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Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A3: Wind, Wave and Tidal Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 43341

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Special Issue Editor

Electronic Engineering department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camí de Vera, 46022 València, Spain
Interests: power electronics; renewable energies; smart grid; EV batteries chargers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the first decades of the current millennium, the contribution of photovoltaic and wind energy systems to power generation capacity has grown extraordinarily all around the world; in some countries, these systems have become two of the most relevant sources to meet the needs of energy supply. This Special Issue deals with all aspects of the development, implementation, and exploitation of systems and installations that operate with both sources of energy. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Power electronic converters in photovoltaic and wind energy conversion systems.

- The modelling, control, and simulation of photovoltaic and wind energy conversion systems.

- Storage systems integrated in wind and photovoltaic plants.

- The impact of wind and photovoltaic plants on power quality.

- The provision of ancillary services to improve the stability, robustness, and security of the grid.

- The planning and operation of photovoltaic and wind power systems.

- Sensors, communications, and data analytics that manage power generation in photovoltaic and wind energy conversion systems.

Prof. Dr. Emilio Figueres
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • power electronics
  • photovoltaic systems
  • wind energy
  • energy storage systems
  • grid-supporting operation
  • power quality

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 8222 KiB  
Article
A Control Scheme without Sensors at the PV Source for Cost and Size Reduction in Two-Stage Grid Connected Inverters
by Raúl González-Medina, Marian Liberos, Silvia Marzal, Emilio Figueres and Gabriel Garcerá
Energies 2019, 12(15), 2955; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12152955 - 01 Aug 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2198
Abstract
In order to reduce the cost of PV facilities, the market requires low cost and highly reliable PV inverters, which must comply with several regulations. Some research has focused on decreasing the distortion of the current injected into the grid, reducing the size [...] Read more.
In order to reduce the cost of PV facilities, the market requires low cost and highly reliable PV inverters, which must comply with several regulations. Some research has focused on decreasing the distortion of the current injected into the grid, reducing the size of the DC-link capacitors and removing sensors, while keeping a good performance of the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms. Although those objectives are different, all of them are linked to the inverter DC-link voltage control loop. Both the reduction of the DC-link capacitance and the use of sensorless MPPT algorithms require a voltage control loop faster than that of conventional implementations in order to perform properly, but the distortion of the current injected into the grid might rise as a result. This research studies a complete solution for two-stage grid-connected PV inverters, based on the features of second-order generalized integrators. The experimental tests show that the proposed implementation has a performance similar to that of the conventional control of two-stage PV inverters but at a much lower cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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17 pages, 8205 KiB  
Article
Small Wind Turbine Emulator Based on Lambda-Cp Curves Obtained under Real Operating Conditions
by Camilo I. Martínez-Márquez, Jackson D. Twizere-Bakunda, David Lundback-Mompó, Salvador Orts-Grau, Francisco J. Gimeno-Sales and Salvador Seguí-Chilet
Energies 2019, 12(13), 2456; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12132456 - 26 Jun 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4475
Abstract
This paper proposes a new on-site technique for the experimental characterization of small wind systems by emulating the behavior of a wind tunnel facility. Due to the high cost and complexity of these facilities, many manufacturers of small wind systems do not have [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a new on-site technique for the experimental characterization of small wind systems by emulating the behavior of a wind tunnel facility. Due to the high cost and complexity of these facilities, many manufacturers of small wind systems do not have a well knowledge of the characteristic λ - C p curve of their turbines. Therefore, power electronics converters connected to the wind generator are usually programmed with speed/power control curves that do not optimize the power generation. The characteristic λ - C p curves obtained through the proposed method will help manufacturers to obtain optimized speed/power control curves. In addition, a low cost small wind emulator has been designed. Programmed with the experimental λ - C p curve, it can validate, improve, and develop new control algorithms to maximize the energy generation. The emulator is completed with a new graphic user interface that monitors in real time both the value of the λ - C p coordinate and the operating point on the 3D working surface generated with the characteristic λ - C p curve obtained from the real small wind system. The proposed method has been applied to a small wind turbine commercial model. The experimental results demonstrate that the point of operation obtained with the emulator is always located on the 3D surface, at the same coordinates (rotor speed/wind speed/power) as the ones obtained experimentally, validating the designed emulator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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19 pages, 7669 KiB  
Article
A Method to Enhance the Global Efficiency of High-Power Photovoltaic Inverters Connected in Parallel
by Marian Liberos, Raúl González-Medina, Gabriel Garcerá and Emilio Figueres
Energies 2019, 12(11), 2219; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12112219 - 11 Jun 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2421
Abstract
Central inverters are usually employed in large photovoltaic farms because they offer a good compromise between costs and efficiency. However, inverters based on a single power stage have poor efficiency in the low power range, when the irradiation conditions are low. For that [...] Read more.
Central inverters are usually employed in large photovoltaic farms because they offer a good compromise between costs and efficiency. However, inverters based on a single power stage have poor efficiency in the low power range, when the irradiation conditions are low. For that reason, an extended solution has been the parallel connection of several inverter modules that manage a fraction of the full power. Besides other benefits, this power architecture can improve the efficiency of the whole system by connecting or disconnecting the modules depending on the amount of managed power. In this work, a control technique is proposed that maximizes the global efficiency of this kind of systems. The developed algorithm uses a functional model of the inverters’ efficiency to decide the number of modules on stream. This model takes into account both the power that is instantaneously processed and the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) voltage that is applied to the photovoltaic field. A comparative study of several models of efficiency for photovoltaic inverters is carried out, showing that bidimensional models are the best choice for this kind of systems. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated by considering the real characteristics of commercial inverters, showing that a significant improvement of the global efficiency is obtained at the low power range in the case of sunny days. Moreover, the proposed technique dramatically improves the global efficiency in cloudy days. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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21 pages, 11794 KiB  
Article
Aggregation of Type-4 Large Wind Farms Based on Admittance Model Order Reduction
by Jaime Martínez-Turégano, Salvador Añó-Villalba, Soledad Bernal-Perez and Ramon Blasco-Gimenez
Energies 2019, 12(9), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12091730 - 07 May 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2426
Abstract
This paper presents an aggregation technique based on the resolution of a multi-objective optimization problem applied to the admittance model of a wind power plant (WPP). The purpose of the presented aggregation technique is to reduce the order of the wind power plant [...] Read more.
