Abstract
Under their ‘Gone Green’ deployment scenario, National Grid forecast that energy generated from photovoltaics (PV) in the UK is expected to rise from 2 to 15 GW over the next 20 years. This is being driven by the UK's legal obligations around installing renewable energy sources and cutting greenhouse gases, the rising cost of energy and concerns around the security of supply. Power electronic converters are a key enabling technology for PV and other low-carbon technologies (LCTs). However, the use of LCTs can result in problems for the electrical distribution network such as supply voltage distortion and over-voltages, which threaten to limit or delay their uptake. The project described here is investigating the use of GaN-based converters in a hybrid PV/battery-storage unit for residential applications. The potential for MHz operation of GaN offers smaller, lighter, more efficient, and lower cost converters compared with existing silicon-based units and their deployment could lead to an increase in the installed LCT capacity on the network.
Highlights
The paper presents the results from an Innovate UK-funded Feasibility Study, which has investigated the requirements of GaNbased converters for hybrid PV/battery storage in terms of legislation regarding feed-in-tariffs (FIT), grid-codes, architectures, and circuit topologies
The results of this study are not restricted to GaN and apply to other high-speed semiconductor technologies such as CoolMOSTM Si MOSFETs and SiC
The revenue that can be accrued from such an installation is dependent on the government set FIT, which is claimed from the energy supplier company (ESC) – known as the FIT licensee
Summary
The paper presents the results from an Innovate UK-funded Feasibility Study, which has investigated the requirements of GaNbased converters for hybrid PV/battery storage in terms of legislation regarding feed-in-tariffs (FIT), grid-codes, architectures, and circuit topologies. Generation tariff (Feed Tariff): For every unit of electricity generated by a renewable-energy installation – for example a PV – the ESC pays for this energy regardless of whether it has been subsequently consumed, stored, or fed-back to the grid supply. This is measured by a Generation Meter. Saving: Every unit of electricity generated by the PV and consumed in the home, means that it is not purchased from the ESC Present tariffs are such that the pay-back from exporting electricity to the grid is lower than the cost of importing electricity to supply loads within a house. Preliminary results from a 3 kW GaN-based grid-tied converter, operating at 100 kHz/2 MHz switching frequency and using a DSP for sinusoidal PWM, are presented
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