported in [12]. On the other hand, BDFRG is rated as ‘High’ despite of that it is as new concept as BDFIG. It is because of the ‘fail-safe’ characteristic of BDFRG, which enables its robust operation in spite of the failure on its inverter or secondary stator. Grid support ability is affected mainly by the size of the converter and the stator connection. VSWT with FSFC has high support ability due to its full scale frequency converter. In the case of DFIG, with PSFC, it can only provide limited support to the grid due to its directly connected stator that absorbs the effect of grid fault without any mitigation. It is reported that BDFIG and BDFRG have improved characteristics under grid fault [16] and for grid support ability [19] respectively. Lastly, the maturity of the technology is straightforward as shown in Table 2 because SCIG, DFIG and WRSG have been developed for more than a couple of decades followed by PMSG. As mentioned before, BDFIG and BDFRG are newer concept and therefore more researches are needed in order to increase its technical maturity and hence to be applicable in the industry.

Table 1. The advantages and disadvantages of the six WTG concepts.

Generator Concept (Type)AdvantagesDisadvantages
SCIG
(FSWT)
• Easier to design, construct and control
• Robust operation
• Low cost
• Low energy yield
• No active/reactive power controllability
• High mechanical stress
• High losses on gear
PMSG
(VSWT-FSPC)
• Highest energy yield
• Higher active/reactive power controllability
• Absence of brush/slipring
• Low mechanical stress
• No copper loss on rotor
• High cost of PM material
• Demagnetisation of PM
• Complex construction process
• Higher cost on PEC
• Higher losses on PEC
• Large size
WRSG
(VSWT-FSPC)
• High energy yield
• Higher active/reactive power controllability
• Absence of brush/slipring
• Low mechanical stress
• Higher cost of copper winding
• Higher cost on PEC
• Higher losses on PEC
• Large size
DFIG
(VSWT-PSPC)
• High energy yield
• High active/reactive power controllability
• Lower cost on PEC
• Lower losses by PEC
• Less mechanical stress
• Compact size
• Existence of brush/slipring
• High losses on gear
BDFIG
(VSWT-PSPC)
• Higher energy yield
• High active/reactive power controllability
• Lower cost on PEC
• Lower losses by PEC
• Absence of brush/slipring
• Less mechanical stress
• Compact size
• Early technical stage
• Complex controllability, design and assembly
• High losses on gear
BDFRG
(VSWT-PSPC)
• Higher energy yield
• High active/reactive power controllability
• Lower cost on PEC
• Lower losses by PEC
• Absence of brush/slipring
• No copper loss on rotor
• Less mechanical stress
• Easier construction
• Early technical stage
• Complex controllability and rotor design
• High losses on gear
• Larger size than DFIG

Table 2. The comparison of the six different WTG concepts.

Generator ConceptEnergy YieldCostReliabilityGrid Support AbilityTechnical Maturity
SCIGLowLowHighLowHigh
PMSGHighMedium-HighHighHighMedium-High
WRSGMedium-HighHighHighHighHigh
DFIGMedium-HighMediumMediumMediumHigh
BDFIGMedium-HighMediumMedium-HighMedium-HighLow
BDFRGMedium-HighLow-MediumHighMedium-HighLow

2.4. Discussion on WTGs

As observed previously, there has been ‘variable speed’ trend in the WT market due to its greater energy yield along with other advantages and will be so in the future with DFIG and PMSG leading the market base on the various data and literature [4,8,9,27]. The two newer concepts, BDFIG and BDFRG are also in line with this trend.

Another distinct trend is offshore wind energy. It is reported that offshore wind resource has higher quality in terms of its availability and constancy, and higher spatial availability than onshore wind resource, which makes offshore wind very attractive [28]. However, there exist great technical challenges on its construction and maintenance, because of its geological accessibility that greatly depends on the weather condition, which is an unpredictable external factor. Due to this reason, offshore wind has only 1.2% of the world’s total installed wind energy share (onshore and offshore) at the current market [3] and is reported to cost 1.5-2 times more than equal-size onshore wind application [29]. As discussed previously, DFIG is less attractive for offshore application due to its pre-planned maintenance for brush and sliprings whereas PMSG, BDFIG and BDFRG are more attractive due to its brushless aspect. BDFRG is especially attractive for its reliability due to its reluctance rotor as discussed previously. Although offshore wind has low level of installation at the present, the growth rate was reported to be 30% in 2009 and is expected to continue to grow [3,28].

Lastly, ‘Multi-MW’ trend is also observed at the current wind turbine market [4,9,27] due to the fact that larger power station has lower cost per kWh. The size of the turbine in the current market has gone up to 5-6 MW or even greater [27], supported by the increased technical level in design and construction. In terms of the cost of the material, DFIG and BDFRG are preferable over PMSG and BDFIG for this trend since PM material in PMSG is costly, and BDFIG has a wound rotor with the two wound cascaded stator, which has greater amount of windings than DFIG or BDFRG.

3.Power Electronic Converters

3.1. Topology of Power Electronic Converters

As the amount of the installed VSWT increased, so has the importance of PECs in WECS since it is the interface between WTGs and the electrical grid [1,11,30]. There are three types of converters widely available in the current wind energy market: Back-to-back PWM converter, multilevel converter and matrix converter.

3.1.1. Back-to-back PWM Converters

Back-to-back PWM converter, which is also referred as ‘two-level PWM converter’, is the most conventional type among the PEC types for VSWT. As shown in Figure 5, it consists of two PWM-VSIs (voltage source inverters) and a capacitor in between. This capacitor is often referred as a ‘DC link capacitor’ or ‘decoupling capacitor’ since it provides a separate control in the inverters on the two sides, which are ‘machine’ and ‘grid’ side. In addition, it has lower cost due to its maturity [12].

Figure 5. Basic schematics of Back-to-Back PWM converter
(based on [12]).

However, the DC link capacitor also becomes the main drawback of the PWM converter because it decreases the overall lifetime of the system [31]. There are other disadvantages including switching losses and emission of high frequency harmonics, which results in additional cost in EMI-filters [1,12].

3.1.2. Multilevel Converters

Compared with two-level PWM converter, multilevel (ML) converter has three or more voltage levels, which results in lower total harmonic distortion (THD) than back-to-back PWM converter does [32]. In addition, ML converter offers higher voltage and power capability, which advocates the trend of ‘Multi-MW’ wind turbine [1,33]. Another advantage is that switching losses are smaller in ML converter than two-level PWM converter by 25% [34].

One of the disadvantages on ML converter is the voltage imbalance caused by the DC link capacitors [35,36]. Another disadvantage in some ML converter designs is uneven current stress on the switches due to its circuit design characteristic. The cost associated with the high more number of switches and the complexity of control are two other drawbacks.

Since the first proposed design of ML converter, the neutral-point clamped three-level converter in 1981 [36,37], there have been various designs for ML converters including the followings [33,35,36,38]:

  • Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) ML converter
  • Cascade Half-Bridge (CHB) ML converter
  • Fly-capacitor (FLC) ML converter

The detail of each design, which is beyond the scope of this paper, can be found in the literatures [33,35,36,38].

