Empirical Characterization of Non-Intentional Emissions generated by PV Installations

Non-Intentional Emissions (NIEs) generated by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have significantly increased concerns about disturbances in the 9-150 kHz band of the low voltage distribution grid, which can lead to failures or cause thermal stress in the devices connected to the grid. Moreover, these emissions can cause interference in narrowband power line communications (NB-PLCs). This paper presents a characterization of emissions generated by different real PV systems. Specifically, measurement campaigns were carried out in isolated PV systems, which employed different panel configurations, as well as in a grid-connected system. The analysis of the NIEs allows the identification of the frequencies and amplitudes of the emissions, as well as the evaluation of the NIEs variation over time. In addition, the impedances of the PV systems were also measured to correlate impedance variations with emissions. Key words. Power line communications, photovoltaic installations, non-intentional emissions, impedance measurements.