This paper presents an aggregation technique based on the resolution of a multi-objective optimization problem applied to the admittance model of a wind power plant (WPP). The purpose of the presented aggregation technique is to reduce the order of the wind power plant model in order to accelerate WPP simulation while keeping a very similar control performance for both the simplified and the detailed models. The proposed aggregation technique, based on the admittance model order reduction, ensures the same DC gain, the same gain at the operating band frequency, and the same resonant peak frequency as the detailed admittance model. The proposed aggregation method is validated considering three 400-MW grid-forming Type-4 WPPs connected to a diode rectifier HVDC link. The proposed aggregation technique is compared to two existing aggregation techniques, both in terms of frequency and time response. The detailed and aggregated models have been tested using PSCAD-EMTsimulations, with the proposed aggregated model leading to a 350-fold reduction of the simulation time with respect to the detailed model. Moreover, for the considered scenario, the proposed aggregation technique offers simulation errors that are, at least, three-times smaller than previously-published aggregation techniques. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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16 pages, 1486 KiB  
Article
A Novel Fast MPPT Strategy for High Efficiency PV Battery Chargers
by Jose Miguel Espi and Jaime Castello
Energies 2019, 12(6), 1152; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12061152 - 25 Mar 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2501
Abstract
The paper presents a new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for photovoltaic (PV) battery chargers. It consists of adding a low frequency modulation to the duty-cycle and then multiplying the ac components of the panel voltage and power. The obtained parameter, proportional [...] Read more.
The paper presents a new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for photovoltaic (PV) battery chargers. It consists of adding a low frequency modulation to the duty-cycle and then multiplying the ac components of the panel voltage and power. The obtained parameter, proportional to the conductance error, is used as a gain for the integral action in the charging current control. The resulting maximum power point (MPP) is very still, since the integral gain tends to zero at the MPP, yielding PV efficiencies above 99%. Nevertheless, when the operating point is not the MPP, the integral gain is large enough to provide a fast convergence to the MPP. Furthermore, a fast power regulation on the right side of the MPP is achieved in case the demanded power is lower than the available maximum PV power. In addition, the MPPT is compatible with the control of a parallel arrangement of converters by means of a droop law. The MPPT algorithm gives an averaged duty-cycle, and the droop compensation allows duty-cycles to be distributed to all active converters to control their currents individually. Moreover, the droop strategy allows activation and deactivation of converters without affecting the MPP and battery charging operation. The proposed control has been assayed in a battery charger formed by three step-down converters in parallel using synchronous rectification, and is solved in a microcontroller at a sampling frequency of 4 kHz. Experimental results show that, in the worst case, the MPPT converges in 50 ms against irradiance changes and in 100 ms in case of power reference changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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7 pages, 863 KiB  
Communication
Snapshot of Photovoltaics—February 2019
by Arnulf Jäger-Waldau
Energies 2019, 12(5), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050769 - 26 Feb 2019
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 10659
Abstract
Over the last two decades, grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have increased from a niche market to one of the leading power generation capacity additions annually. In 2018, over 100 GW of new PV power capacity was added. The annual PV capacity addition [...] Read more.
Over the last two decades, grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have increased from a niche market to one of the leading power generation capacity additions annually. In 2018, over 100 GW of new PV power capacity was added. The annual PV capacity addition in 2018 was more than the total cumulative installed PV capacity installed until the mid of 2012. Total installed PV power capacity was in excess of 500 GW at the end of 2018. Despite a 20% decrease in annual installations, China was, again, the largest market with over 44 GW of annual installations. Decentralized PV electricity generation systems combined with local battery storage have substantially increased as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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22 pages, 5700 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Impact of High Penetration Levels of PV Power Plants on the Capacity, Frequency and Voltage Stability of Egypt’s Unified Grid
by Hamdy M. Sultan, Ahmed A. Zaki Diab, Oleg N. Kuznetsov, Ziad M. Ali and Omer Abdalla
Energies 2019, 12(3), 552; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12030552 - 11 Feb 2019
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 6381
Abstract
In this paper, the impact of integrating photovoltaic plants (PVPs) with high penetration levels into the national utility grid of Egypt is demonstrated. Load flow analysis is used to examine the grid capacity in the case of integrating the desired PVPs and computer [...] Read more.
In this paper, the impact of integrating photovoltaic plants (PVPs) with high penetration levels into the national utility grid of Egypt is demonstrated. Load flow analysis is used to examine the grid capacity in the case of integrating the desired PVPs and computer simulations are also used to assess the upgrading of the transmission network to increase its capacity. Furthermore, the impact of increasing the output power generated from PVPs, during normal conditions, on the static voltage stability was explored. During transient conditions of operation (three-phase short circuit and outage of a large generating station), the impact of high penetration levels of PVPs on the voltage and frequency stability has been presented. Professional DIgSILENT PowerFactory simulation package was used for implementation of all simulation studies. The results of frequency stability analysis proved that the national grid could be maintained stable even when the PVPs reached a penetration level up to 3000 MW of the total generation in Egypt. Transmission network upgrading to accommodate up to 3000 MW from the proposed PV power plants by 2025 is suggested. In addition, analysis of voltage stability manifests that the dynamic behavior of the voltage depends remarkably on the short circuit capacity of the grid at the point of integrating the PVPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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15 pages, 11272 KiB  
Article
Consensus-Based SOC Balancing of Battery Energy Storage Systems in Wind Farm
by Cao-Khang Nguyen, Thai-Thanh Nguyen, Hyeong-Jun Yoo and Hak-Man Kim
Energies 2018, 11(12), 3507; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11123507 - 16 Dec 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3298
Abstract
Multiple battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are used to compensate for the fluctuation in wind generations effectively. The stage of charge (SOC) of BESSs might be unbalanced due to the difference of wind speed, initial SOCs, line impedances and capabilities of BESSs, which [...] Read more.
Multiple battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are used to compensate for the fluctuation in wind generations effectively. The stage of charge (SOC) of BESSs might be unbalanced due to the difference of wind speed, initial SOCs, line impedances and capabilities of BESSs, which have a negative impact on the operation of the wind farm. This paper proposes a distributed control of the wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on dynamic average consensus algorithm to balance the SOC of the BESSs in a wind farm. There are three controllers in the WECS with integrated BESS, including a machine-side controller (MSC), the grid-side controller (GSC) and battery-side controller (BSC). The MSC regulates the generator speed to capture maximum wind power. Since the BSC maintains the DC link voltage of the back-to-back (BTB) converter that is used in the WECS, an improved virtual synchronous generator (VSG) based on consensus algorithm is used for the GSC to control the output power of the WECS. The functionalities of the improved VSG are designed to compensate for the wind power fluctuation and imbalance of SOC among BESSs. The average value of SOCs obtained by the dynamic consensus algorithm is used to adjust the wind power output for balancing the SOC of batteries. With the proposed controller, the fluctuation in the output power of wind generation is reduced, and the SOCs of BESSs are maintained equally. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is validated through the simulation by using a MATLAB/Simulink environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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Review