Out of these three ML converter designs, NPC ML converter is commonly utilised in WECS, especially in multi-MW scale WECS, due to its maturity and advantages [36,39]. Main drawback exists, however, with 3LNPC (3 level-NPC) design, which is the uneven loss distribution among the semiconductor devices, limiting output power of the converter [40,41]. This drawback has been overcome with the replacement of the clamping diode with the active switching devices. This modified design of NPC is referred as ‘Active NPC’ (ANPC), which was first introduced in 2001 [41,42], as shown in Figure 6. There are many advantages of ANPC including higher power rating than normal NPC by 14% [40] and robustness against the fault condition [43].

Figure 6. One inverter cell of (a) NPC and (b) ANPC (based
on [12,36]).

3.1.3. Matrix Converters

Matrix converters have a distinct difference from the previous two converters in a way that it is an AC-AC converter without any DC conversion in between, which indicates the absence of passive components such as the DC link capacitor and inductor in the converter design. As shown in Figure 7, the typical design of matrix converters consists of 9 semi-conductors that are controlled with two control rules to protect the converter; three switches in a common output leg must not be turned on at the same time and the connection of all the three output phases must be made to an input phase constantly [12]. There are some advantages of matrix converters. The absence of DC link capacitor results in increased efficiency and overall life time of the converter as well as the reduced size and cost compared with PWM-VSI converter [4,44]. The thermal characteristic of the matrix converter is also another advantage since it can operate at the temperature up to 300°C, which enables to adopt new technologies such as high temperature silicon carbide devices [44]. On the other hand, some of the reported disadvantages include; the limitation on the output voltage (86% of the input voltage), its sensitivity to the grid disturbances and rapid change of the input voltage, higher conducting losses and higher cost of the switch components than PWM-VSI converter [12,32]. Further technical details of matrix converter can be found in [44].

Figure 7. Basic schematics of matrix converter (based on
[12,45]).

3.1.4. Discussion on PEC

In this section, the PECs will be discussed with the criteria such as their power loss, loss distribution, efficiency, harmonic performance and cost.

In terms of power losses, it is widely reported that ML VSCs have less power losses than 2L VSIs with 3-Level Neutral Point Clamped VSIs (3L-NPC) having even lower amount of losses over 3-Level Flying Capacitor VSIs (3L-FLC) [46-48]. This advantage of 3L-NPC, however, inherits poor power loss distribution, which is the main drawback of 3L-NPC as mentioned previously.

Loss distribution is an important aspect in PEC since uneven loss distribution means uneven stress distribution among the semiconductor devices and this results the most stressed switching device to limit the total output power and switching frequency [49]. In [46,47], uneven loss distribution of 3L-NPC is reported along with other topologies such as 2L-VSI and 3L-FLC, which have even distribution. As mentioned previously, ANPC is the topology to reduce the unevenness among the switching devices and it is reported that 3L ANPC possess an advantage of 3L-FLC on its natural doubling of switching frequency, without flying-capacitors [50].

Harmonic performance is another crucial criterion of PEC, especially for WECS as the impact of WECS on power quality of the power grid is increasing due to its increasing penetration level. The comparison on harmonic performance is commonly measured by total harmonic distortion (THD) or weighted THD (WTHD). A comparison on THD of 2L-VSI, 3L-NPC and matrix converter with PMSG is undertaken in [51] and 3L-NPC provides the lowest value of THD among the three topologies. This result verifies that THD decreases with increasing number of levels [46].

Different PEC topologies consist of components with variable numbers and sizes that result variation in cost. Although 2L-VSI has less number of components compare to ML VSIs, it is estimated to be more costly due to its large LC filter, which is the result of compromise for high efficiency and low THD that ML can achieve with smaller LC filter [47,48]. Matrix converters would lie in between 2L VSIs and 3L VSIs since it has smaller number of semiconductors and LC filters are required to minimise the switching frequency harmonics [52]. The cost estimation would be similar for both 3L-NPC and 3L-FLC since the excessive cost for the larger LC filter and semiconductors would be compensated with the cost for flying capacitors by considering the cost estimation in [47] with the constant switching frequency. In [53], comparison between 3L-ANPC and 3L-NPC is conducted with different IGBT ratings available in the market. In the literature, it is found that 3L-NPC is most economical (i.e. lest cost per MVA) with 2.3 kV IGBT modules at any switching frequency between 300 Hz to 1050 Hz. However, 3L-ANPC becomes more cost-effective with 3.3 kV and 4.16 kV at switching frequency over 750 Hz.

In summary, it is evident that 3L-ANPC is a very attractive PEC topology for WECS, which is increasing its power rating, operates with high switching frequency (typically 2~5 kHz [47,51,54-57]) and requires low harmonic emission.

3.2. Modulation Methods

Along with the converter topologies, there are some modulation strategies available to produce a desired level of output voltage and current in lower frequency. Pulsewidth modulation (PWM) is one of the most widely used modulation strategies for PEC with AC output, hence, this section will focus on PWM schemes for ML converters.

While the primary goal of PWM is to produce a targeted low-frequency output voltage or current, it is also essential for PWM schemes to minimise the impact on the quality of the output signals such as harmonic distortion.

Among the vast amount of proposed PWM schemes, majority of them can be categorised into the following three types despite of different converter topologies [33,36,53]:

  • Carrier-Based PWM
  • Space Vector Modulation (SVM)
  • Selective Harmonic Elimination (SHE)

These three PWM strategies will be explained in detail on the next section.

3.2.1. Carrier-Based PWM

Carrier-based PWM strategy has been widely utilised as the basic logic of generating the switching states is simple. The basic principle is to compare a low frequency sinusoidal reference voltages to high frequency carrier signals, then produce the switching states every time the reference signal intersects carrier signals. The number of carrier signals is defined as (N-1), where N is the number of the level of multi-level VSI (eg. N = 3 for 3-Level NPC VSI) [58].

The basic control diagram and modulation signals of 3-Level VSI are represented in Figure 8.

Figure 8. (a) Control diagram, (b) Modulation signal (sources
from [36]).

From the conventional schemes, there are some modified techniques proposed with multi level or multi-phase methods in order to reduce distortion in ML inverters [59]. Basic concepts of those are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. (a) Multi-level PWM, (b) Multi-phase PWM (sources
from [33]).

3.2.2. Space Vector Modulation (SVM)

Space vector modulation (SVM) is the PWM method based on the space vector concept with d-q transformation that is widely utilised in AC machines. With the development of microprocessors, it has become one of the most widely used PWM strategies for three phase converters due to some of its advantages including high voltage availability, low harmonics, simple digital implementation and wide linear modulation range, which is one of the main aims of PWM [4,47,60].

