Active Anti-Islanding Technique Using C-HIL Real Time Simulation

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of a grid- connected inverter when an unintentional islanding condition is encountered and compares results obtained through C-HIL, PSCAD and certification test. To ensure the safety and stability of power systems, grid utilities often require renewable energy sources to be disconnected when an islanding condition exists. Such demands are becoming more strict due to the ever-expanding requirements on voltage ride through, frequency ride through, rate of change of frequency (ROCOF), and other functions so advanced anti-islanding techniques are required to quickly and accurately recognize an islanding condition and to stop the inverter. In this paper, slip mode frequency shift (SMFS) anti-islanding technique is verified using controller hardware-in- the-loop (C-HIL) real time simulation (RTS). It will be shown that the results from C-HIL RTS match the experimental results on the full scale inverter rated at 840 kW. The agreement between the experimental and C-HIL RTS results shows that this test can be performed using C-HIL without the need to test the hardware at full capacity.