Design and Implementation of Switch-mode Solar Photovoltaic Emulator using Power-Hardware-in-the-loop Simulations for Grid Integration Studies

This paper presents a photovoltaic (PV) emulator based on Power Hardware in the Loop Simulation (PHILS). Use of PHILS for source emulation is getting popular in the modern day due to its advantage in recreating an actual like testing environment. However, selection of proper power interface is crucial to achieve a stable PHILS. This paper utilizes an advanced control algorithm to extend the bandwidth of a switched mode buck-based power amplifier (PA). This allows PA in the interface to minimize the latencies thereby helping in the stability of the PHILS. The PV model inside the real time simulator is used to generate the PV characteristics as required. This allows user to have better flexibility as compared to conventional standalone PV emulator in a test setup for grid integration studies. A 260 W buck converter prototype is designed and implemented to realize the power amplification stage. The PV array model is simulated in real time digital simulator (RTDS). A comparative experimental evaluation is conducted between the real time PV array simulation and PHIL based PV emulator to validate its performance.