There are N3 switching states in N-level PWM inverter so in the case of 3-Level NPC VSI, there are 27 (= 33) possible switching states. As shown in Figure 10, these switching states define reference vectors, which are represented by the 19 nodes in the diagram with the four classification of ‘zero’ (V0), ‘small’ (VSi), ‘medium’ (VMi) and ‘large’ (VLi), where i = 1,2,…,6 [61]. The difference between the numbers of the switching states and space vectors indicate that there is redundancy of switching states existing for some space vectors. As indicated in Figure 10, one ‘zero’ space vector (i.e. V0) can be generated by three different switching states and six ‘small’ space vector (i.e. VSi) by two different switching states each. These redundancies provide some benefits including balancing the capacitor voltages in 3L-NPC VSI [36].

Figure 10. Normalised space vector diagram for the threelevel
NPC converter (based on [61]).

The basic principle of SVM is to select three nearest vectors that consist of a triangle in the space vector diagram that the tip of a desired reference vector is located, and generate PWM according to the switching states of those selected vectors. There are many researches on SVM to improve on various aspects such as the improvement in neutral point (NP) balancing at higher modulation indexes [62] and the reduction of the size of DC-link in control loop for renewable application such as WECS [63].

3.2.3. Selective Harmonic Elimination

The basic principle is to calculate N number of switching angles that are less than π/2 for a N-Level inverter through N number of the nonlinear equation with Fourier expansion of output voltage [64]. One equation is used to control the fundamental frequency through the modulation index and the other N-1 equations are used for elimination of the low order harmonics components [59]. In the case of 3-Level VSI, 5th and 7th harmonic components are the two lowest-order harmonics to be eliminated since 3rd harmonic component is cancelled by the nature of three-phase [53]. Figure 11 depicts an example of the 3-Level SHE with 3 switching angles, a1, a2 & a3 [36].

Figure 11. 3-level SHE (Source from [36]).

It is well-known that SHE strategy provides good harmonic performance in spite of the low switching frequency due to its harmonic elimination nature [53,65]. Another advantage is the reduction on its switching loss due to the low switching frequency [36]. However, there are some disadvantages exist including its heavy computational cost and narrow modulation range [59,65]. There are many researches on SHE such as NP balancing for 3L NPC [36] and the increase of the number of eliminating low-order harmonics with simple in formulation [66].

3.2.4. Discussion on Modulation Method

Among the three modulation methods discussed above, CB-PWM [67-70] and SVM [32,56,71-74] are widely utilised in WECS. However, SHE strategy has not been utilised in WECS to the best knowledge of the author despite of its active researches with resent PEC technologies such as 5-Level ANPC VSI [75]. The authors in [53] suggest the combination of using 2L SVM and SHE schemes for the switching frequency fsw ≤ 500 Hz whereas the combination of 2L SVM and 3L SVM for fsw >500 Hz due to their performances with respect to the modulation index and switching frequency. This could be one reason for SHE schemes not to be utilised in WECS where high switching frequency is used.

However, if the reason of high switching frequency in WECS is for the quality of output power, lower switching frequency can be adapted with SHE strategy in WECS for high quality of output power. This would increase the efficiency of WECS due to less switching losses and also this will reduce a cost of filter circuits since the size of the filter would be smaller with the nature of harmonic elimination of SHE.

4.Issues on Grid-Connection

4.1. The Utility Grid and WECS

In the utility grid, some grid disturbances such as voltage dips often occur. In the past, grid connected wind turbines needed to be disconnected from the grid when such disturbances happened in order to protect themselves from damages. However, as the penetration level of wind energy has been increasing, especially in the last decade, the role of WECS on the grid has been transforming from minor power source to main power supply stations such as coal-fired power stations along with the new grid codes. Fault Ride Through (FRT) capability under voltage dip is one of the main focus of the new grid codes that came into effect by the German utility company, E.ON, in Germany in 2004 [4] and in other countries [76]. Another focus of the new grid code is the requirement for wind turbines to support the power quality control on the grid such as voltage/frequency stability control, active/reactive power regulation, harmonics/interharmonics emission and flicker emission and so forth [77-79]. International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has also released standards on power quality for gridconnected wind turbines, which are IEC 61400-21 in 2001 and its second edition in 2008 [80].

The following section will discuss three grid-connection issues that are most frequently reported and investigated in wind energy field, which are voltage dip, harmonic emission and flicker.

4.2. The Three Main Issues in Grid-Connected WECS

4.2.1. Voltage Dip

Voltage dip, also referred as voltage sag, is a phenomenon that the voltage of the grid drops below the normal rms level (down to 0.1-0.9 p.u.) for a short duration (typically 0.5 30 cycles) [81,82]. It is a critical issue for wind turbines because the voltage dip can initiate abnormal behaviours in the generator and PEC, which can result in permanent damages [83]. Therefore it is regarded as a significant technical challenge for wind turbine manufacturers [81]. Under the new grid codes, wind turbines are expected to have reasonable FRT capability, which is to support the grid under the voltage dip as well as to protect themselves from being damaged. Figure 12 represents a typical FRT capability curve by E.ON [84]. Wind turbine must stay connected until the state (i.e. voltage-time) is placed below the solid line in the figure in order to support the grid. There have been various attempts on FRT capability including crowbar protection, GSC and MSC controllability, and so forth, and further details on FRT capability can be found in the literatures [16,83,85-88].

Figure 12. The FRT capability curve (source from E.ON
Nets [84]).

4.2.2. Harmonic Emission

Harmonic emission is another crucial issue for gridconnected wind turbines because it may result in voltage distortion and torque pulsations, which consequently causes overheating in the generator and other problems [89]. Although wind turbines emit low-order harmonics by nature, self-commutated converters used in modern VSWTs can filter out this low-order harmonics. However, these self-commutated converters introduce high-order harmonics instead. In addition, interharmonics, which is non-integer harmonics [90], is another type of harmonic emission by WTCSs [91]. It contributes to the level of the flicker and has an interference with control and protection signals in power lines [92], which are regarded as the most harmful effects on the power system.

Wind turbine power quality standard IEC 61400-21 2nd edition released in 2008, along with harmonic measurement standard IEC 61000-4-7, provides the requirements for on current harmonics, current interharmonics and higher current components to be measured and reported in modern WECSs [80,93,94].

4.2.3. Flicker

Flicker is another issue on wind turbine associated with the grid. Flicker is defined as a measure of annoyance of flickering light bulbs on human, caused by active and reactive power fluctuation as a result of the rapid change in wind speed [89]. The standard IEC 61400-21 [93] requires flicker to be monitored in two operation modes; continuous operation and switching operation. The switching operation is the condition of cut-in and cut-out by wind turbine. It is reported that flicker is relatively less critical issue in VSWT; however, it needs to be improved for higher power quality. Further technical details can be found in [80,89,93].

