Investigation of harmonic distortions in photovoltaic integrated industrial microgrid: Fid-Bau Portal

Investigation of harmonic distortions in photovoltaic integrated industrial microgrid

Aziz, Tareq / Ahmed, Mushfiqul / Nahid-Al-Masood

Due to the abundance of power electronic appliances, harmonic distortion has become one of the growing power quality concerns in recent years. Harmonic distortion is also caused by the nonlinearity of other power equipment such as transformers and rotating machines. Power systems, rich in harmonics, offer poor power factor and hence low efficiency operation. Due to the large concentration of nonlinear loads such as motor drives, investigation of harmonic distortion in industrial systems is getting special attention. Widespread integration of solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems into distribution systems brings additional challenges to the existing power quality scenario. Inclusion of solar PV systems in an industrial microgrid equipped with a large share of motor drives results in a significant increase in existing Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). To better understand the above issues, a methodology is proposed in this paper to identify the most suitable PV placement topology between the two schemes (namely, centralized and distributed) in terms of THD performance. Also, a technique is developed to estimate the maximum PV penetration level by maintaining the THD within the given acceptable limit. The proposed methodologies are applied to an industrial distribution system under various operating conditions.