Active power filter for power quality enhancement of photovoltaic renewable energy systems

This paper introduces an application of active power filter (APF) in photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy system for power quality (PQ) improvement. The PV energy system is connected to Saudi Arabia National Grid (110/13.8/0.4 KV) via inverter circuit, transmission line and step-up transformer. The harmonics due to the inverter circuit and non-linear local load are mitigated and reduced using shunt APF. Also the reactive power and then the voltage regulation can be adapted and adjusted using APF. Design of APF is presented. The system under study is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK Software Package. The APF structure and its control system is also presented. The simulated system is subjected to loading disturbances to study the effectiveness of APF. The digital results prove the powerful of the APF in sensing of deceasing the total harmonic distortion (THD) and fast voltage regulation.