5.Discussion

The onshore wind is the majority with the share of 98.8% of the current wind turbine market, in which 85% is utilising DFIG concept [3]. However, offshore wind has been gaining more and more attention due to its rich wind resource and hence, more researches are intensively being undertaken on offshore wind. Therefore, future wind turbine market is expected to have more number of offshore wind turbines with the brushless design such as PMSG, BDFIG and especially BDFRG, due to its high reliability as discussed previously. ‘Multi-MW’ trend is also observed and BDFRG seems to have favourable characteristic for this trend among the brushless WTG designs because of its reluctance rotor. The trend also affects on the design of PECs, resulting in the preference of ML converter, especially ANPC, due to its higher voltage capability, reduced switching losses and its cost effectiveness with IGBT modules with higher voltage rating. The increased concerns on harmonics, which is one of the discussed grid-connection issues, also make ML converter more attractive than other PEC topologies due to its lower harmonics emission. BDFRG is also reported to have lower harmonic emission to the grid, making this technology greatly suitable to meet the demand of the current and the future wind energy market [19].

6.Conclusions

This paper has reviewed the three major aspects of WECS from electrical perspective; wind turbine generators (WTGs), power electrical converters (PECs) and grid-connection issues with the comparison of the six WTG types in five criteria, the discussion of the three PECs in four criteria along with three available PWM strategies and the three current market trends, ‘Variable Speed’, ‘Multi-MW’ and ‘Offshore’.

One of the key findings of this review paper is that the newer concepts, BDFIG and BDFRG have great potential to come into the WECS market in the current and future wind energy market due to their attractive characteristics in line with the current trends of the wind energy market. Also, those newer generator concepts are reported to possess some benefits on grid-connection issues; however, there are currently few researches being undertaken. Hence, there need to be more researches on them with grid connection issues.

In terms of PECs, ANPC multilevel converter seems very attractive with the increasing wind turbine power rating and its characteristic with the grid. With PWM strategies for PECs, SVM appear to be widely utilised in WECS. It is found that SHE, which is another PWM strategy, has not appeared to be utilised in WECS despite of its benefits for power quality. Therefore, WECS with SHE seems to be another area that need to be investigated in the future.

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How do Harmonic Mitigating Transformers reduce voltage distortion?

Published by Mirus International Inc., [2010-01-08] MIRUS-FAQ001-B2, FAQ’s Harmonic Mitigating Transformers, 31 Sun Pac Blvd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada. L6S 5P6.


Delta-wye transformers, even those with a high K-factor rating, generally present high impedance to the flow of harmonic currents created by the non-linear loads. Question 8 showed that the non-linear loads are current sources that push the harmonic currents through the impedances of the system. Any voltage drop across the impedance of the transformer at other than the fundamental frequency (60 Hz) is a component of voltage distortion.

Because of its higher impedance to harmonic currents, the voltage distortion at the output of a delta-wye transformer often reaches the 5% maximum voltage distortion limit recommended by IEEE Std. 519-1992 by the time that the secondary side load has reached just one-half of full-load RMS current. At closer to full-load, these transformers can produce critically high levels of voltage distortion and flat-topping at their outputs and at the downstream loads.

To minimize the voltage distortion rise due to the transformer itself, Harmonic Mitigating Transformers (HMTs) are designed to reduce the impedance seen by the harmonic currents. This is accomplished through zero sequence flux cancellation and through phase shifting – a combined strategy pioneered by MIRUS. The secondary winding configuration of the HMT cancels the zero sequence fluxes (those produced by the 3rd, 9th, 15th (triplen) current harmonics) without coupling them to the primary windings. This prevents the triplen current harmonics from circulating in the primary windings as they do in a delta-wye transformer. The flux cancellation also results in much lower impedance to the zero sequence currents and hence lower voltage distortion at these harmonics. In addition, the reduced primary winding circulating current will lower losses and allow the transformer to run cooler.

The remaining major harmonics (5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th & 19th) are treated to varying degrees through the introduction of phase shifts in the various HMT models.

Single output HMTs are offered in 0° and 30° models to provide upstream cancellation of 5th, 7th, 17th and 19th harmonic currents on the primary feeder.

In a dual output HMT, 5th, 7th, 17th and 19th harmonic current fluxes are cancelled by the 30° phase shift between the secondary windings so that only residual amounts of 5th, 7th, 17th, and 19th current harmonics will be found in the primary side windings.

A three output HMT is configured such that the relative phase shift between the three sets of secondary windings will cancel 5th, 7th, 11th and 13th harmonic fluxes without coupling them to the primary windings.


Harmonics and Harmonic Mitigating Transformers (HMT’s) Questions and Answers

This document has been written to provide answers to the more frequently asked questions we have received regarding harmonics and the Harmonic Mitigating Transformer technology used to address them. This information will be of interest to both those experienced in harmonic mitigation techniques and those new to the problem of harmonics. For additional information visit our Website at www.mirusinternational.com.

What is Soil Resistivity Test and How is the Testing Done

Published by Carelabs, Carelabs is authorized provider of Electrical Installation’s Study, Analysis, Inspection, and Certification services in UAE, and offer voltage drop study and analysis services. Website: carelabz.com


Image: Carelabs – Earth Ground Test

The resistance of an earth electrode is related to the resistivity of the soil in which it is placed and driven, and thus soil resistivity calculations and measurements is a crucial aspect when designing earthing installations.

The property of resistivity can be defined for any material and is done so by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), which publishes standards for testing and measurement. When applied to soil, resistivity is an indication of a given soil’s ability to carry electric current.

The flow of electricity in the soil is largely electrolytic, determined by the transport of ions dissolved in moisture. An awareness of soil resistivity at the determined location and how it varies with various factors such as temperature, depth, moisture content etc. gives us an understanding of how the wanted earth resistance value should be obtained and retained over the lifespan of the installation with least cost and trouble.

Why Testing the Soil Resistivity Important?

A major aim of grounding system is to set up a shared reference potential for the building structure, power supply system, electrical conduits, plant steelwork, and the instrumentation system. To achieve this objective, a suitable low resistance connection to earth is desirable. However, this is often difficult to achieve and depends on a number of factors:

  • Soil resistivity
  • Stratification
  • Size and type of electrode used
  • Deepness to which the electrode is covered
  • Dampness and chemical composition of the soil
The purposes of soil resistivity testing is:
  • To obtain a set of measurements which may be interpreted to yield an equivalent model for the electrical performance of the earth, as seen by the particular earthing system.
  • Geophysical surveys are performed using these values as an assistance in finding depth to bedrock, core locations and other geological phenomena.
  • The degree of corrosion in underground pipelines is determined. A drop in resistivity is proportional to an indent in corrosion in subversive pipelines.

Soil resistivity influences the plan of an earthing system absolutely and is the major factor that decides the resistance to earth of a grounding system. Thus before designing and installing a new grounding system, the determined location should be tested to find out the soil’s resistivity.

Type of Soil or WaterTypical Resistivity ΩmUsual Limit Ωm
Sea water20.1 to 10
Clay408 to 70
Ground well & spring water5010 to 150
Clay & sand mixtures1004 to 300
Shale, slates, sandstone etc.12010 to 100
Peat, loam & mud1505 to 250
Lake & brook water250100 to 400
Sand2000200 to 3000
Moraine gravel300040 to 10000
Ridge gravel150003000 to 30000
Solid granite2500010000 to 50000
Ice10000010000 to 100000
What is Done During the Testing of Soil Resistivity?

