DC–DC MMC for HVdc Grid Interface of Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Conversion Systems

This paper explores a utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plant configuration based on a dc-dc stage interfaced directly to a modular multilevel converter (MMC) used for an HVdc power station. Since PV systems are dc by nature, the proposed solution has several advantages, such as full dc operation and step-up transformers avoidance with modular and reliable configuration. The contributions of this paper are the experimental validation of the proposed utility-scale configuration, while the conventional modulation stage has been further enhanced by including an adaptive phase-shifted modulation allowing improved voltage and current waveforms injected to dc grid under unbalanced power string operation. The enhanced performance is obtained by reducing the carrier frequency component of the converter voltage, generating an improved voltage ripple. Finally, experimental validation during steady-state and dynamic operation are presented to illustrate the behavior of the dc-dc MMC converter managed by the proposed modulation and control scheme.