Design and performance analysis of an on-grid photovoltaic power system under Iraqi solar circumstances

Abstract EN

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems are one of the best renewable energy sources in Iraq due to longer daily and annual sunshine hours.

In this paper, an on-grid PV power system is designed to operate in parallel with the local grid (only during sunshine hours) to either supply household appliances, or to back-feed the grid when the output power of a PV system is greater than household demand.

The proposed system includes a PV array with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm, a boost converter, an inverter and an LC filter.

The main challenge of designing the proposed system is the ability to combine the power electronic converters with the corresponding control method to achieve best performance.

A current controller and a voltage controller are proposed for respectively achieving maximum power and controlling AC voltage.

The aim of this research is to demonstrate the performance analysis of on-grid PV array system under real daily irradiance for Baghdad during June.

The simulation results show that in case of using MPPT algorithm, the percentage power yield from PV array system is 95%, while in case without MPPT algorithm, it is 38%.

In addition, the waveform of load current is sinusoidal with low total harmonic distortion (THD), i.e.

0.67%