Soil Resistivity varies widely with following factors:

  • Type of earth
  • Stratification
  • Moisture content; resistivity may fall rapidly as the moisture content is increased
  • Temperature
  • Chemical composition and concentration of dissolved salt.
  • Presence of metal and concrete pipes, tanks, large slabs.
  • Topography

The results, if adequate investigation is not made prior to the test, or the test is not correctly undertaken, may be incorrect or misleading. To overcome these problems, the following data gathering and testing guidelines are suggested:

  • An initial research phase is required to provide adequate background, upon which to determine the testing program, and against which the results may be interpreted.
  • Data related to nearby metallic structures, as well as the geological, geographical and meteorological nature of the area is very useful. For instance the geological data regarding strata types and thicknesses will give an indication of the water retention properties of the upper layers and also the variation in resistivity to be expected due to water content.
  • By matching new rainfall data with seasonal average, minimum and maximum for the location it can be determined whether the results are accurate or not.
  • Test Method Factors such as maximum probe depths, lengths of cables required, efficiency of the measuring technique, cost and ease of interpretation of the data need to be considered, when selecting the test type.

Note: Temperature and moisture content both become more stable as distance below the surface of the earth increases. So, to be operative through the entire year, a grounding system should be fixed as deep as possible.

Following are the steps usually performed during soil resistivity testing:

Test Method

Factors such as maximum probe depths, lengths of cables required, efficiency of the measuring technique, cost (determined by the time and the size of the survey crew) and ease of interpretation of the data need to be considered, when selecting the test type. Three common test types are

  • Wenner Array: The Wenner array is the least efficient from an operational perspective. It requires the longest cable layout, largest electrode spreads and for large spacings one person per electrode is necessary to complete the survey in a reasonable time. As all 4 electrodes are shifted after every analysis, the Wenner Array is most vulnerable to lateral variations.
  • Schlumberger Array: Manpower is hugely utilised with the Schlumberger array as for each move of the inner electrodes, the outer electrodes are moved four or five times. The decrease in the number of electrode shifts also decreases the consequence of lateral variation on end outcomes. Considerable time saving can be achieved by using the reciprocity theorem with the Schlumberger array when contact resistance is a problem.
  • Driven Rod Method: The driven rod method (or Three Pin or Fall-of-Potential Method) is normally suitable for use in circumstances such as transmission line structure earths, or areas of difficult terrain, because of: the shallow penetration that can be achieved in practical situations, the very localised measurement area, and the inaccuracies encountered in two layer soil conditions.

Traverse Locations

Soil resistivity can differ considerably both from 1 location to another and depth at a site, and single soil resistivity quantity is generally insufficient. To get an improved image of soil resistivity difference, it is sensible to perform a thorough survey. A Line Traverse survey is inexpensive and easy to find differences in soil resistivity at a location and can give considerable money savings, in terms of labour and material, when trying to obtain the necessary resistance value.

Spacing Range

The limit of spacing determined involves précises close probe spacings i.e. less than 1m, which are necessary to find out the upper layer resistivity, utilised in quantifying the touch and step voltages. Bigger spacings are utilised in quantification of grid impedance and remote voltage gradients. Calculations at huge spacings usually provide significant problems and they are vital if the bottom layer is of bigger resistivity, i.e. ρ2 > ρ1. In such cases considerable error is introduced if a realistic value of ρ2 is not measured due to insufficient spacing.

Practical Testing Recommendations
  • It has been found that special care is required when testing to:
  • Eliminate mutual coupling or interference due to leads parallel to power lines.
  • Ensure the instrumentation and set up is adequate
  • Undertake operational checks for accuracy
  • Reduce contact resistance
  • Instruct staff to use finer test spacing in areas showing sharp changes
  • Plot test results immediately during testing to identify such problem areas
How is Soil Resistivity Testing Performed?

This test requires the user to place four equally spaced auxiliary probes into the earth to determine the actual soil resistance, traditionally in ohms-cm or ohm-m. This test must take place around the entire area to determine the soil value at all locations. This test is done at different spacing, 5 to 40 feet, to determine the resistance value at various depths. This knowledge will aid in the design and implementation of the correct ground system to meet the particular site requirements. Following are the steps done in measuring soil resistivity:

  • 4 test rods are evenly placed apart in a straight line and are hammered into the ground to be reviewed to a deepness of not greater than one by twentieth of the distance between the neighbouring rods.
  • An earth resistance tester is connected to these four stakes.
  • The DC test option on the tester is then selected and performed, and the resistance figure R recorded.
  • The soil resistivity level r in ohms/cm is then found out using the formula:
    • r = 2 ρaR
    • where: R = the resistance figure (in ohms), a = the separation of the test stakes, in metres.

Source: https://carelabz.com/what-is-soil-resistivity-test-how-is-soil-resistivity-testing-done/

Reactive Power Compensation in Distribution System – Changing Paradigm 

Published By M.L.Sachdeva, Former Chief Engineer, CEA & N.S.Sodha, Former Executive Director, PowerGrid. Conference on ‘Reliable & Quality Power’ on 30-31st May 2019 CBIP Conference Hall, New Delhi.


Synopsis

Reactive power compensation technologies inhibited in the Distribution system as also Power system of the Present (Conventional) and Power System of Future (Up-front Conventional cum  Renewable Resources system) and that predominately Renewal Generation system Globally by 2050 (about 64%) and changes in the compensation devices attributed to power electronic controls , HVDC deployment of Voltage source converter using  IGBT/IEGT or IGCT needing no reactive power, digital technologies based equipment, digital devices for communication, data storage & transfer, Micro grid & Smart city conceptualization, Smart meters, intelligent controls in distribution network, software internet remote controlled devices, security from cyberattack, etc. are highlighted

International and National Studies made on contribution of reactive power by Solar generators/panels/ Projects as also techno-economic comparison of nos. of operation of transformer tap changer vs solar converter/ inverter operation, etc. are also briefly highlighted.

As fossil fuel synchronous generators are being laid off to control emission of greenhouse gases  & their adverse effect on power system stability, the reactive power day time and night time contribution of Utility Solar Voltaic Mega Farms / Roof top Solar Panels & Community Solar Project Smart PV Converters /inverters of standard rating and over load rating  need consideration while making estimation of total reactive power requirement  as also its management during operation.

In addition to attributes of solar inverters to supply reactive power during day time leading to reduction in its active power output and consumption of power from grid during night time operation, it  is opined that its weightage  on the tariff fixation for supply of active and reactive power during day time and drawing of grid/ ancillary source power for inverter functioning for supplying reactive power during night also needs be considered.

Key words: Reactive power compensation, HVDC, Voltage Source Converter IGBT/IEGT or IGCT, Solar Mega Solar & Wind Farms, Community & Roof Top solar Voltaic Panels , Wind turbines, Power converter/ inverter capability of reactive power compensation, Day Time and night time solar tariff, DSTATCOM, Digital Data communication, smart meters, digital devices, EV transportation, Batteries.

