Design criteria for AC link reactors in active front end converters for renewable energy applications in smart grids

Design criteria for the AC link reactor of a Synchronous Active Front End (SAFE) system used as interface between a generic renewable energy source and the distribution grid is presented. After a brief description on the choice of the other system components, a variation range inside which the AC reactor value can be selected is proposed basing on an analytic approach. In particular, the lower limit has been defined by considering the Power Quality (PQ) impact of the current injected to the AC network while the upper limit has been defined by considering the system controllability. Simulations on a case study have been performed in order to validate the proposed approach.