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17 pages, 5504 KiB  
Review
Concentrating Solar Power Technologies
by Maria Simona Răboacă, Gheorghe Badea, Adrian Enache, Constantin Filote, Gabriel Răsoi, Mihai Rata, Alexandru Lavric and Raluca-Andreea Felseghi
Energies 2019, 12(6), 1048; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12061048 - 18 Mar 2019
Cited by 51 | Viewed by 8226
Abstract
Nowadays, the evolution of solar energy use has turned into a profound issue because of the implications of many points of view, such as technical, social, economic and environmental that impose major constraints for policy-makers in optimizing solar energy alternatives. The topographical constraints [...] Read more.
Nowadays, the evolution of solar energy use has turned into a profound issue because of the implications of many points of view, such as technical, social, economic and environmental that impose major constraints for policy-makers in optimizing solar energy alternatives. The topographical constraints regarding the availability of inexhaustible solar energy is driving field development and highlights the need for increasingly more complex solar power systems. The solar energy is an inexhaustible source of CO2 emission-free energy at a global level. Solar thermal technologies may produce electric power when they are associated with thermal energy storage, and this may be used as a disposable source of limitless energy. Furthermore, it can also be used in industrial processes. Using these high-tech systems in a large area of practice emboldens progress at the performance level. This work compiles the latest literature in order to provide a timely review of the evolution and worldwide implementation of Concentrated Solar Power—CSP—mechanization. The objective of this analysis is to provide thematic documentation as a basis for approaching the concept of a polygeneration solar system and the implementation possibilities. It also aims to highlight the role of the CSP in the current and future world energy system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic and Wind Energy Conversion Systems)
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