1. Introduction

Thrust on mitigation of harmful effect of Greenhouse gases attributed primarily to fossil fuel power generation and ensuring compliance to the Global Agreement on Climate Change limiting temperature rise to 2°C (preferably 1 ½°C) on Earth Planet, the Renewables growing through the development of utility scale solar photovoltaic farms and wind farms, as well as Distributed Energy Resources (RES) are a complete change paradigm. These fast changes including EV transportation with battery storage facilities to supply power to grid during peak power requirement(V-t-G), etc. and all these changes have brought out a need of reactive compensation throughout the power system. These aspects are briefly detailed as under:  

1.1 Power System of the Present

The conventional power system is one-way power flow system and comprises of remotely located self-regulated power generating stations within their design & operation limits, associated transmission system (HVDC /EHVac) including first stage reactive power compensation followed by distribution system coupled with fixed / switchable shunt reactive compensation to cater to the consumers’ loads (active &reactive) at HV /LV levels. Renewables (Solar Voltaic & Wind Farms) are the recent entrant.  

In the transmission system, the additional reactance requirement met by compensation devices (switched / non switched/ variable shunt reactive compensator) as also adoption of HVDC (current commutated thyristor valve & associated system requiring reactive power consumption) & FACT power electronic devices as also series compensation (insulated platform supported) on long TLs for increasing their power carrying capacity.

Distributed system for distribution of power at HV/LV to load centres/ consumers are reactive compensated by providing distribution transformers with off-load / On-load tap changer, shunt reactive compensation (fixed / switched)  in the distribution system / at the Load centres and DSTATCOM with industrial Arc furnaces to regulate reactive power requirement to maintain system voltage & power factor and control harmonics generated in the industrial process.

The real time operation in the ‘generation and transmission system’ are achieved thru SCADA/ SAS, EMS, Generation Scheduling & Dispatching, System Load Flow study, System Stability, etc. and   in ‘distribution system’ thru SCADA, RMU and auto reclosures in the urban distribution system and pole mounted Sectionalizers with fuses and with / without isolators to roaster Loads and isolate the faulty section.

Post real-time operation, SCADA/SAS routinely records all system data including voltages, active and reactive power flows, generator outputs, demand, frequency and tie-line flows and control operation under normal / abnormal operational conditions. Analysis of abnormal system operational conditions and system disturbances heavily relies on accurate time-tagged ‘System disturbance recorder and Fault recorder’ data collected by such devices. In certain cases where equipment damage has occurred, other data such as climatic data, metallurgical and other forensic data such as oil and gas samples often become necessary.

1.2 Power System of the Future

Over 50-year of equilibrium (60 t0 70% contribution by fossil fuel power generation) is coming to an end as Renewable Energy and Batteries fundamentally are re-making electricity systems around the world. As coal-fired generation units retired, initially substituted mostly by natural gas, but now with renewable additions, especially Utility scale solar & wind and distributed energy resources, are already dominating in most countries. This share of global renewable is expected to grow to about 64% by 2050. 

Renewables growing through the development of utility scale solar photovoltaic farms and wind farms, as well as distributed resources in most of developed countries are connected to distribution system / load centres. The distribution system now works two-way power flow. Countries like India with scattered Renewable Mega Farms over regions of high irradiance are connected to main grid over HVDC/ EHV transmission system to bring to the distant load centres. However, roof top and community solar system, subsequent to meeting the individual / community local consumption, are also connected to HV / LV distribution system. System in both the cases experience power flow fluctuation due to variable renewable/ variable loads and as such need to provide reactive compensation thru Variable Shunt Reactors (VSR) not needing very fast and dynamic response and power converter (power switches built up of Power semiconductors) and these power switches control the output power both active and reactive.

A number of new grid users in the form of devices connected to the system is growing exponentially and new digital grid technologies and equipment are available. Distribution and /or Transmission utilities need to be enablers for the connection of new grid users and drive the implementation of this technology. Digital tools that enable seamless integration of grid layers and edge devices take an active role in supporting grid operations as also making a head away in the technology of future system and afford higher degree of interoperability. Digital technology also supports asset performance management and field maintenance players. The next generation of maintenance crews are growing up with Tablets and Smart Phones and Virtual Reality and expect to have these technologies supporting their work.

HVDC system now deploy voltage source converter using IGBT/IEGT or IGCT components needing no reactive power consumption and voltage source converter can operate at unity power factor and even as reactive power generator and examples of such devices are STATCOM, SSSC, UPFC, etc.

The operational facilities provided in the Power System of Present mentioned under Para 1.1 is now inhibited with Power electronics-based devices enabling better utilization to be achieved of all the principal attributes of the electric network.

At a component level, increasing reliability of digital processors has led to almost complete dominance of such devices over the conventional analogue-type control systems. Increasingly, the digital control systems are also being installed for protection, indications, measurements, monitoring and control purposes. Furthermore, these devices are being integrated to perform these functions in a single control unit (SAS)utilizing the same system quantities. While this has the promise of savings in terms of installed equipment, it requires application of special measures (BCU, Ethernet switches, Network controller, Disturbance Recorder, etc.) but it achieves higher reliability, security, safety, operation ability and fast mode of analysis.

Fibre optic-based communication technologies have facilitated increasing use of digital control systems as well as increased functional integration of protection, indications, measurements, monitoring and control. With the rapid development of computing and communication systems, micro grid and smart city initiatives have been developed at a great pace. These initiatives focus on consumer demand control, remote switching and smart metering along with adequately defined objectives as well as protocols and standards including safety standards.

Increasing use of Internet-based communications also exposes transmission and distribution utilities to malicious attacks and hacking activity. These issues are likely to require increasing efforts to ensure robustness of systems to such threats. Inverters getting popularize in the power system with remote operation thru internet are exposing the system to cyberattack. They communicate with the supply grid to perform voltage management function autonomously using internet connected software.

2. Management of Reactive Compensation

Types of sources of Reactive Power (Fig.1) are Dynamic (Synchronous generators, Synchronous condensers & Solid-State Devices (power electronic converter and devices as FACTs – SVC) and Static Reactive Power Sources (Capacitive & inductive compensators, under- ground cables & O/H TL) and PV system (Photo Voltaic inject active power and reactive power component)

Reactive Power Sinks are Induction motors, Transformers, under excited synchronous machines, Heavily loaded transmission lines.

Fig.1 Sources and Sinks of Reactive Power (Ref-1)

Today’s power system is primarily managed by evaluating the load including EVs and then matching the dispatching generation (Conventional & Renewables) to meet peak demand. Overtime shift in this traditional thinking is tending into a great change to see more aggressive shaping of consumer load to match renewable generation characteristics thru Demand management of industrial consumers as well as smaller consumers. The power utilities have introduced time-of-use tariff for shifting peak loads to non-peak hours by making the customers to be incentivized to use timers that could run their high-power demand implements when there is surplus solar power.

The introduction of Renewables / DER has introduced a new method of reactive compensation thru use of power inverter in addition to use of other reactive compensators viz. distribution FACT devices (D STATCOM), Shunt compensation on feeders/ loads, etc.

