Controlling of medium voltage power-factor of photovoltaic power plants from the low voltage side

Abstract

The effort to make the production of electrical energy much more environmental-friendly, large conventional power plants will be replaced by several smaller regenerative power plants. In order to improve stability and controllability, these smaller power plants are supposed to control the active power, the reactive power and the power factor in the medium voltage grid like conventional power plants. This paper will discuss three different methods to control the medium-voltage power factor from the low voltage side in consideration of parasitic effects from cables and transformers to fulfill the guidelines at the grid connection point. A method with a self-learning-algorithm will be implemented and proven by simulations and measurements on a test bench with inverter and 400 V to 10 kV grid transformer. The self-learning-algorithm will give the opportunity to reach every required power factor at the grid connection point.