Real-time implementation of an SRF-based control strategy for efficient grid integration of solar PV system

Abstract The power electronics interface of grid connected Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) system requires a robust and computationally efficient control framework for synchronization with active/reactive power support and power quality enhancement under week grid conditions. In view of this, Synchronous Reference Frame (SRF) based control framework is developed in conjunction with reliable Perturb & Observe (P&O) based Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique to drive power converters. The proposed SRF structure is developed using simple mathematical operators, which ultimately reduces the mathematical burden from the digital controller and also require smaller memory space. Therefore, the system exhibits smaller DC-link overshoot during sudden transients, faster reference current generation, and smaller power oscillations, which drive the smooth power injection to the grid. More importantly, this structure generates balanced reference current and maintains DC-link even under worst grid conditions such that the inverter remains intact. Additionally, the P&O based algorithm is used to extract the maximum power from the SPV array. The complete structure is designed and developed in the MATLAB/Simulink environment using suitable mathematical library blocks. The developed system is tested under various practical scenarios and the practicality of proposed structure is validated using real-time simulation platform.