2.1 Reactive Contribution Control by Solar Voltaic Panels (Ref 2)

The Solar Voltaic Energy plant comprises of Mano / Poly Crystalline silicon Panel strings connected in series and / or parallel to connect the requisite power(KW/MW) thru dc current and dc voltage( 1000V to 1500V max) combination, combiners for interconnect panels output, power inverters /module-level power electronics (MLPEs) (Solar Edge, En-Phase , SMA, Tigo Energy, ABB) for conversion dc to ac , copper wires for interconnection of cells / panels, step up power transformer of voltage rating upto 33kV for connecting to nearest ac substation

Latest version of Inverters viz Smart inverters are a more sophisticated version of power electronics that can make autonomous decisions to keep the grid stable and reliable as more distributed energy resources come online. Smart inverters capable of having two-way communication and with its advanced software also perform specific grid-supportive functionalities related to voltage, frequency, communications and controls (New IEEE 1547TM-2018 Standard for Distributed Energy Resources)

To avoid harmful voltage fluctuations to the grid due to solar power, smart inverters can ride-through small disturbances (for example, voltage changes), meaning they can switch into standby mode and observe how long the disturbance takes place, then turn off only if the disturbance lasts too long.

2.2 Power Inverters Capability to Supply Reactive Power (Ref 2 &3)

2.2.1 Wind Farms

Fig 3 & 4 describes wind farms using asynchronous generators, the plant requirement of reactive power is met thru Energy storage with power converter (inverter in current mode using current-regulated pulse-width modulation) as also deployment of SVC/ SVC in parallel with fixed capacitor when the wind changes and stabilize the function of Wind Farm.

Fig.2 Wind Power Plant with Energy Storage
Fig.3 Energy Storage System Circuit

2.2.2 Solar Voltaic Farms

The details capability ofthe inverter -coupled generators viz. Solar PV Panels to provide reactive power limited to maximum current of power electronic elements is discussed. As long as absolute value of current does not exceed the limit, the phase angle of current vector can be arbitrarily controlled (Fig 4). It is possible to control active and reactive currents independently from each other. (Ref 4)

Characteristic of Power Inverter (Ref 5)

Fig. 5 shows the current domain for a constant reference voltage. It displays the circle of the maximum rated current I (max.R) and the maximum overload current I (max.OL). The overload capabilities of a PV inverter are unequally distributed as the connected DC source viz. PV module does not allow overload flexibility thereby limiting the maximum active current Ipmax. The active current of the PV inverter is determined by the solar irradiation. Within these limitations, the reactive current of the PV inverter can be controlled arbitrarily with response times in the order of milliseconds.

The maximum apparent power capacity S max of a PV inverter consist of active and reactive power components similar to conventional power. The active power generation Ppv can be assumed to be the most valuable so that it is considered to be the second restriction of the maximal possible reactive power supply

Q max (t) = Sq root [ S²max− P²pv(t)]

Depending on the utilization of active power of the PV inverter, the reactive power supply can be made use of.

Study also make comparison of reactive power contributed by power converter of standard rating and over rated inverter and the same is shown in Table 1 of a 110KWp Solar Panel deployed in Kassel, Germany, 2005. Table gives performance data analyzed with mean values of 15minutes of 100KVA PV Inverter which connects a 110KWp PV Panel and oversized 110KVA inverter. It may be observed with 10KVA oversized, addl. 20KVAr is available over 99.9%.

The Table also indicates that it is not possible to guarantee 100% reactive power supply (available more than 99.9%) without oversizing the inverter.

Fig.4 Inverter PQ Curves. Reactive Power Capability (Red)   
Reactive Power Requirement (Blue)          
Fig.5 Current domain of a PV Inverter.
ImaxPV: current domain of PV Inverter (Red)
ImaxR: Rated current domain of bidirectional Inverter (Blue)
ImaxOL: Over load current domain of bidirectional Inverter (green)

Table.1 Available Reactive Power of a 110KWp Solar Panel in Kassel, Germany in 2005

Cost of Reactive Power Supply by PV Inverters (Capital-standard & over rated, Operational) (Ref 5)

Standard PV inverters do not make use of reactive power supply function as the owners of PV generators often do not get incentives for providing reactive power supply. Before analyzing the benefits, the cost of this functionality (investment cost & operational cost) is briefly discussed hereunder:

Additional investment cost

The provision of reactive power might require changes of the inverter’s topology or its dimensioning for an optimized layout using this new functionality. The option of oversizing the inverter is not considered because 100% availability is not a must and significant additional cost on this account is avoidable. The available reactive power potential should be used as a starting point with as low costs as possible. Study carried out in Germany revealed that without reactive power, full load hours of 900 h/a are achieved in average. However, additional reactive power supply may increase the loading of the inverter. This additional loading might reduce negligibly the life time of the DC link capacitors of single or three phase inverters. Considering 20years life, Three-phase inverters have by far smaller DC link capacitors which results in even smaller additional costs than for single phase inverters. For these reasons this study neglects additional investment costs.

Additional investment costs have to be considered if the inverter’s rated capacity is extended for higher capabilities and availabilities of reactive power supply. This will increase the total additional costs for reactive power supply.

Additional operational costs

PV generators have low operational costs as little maintenance is required in normal circumstances and no fuel costs occur except for self-power consumption of inverter as addl. losses. This cost component needs to be analyzed on the assumption that the inverter has no external power supply for self-consumption and is installed at the point of common coupling without additional losses by wiring.

Additional costs during Daytime and Nighttime

These costs are considered separately for estimating the additional costs of reactive power supply:

  • During Daytime the inverter feeds active power that is generated by the PV modules into the grid. The additional losses accompanying the reactive power supply reduce this active power injection. Hence, the costs of the additional losses are the opportunity costs due to reduced active power supply.
  • During Nighttime the PV modules do not provide any active power. The inverter losses due to reactive power supply are then compensated by the external grid (here: mains) resulting in costs due to the tariff of active power purchase.

This distinction is necessary as long as there are differences of the value of active power supply and purchase.

For further study, Ref at S.No 5 may be perused.

2.3 Adaptive Reactive Power Injection by Solar PV Inverter to Minimize Tap Changes and Line Losses (Ref.6)

Study performed on reactive contribution of Solar PV Inverter as per SLD of Simulated System (Fig.6) for reactive compensation in the associated supply network and its effect on number of the OLTC tap changing operation states as follow:

  • There exists a compromise between minimization changes and line losses.
  • Table 2 reproduced below from the Study summarizes for various power input due to variation of solar irradiations from a Solar system connected to the network operating at unity power factor and cases making controlled reactive power supported thru PV inverter.
Fig.6 SLD of Simulated System for Reactive Compensation (Ref 6)

Table.2 Effect of Ks on Number of Tap Change Operation and Reactive Energy

Simulation ConditionsValue of Ks (W/min)Nos of Tap ChangesReactive Energy
(MVAr-s)
Without Reactive Power Injection260
With Proposed Scheme-1441.324
With Proposed Scheme-7060.6
With Proposed Scheme-130120.46
Note: Ks is rate of variation of Reactive Solar Inverter Power with reference to time (Ks= dSinv / dt)

The study recommends to make techno economic comparison of life of tap changer and its cost vs cost of PV inverter for supplying reactive power.  

2.4 California ISO: Reactive Power Requirements and Financial Compensation -Issue Paper (Ref 7)

The Issue Paper summarized California ISO initiative on uniform requirement for asynchronous resources (Wind, Solar, Battery, etc.) to provide reactive power capability and voltage regulation as also a mechanism to compensate units for reactive power capability and provision. The study by ISO showed that asynchronous renewable resources has resulted in high ratios of asynchronous to synchronous generation during a portion of the operating day. As nos. of synchronous (Fossil fuel gen stns.) generation is decreasing, ISO are making a precondition for asynchronous renewables resources to provide reactive power capability as a condition of interconnecting.

2.2.4 GETCO in their paper on ‘Challenges in Integration of Renewal Energy to Grid – A Holistic Approach by Improving Technical Requirements as well as Promotion of New Technologies for Grid Stability and Reliability’ ( Ref 8) has discussed making use of reactive compensation during daytime available from Power converter/ rectifier considering reduction in Active power during this processer while making system studies including stability but reactive power contribution of solar plant during night time and operating power consumption from grid and its effect on tariff is also required to be considered. 

2.4.5 While planning reactive compensation, it is presumed GOI/ State System Planners also carry out techno-economic study to ascertain the use of capability of Power Inverters (normal rating and over capacity say 20%) to supply reactive power to transmission / distribution network during day & night as the cost of renewable falling down vis-à-vis conventional sources of reactive compensation and offer reasonable incentives to operators of PV generators for providing a benefit for the network operators by using their reactive power control capabilities. The utility specification also needs to specify reactive power contribution of solar plant in addition to active power and seek techno economic evaluation with and without reactive power consideration during bid making

3. Conclusion

i) Power System of the Present and of the Future highlights the new entrants/ modernization of power system -Renewables & Conventional operating in synchronous , improvement in HVDC thru voltage source converters GTO or IGBT/IEGT or IGCT, digitization thru digital tools enabling seamless integration of grid layers and edge devices enabling new technologies and players to take an active role in supporting electric system operations as also making a head away in the technology of future system and afford higher degree of interoperability, next generation of maintenance crews are growing up with Tablets and Smart Phones and Virtual Reality.

ii) Capabilities and availabilities of reactive power supply of PV inverters offer an interesting potential and its economic usability in network management as also reduction of network losses and congestions needs evaluation.

iii) Inverters getting popularizes in the electric system with remote operation thru internet are exposing the system to cyberattack. They communicate with the supply grid to perform voltage management function autonomously using internet connected software. This tends to be more critical involving a large aggregation of smart inverters and moving their voltages simultaneously in the wrong direction, it could cause the supply system to collapse.

iv) With the fast upcoming of Renewable in India, it is presumed GOI/ State System Planners carry out techno-economic studies to ascertain the use of capability of Power Inverters (normal rating and over capacity say 20%) to supply reactive power to transmission / distribution network during day & night as the cost of renewable getting comparatively cheaper vis-à-vis conventional sources of reactive compensation and offer reasonable incentives to operators of PV generators for providing a benefit for the network operators by using their reactive power control capabilities.

References

1. EL-PRO-CUS (Electronic Projects Focus): The Importance of Reactive Power in Power System Network.

2. ABB White Paper:Modernizing the grid to stabilize the integration of renewable energy gtm 26th April 2019)

2(a). E.Muljadi and et-al NREL,Golden Colorado 80401 : ‘Energy Storage and Reactive   Power Compensator in a Large Wind Farm’ US Government Contract No DE-AC36-99GO 10337 / 34701 Wind Parks -Reactive Compensation

3. Xu Chen Thesis dated 6th Jan 2012, Worcester Polytechnic Institute —-: Reactive Power Compensation and Energy Storage in Wind Power Plant)

4. Andey Leon: ’Reactive Power Compensation for Solar Power Plants’ , IEEE PES Chicago Chapter , 12th Dec 2018

5. M. Braun Institut fuer Solare Energieversorgungstechnik Germany: ‘REACTIVE POWER SUPPLIED BY PV INVERTERS – COST-BENEFIT-ANALYSIS’, 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 3 – 7 September 2007, Milan, Italy)

6. Anubrata Das et-al Deptt of Elect Engg , IIT Kanpur : ‘Adaptive Reactive Power Injection by Solar PV Inverter to Minimize Tap Changes and Line Losses’ partly on behalf of MOP & DST,GOI  978-1-4799-5141-3/14/531.00 @ 2016IEE

7. California ISO: Reactive Power Requirements and Financial Compensation -Issue Paper 22nd May 2015

8. BB Chauhan et-all GETCO: ‘Challenges in Integration of Renewal Energy to Grid – A Holistic Approach by Improving Technical Requirements as well as Promotion of New Technologies for Grid Stability and Reliability’ GRIDTECH March 2019

What are zero sequence harmonic filters and how do they reduce 3rd harmonic currents and prevent neutral conductor overheating?

Published by Mirus International Inc., [2010-01-08] MIRUS-FAQ001-B2, FAQ’s Harmonic Mitigating Transformers, 31 Sun Pac Blvd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada. L6S 5P6.


Zero sequence currents, in simple terms, are those found in the neutral conductor. They include the unbalanced 60 Hz currents and the 3rd, 9th, 15th and other triplen harmonic currents. Zero sequence currents appear in the neutral because they do not cancel in the way that 60Hz currents cancel. This is due to the fact that the zero sequence component on one phase is always in phase with the zero sequence components of the other 2 phases. 60 Hz current on one phase, on the other hand, is always 120° out of phase with the other phases 60 Hz current which causes their balanced portions to cancel in the neutral. The windings of a zero sequence filter (ZSF) are connected in a manner that exploits the fact that zero sequence currents are always in phase.

Figure 11-1: Simple Zero Sequence Harmonic Filter

Figure 11-1 shows the windings of a simple ZSF. Here the coils on each phase are split between two core legs and wound in opposite polarity. Since the zero sequence current vectors (A0, B0 and C0) are always in phase, the flux produced on one coil in each leg will cancel with the flux produced in the second coil on the same leg. Since the zero sequence flux is cancelled, the impedance to the flow of zero sequence currents will be extremely low. When connected in parallel at a power panel or busduct on the power distribution system, the low zero sequence impedance of the ZSF will attract the zero sequence harmonic currents and provide an alternate path back to the loads. This off-loads the neutral conductor and upstream transformer of these currents (see Figure 11-2).

Figure 11-2: 3rd Harmonic and other zero sequence currents diverted through a zero sequence filter

Harmonics and Harmonic Mitigating Transformers (HMT’s) Questions and Answers

This document has been written to provide answers to the more frequently asked questions we have received regarding harmonics and the Harmonic Mitigating Transformer technology used to address them. This information will be of interest to both those experienced in harmonic mitigation techniques and those new to the problem of harmonics. For additional information visit our Website at www.mirusinternational.com.